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Tuesday, March 27, 2001
Louisville comes in second again
Associated Press
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Vancouver Grizzlies owner Michael
Heisley's announcement Monday that he will move his team to Memphis
stunned the franchise's Louisville pursuers and stalled plans for a
$200 million downtown arena.
"We are disappointed, but we are proud of what has been
accomplished," said J. Bruce Miller, the Louisville attorney who's
headed the city's efforts to bring an NBA franchise to town. "We
think this is one of the most important things that Louisville and
the state of Kentucky have done together in a long time."
Louisville was among four finalist cities, but became a
front-runner when Tricon Global Restaurants Inc. said it would pay
Heisley millions for naming rights. Memphis became Louisville's
main competitor when FedEx Corp., made a similar offer.
Miller and Jonathan Blum, Tricon's senior vice president, said
the difference came down to private investors. Memphis officials
found enough investors to buy 49 percent of the team from Heisley;
Louisville only came up with enough to buy 20 percent.
"They had more money than we did," Blum said of Memphis.
"Michael did what was in his business' best interests, and we
respect that."
Anaheim, Calif. and New Orleans were the other cities in the
running.
Miller said if Louisville had already had a downtown arena,
Heisley's decision "wouldn't have even been a contest." But
Miller added he was hesitant to recommend that the city go forward
with building one now.
"It's an enormous commitment," Miller said.
Miller and others said the city will pursue other NBA
franchises, but did not specify which one was next on the list. He
said he must first evaluate this failed effort and determine what
can be done differently next time.
"We are not going to take our ball and our catchers' mitt
home," Miller said. "We will keep the effort going. I know the
NBA is impressed with what we've done."
Louisville's bid included a $100 million payment to Heisley from
Tricon, the parent company of KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut. It also
laid out a financing plan for the arena that would have called for
a special tax district to pay for part of its construction. The
city and state would've also contributed money.
"I remain proud of our efforts over the past several weeks,"
said Steve Magre, president of Louisville's board of aldermen.
"The way business and community leaders have come together from
Frankfort to Louisville has been something very special.
"We have developed quite a formidable team."
Blum said the bid itself will make Louisville a serious player
when the next NBA team decides to move.
"We put a very competitive bid on the table," Blum said. "We
think some team will want to be here and we'll keep negotiating
when there's someone to negotiate with."
KFC wanted to have the team renamed the Colonels – the name of
Louisville's former ABA franchise – and to call the proposed new
arena the KFC Bucket.
The Grizzlies are the second NBA team to turn down Louisville. A
less organized effort to lure the Houston Rockets collapsed last
November when voters there approved a referendum to build a new
arena.
"We've been the very edge twice and I don't think this is any
time to refocus and change what we're doing," Miller said. "I
don't think we made any mistakes. If we made any, I think we made
fewer than anybody else."
Miller said the effort has gained enough momentum among
Louisville residents to eventually reap success.
"It would've helped us if Louisville had just believed in
itself more in the very beginning," Miller said. "There was a
stretch of time a while ago where no one here believed we were big
enough or strong enough to pull this off. Now, we've gotten to the
point as a city where we believe this could really happen." Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories
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