Can Jordan Succeed As Bobcats Owner?
When the news broke that there was a prospective buyer for the Charlotte Bobcats in early January, it appeared that Michael Jordan's time as owner of the team was about to run out.
But, just like his days as a player, Jordan came through in the clutch.
After assembling a group of investors and arranging to buy the team, Michael Jordan has fully committed himself to being the full owner of the Charlotte Bobcats, buying the team from Bob Johnson (whom the team is "named" for). The NBA owners are expected to approve Jordan's ownership by late March. As the 'Cats look toward their first playoff berth in their six seasons in the NBA, and are just a few wins away from breaking their franchise record for victories (35), MJ has his work cut out for him.
The city of Charlotte has been burned by bad ownership. George Shinn, former owner of the Charlotte Hornets, demanded a new arena. After a sexual assault charge and a failed referendum for a new arena, Shinn picked up and moved the Hornets to New Orleans in 2002.
In fact, Shinn was in negotiations with Michael Jordan for ownership of the Hornets, but would not relinquish basketball operations to Jordan, and that caused Jordan to back out of the agreement. The Hornets might still be in Charlotte had Shinn gave MJ that power.
Two years later, Bob Johnson, the co-founder of Black Entertainment Television, paid the $300M price tag for the new Charlotte team, enabling him to become the first black majority owner in sports. However, Johnson never was involved in the city of Charlotte, and was virtually an absentee owner.
Making it as an owner in a city that has been (and still is) jaded towards the NBA is not the easiest road. Despite the improvement and the historically hard play of the Bobcats, Jordan - who was just as absent as Johnson - can not make the same mistakes now that it is his money.
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