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Thread: I Wonder Why We Weren't Sexy Enough?..

  1. #1
    The Artist    Contributor   
    bigdub81's Avatar
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    I Wonder Why We Weren't Sexy Enough?..

    I don't know why it popped into my head, but I always wanted to know why we never did land the T-Wolves back in the 90's. I read on Wikipedia that it basically got blocked by the league because the group that agreed to purchase the team from Minn, basically didn't have secure financing to go through with the deal.

    That I can understand. I honestly didn't know Minnesota had an NBA team up until I saw the newspaper with the famous 'WE GOT 'EM!' quote. What I didn't know was that we were in a bidding war to get the Grizzlies from Vancouver before they ultimately decided on Memphis.

    I was just wondering why weren't we the 'sexy' pick for the Grizzlies? Was Memphis' proposal just that much stronger than ours or did they just go there because they wanted to? And it's nice to know that we were Stern's second option seeing as both the Grizzlies and Hornets filed for relocation to the same city on the same day!

    Another little tidbit: Possible names for the T-Wolves had they moved here were Rhythm and Angels as suggested by then mayor Marc Morial and Governor Edwin Edwards. Didn't know that!

  2. #2
    The group that was going to buy the team was backed by Top-Rank and Bob Arum and it was a heavily leveraged deal. No one was putting enough equity into the group. Also, Arum's boxing connections were a major issue, not to mention all the side deals that had to be cut with the Edwards and Morial entourages.

  3. #3
    Vote Voodoo! Contributor Unknown Poster's Avatar
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    ^ That. As far as the Grizzlies go I'd say corporate sponsorship from FedEx played a role in that.
    "Hornets means nothing." - Tom Benson

  4. #4
    King of Optimism!! Pilot172000's Avatar
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    I'll never forget sitting in Champs Sports in the Mall and seeing a guy buy a TWolves jersey and the clerk telling him that nothing was set in stone. That was the first time in my life I got the concept of having my very own home team to root for. Poor guy, I wonder if he is still wearing that jersey?

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