The Grizzlies first season was....what, the 95-96 season? Things were going swimmingly until last year. We were losing something like 80% of our games, but hey, it's all cool. Suddenly last year, the owner John McCaw wanted to sell the team. He wanted to sell to the husband of the owner of Wal-Mart. But that was a no go because he wanted to move the team. Then along came Michael Heisley, who didn't want to move the team, he was committed to staying here. Seemed like a match made in heaven. He brought in a new management team, new coach. Seemed to have an unlimited wallet. He guaranteed he'd try to make a go of it here. He sang the damn national anthem at the first game. Then, halfway through the season, he decides that he wants to leave.
Why? He's losing too much money. He complains that he is not receiving the corporate support, and the season ticket base is too low. Well, why do you think that is? By all accounts, they did no marketing at all before the season started, and some limited marketing after the season started. No marketing at all to the corporate community, other than whining to the media that there isn't enough corporate support. Well, guess what, whining isn't gonna get the corporate support in there. And the season ticket holders, well, I mean, again, by all accounts, the season ticket holders from last year were never called to see if they wanted to renew. Well....I'm not business person, but it doesn't seem as though there was a lot of effort put into keeping the team in Vancouver. And guess what else? The Grizz suck bigtime. And you know what? Most people don't wanna see losing teams.
Basically, the team gave nothing to the community. And the community, feeling rather stood up, gave nothing back. And now they're going. My opinion? I'm sad. I was a fan. I'm mad. Michael Heisley is a scumbag. David Stern is a scumbag. And the Grizzlies are history.