Toward the Bobcats:
The stadium - the events surrounding the building of the stadium represents a very undemocratic process that ignored the will of the majority. After the citizens shot down the cities stadium referendum bill (which would assume tax dollars to build a stadium for the as yet awarded team), the city went ahead and approved it anyway.
The lingering affects of the other franchise - the circumstances surrounding the divorce from the other franchise left many fans disenfranchised towards the Bobcats and professional basketball in general. Couple that with the fact that many people have been aligned with collegiate teams before the Bobcats or the other franchise were here. Also, almost half of the people here are from somewhere else and they have there own allegiances.
Cheap, cheap, cheap - did you hear that little bird chirping? Many people feel that it is the desire of ownership is to make money (of course), but at the expense of the product placed on the floor. Can you say the LA Clippers! This coincides with our last relationship and the way the owner was perceived as a money grubbing low-life. Bob Johnson doesn't like to lose money. It has been suggested that owning a professional basketball franchise is not the cash cow people make it out to be, especially for smaller market teams.
The team itself - the team is not very good. Is Charlotte a front running city? While the team has improved in wins each year of existence, they have not made the playoffs, and in the NBA that is where teams are distinguished. From a national perspective, you don't hear a peep about the Bobcats and right or wrong national exposure goes a long way to establishing a teams credibility. When a team becomes viable outside of it's own market, watch how the local fans gravitate toward it.
Toward the NBA:
The NBA is full of thugs - To many locals, the NBA represents all that is bad in sports. Overpriced, underachieving, bad guys who do drugs, fornicate with multitudes of women, have tons of babies out of wedlock, and have a total disregard for authority. Remember, Charlotte, to it's core, can be very conservative, in many regards. Since the NBA decided to make it's league about individual stars they placed themselves in a position when either there was a dearth in legitimate stars (as when MJ left) or the stars they were promoting did not transcend as well as their predecessors. Hardcore fans are going to stay, tertiary fans come and go. The NFL does a great job of relating to fringe fans. The NBA wants to as well, but there is a disconnect that is not as readily perpetrated in baseball and football as it is in the NBA.
Overpaid!? - The sentiment I receive from fans is that the NBA players are way overpaid. If you look at the amount of basketball players and subsequent leagues that exist in America and beyond, the average NBA player is in the top 1 percent of their profession. While I am not a big numbers guy, just look at the top 1 percent of the professionals in any industry, you will find comparable numbers, in terms of percentage of revenue earned. Even in football, the biggest contracts go to the most skilled players. It is simple economics. The question from the fans should be, are we getting our money's worth? If not, let what has happened to hockey be an example for the NBA to learn from.
There is more passion in College - Yes, there are many student athletes out there who are happy just to be playing. They know that their basketball career has reached it's apex and they are playing out of enjoyment and love for the game. There are kids who's highlight in life will be that they played some garbage time after a big game was already decided or they were the roomate of some future NBA star. Let's get back to this concept of passion. Next to football, basketball is the second biggest sports revenue generator on many college campuses. To think that money plays no role in college sports is at the least naive and at the most delusional. Many fans who down the NBA, never go to any games! I ask you to go to a game, witness the athleticism, observe the speed and power. I think, emotion plays a large role in college basketball and an even larger role in High School. Here in North Carolina there is a greater connection with many fans to the culture of collegiate athletics than with the high-profile NBA lifestyle. This positive emotional connection spawned from a shared collective experience. Hence the favorable perception of the college basketball player.
We will continue this at a later time!