openly. There’s obviously a disconnection between the Charlotte population and the Bobcats, and it needs to be addressed. Obviously, as it shows, winning is a big part of that. However, for others, they may be upset about the team name, or they need extra counseling over the way the Hornets left or the way the Time Warner Cable arena came to be. Whatever it is, I’m sure he knows Bob just wasn’t doing things the right way and plans to change some of those things.

But the things I speak of are truisms virtually anywhere else in America and as much as its denizens would like to believe otherwise, Charlotte is not THAT unique.

There are two groups the Bobcats (or any other team) need to reach. Looking at them one at a time, the first group is…

The Fans.
In order to win the casual fan over, a sports team needs to be attractive. WInning is a biggun and nothing else is going to have a greater impact. Once fans are won over they will support the team through some pretty ugly situations and losing slumps, but first they have to be courted. One appearance in the playoffs will win over a batch of people but they will lose them again very quickly unless the team sustains the courtship. Even if they manage to win a series and advance a bit before bowing out, it won’t make that big a difference if the team backslides the next season and follows it up finishing in 10th or worse. There are other factors that aren’t much by themselves, but can make all the difference when added together with a strong finish this season.

1. BRANDING. This is critical and it’s also the reason that changing the team name is an even worse idea than signing Diop, Diaw, and Chandler to multi-year extensions. If you were to take a random poll anywhere in NC and ask just one question – “What’s the name of the state’s NBA team?” – the massive majority would know the correct answer. If a decision is made to change the team it doesn’t matter WHAT that name is. You could call them the Charlotte Raes and it will be years before that name will be as well known even with a massive marketing campaign. Those are just the Facts of Life. (ba-da-bing) Step back with me for a moment from our proud status as uber-geeks and you will quickly realize that the average guy or woman on the street has no frikkin’ idea where “Bobcats” came from – not the right idea, not the wrong one. Again, I’m not from Charlotte, but I get asked about the team whenever I wear my Cats’ gear and I always try to find out what folks know about the team. Most everyone knows they’ve sucked until this year. Most everyone knows they’re doing good this year. Very few know how the team got its’ name and even less could identify the owner by name. That last fact changed in a big way because of MJ, but that’s not the point. Most folks don’t know and don’t care where the name came from. Most folks don’t really care if the team changes the name either. But let’s keep it real for just a sec. Most folks are also easily confused. If the name gets swapped be prepared for at least a couple of seasons of, “The Charlotte Raes? What is that, a soccer team or something?” The name change WILL hurt revenues.

2. Media coverage. This means reporters in the Triangle, the Triad, and even out toward the Outer Banks writing articles about the team – or at the very least, newspapers willing to print the national feed articles and recaps about the team. Bonnell and company are the foundation, but they aren’t the whole building. It also means a reasonable local tv deal. Somebody in marketing needs to get off the stick and get either a cable package put together or a network of small stations assembled willing to commit to broadcasting road games at the very least. It isn’t that hard to assemble a group of advertisers (Coke, Pepsico, Ford, Coors, etc) so that any pitch made to a station out in Rocky Mount can be presented with large blocks of ad space already sold and guaranteed. If you show an independent station owner that you can book 60% of his ads, he’ll all but BEG to carry your programming. Even if these people never come to a game in Charlotte, they will boost ratings, buy the gear
and call the team their own.

3. Creative marketing. Johnson finally caught on to this but it was too little, too late. Discount ticket blocks, shirt givaways, Crash Wallace action figures, etc. will get people in the seats.

4. Customer service. From the first phone call to the box office, to the security guard holding the door and saying, “thanks for coming tonight” as the patron leaves the door, every single person attending a game should feel like visiting family. Each staff member should have to attend classes in customer service. Promotions get them in the door. Smiling helpful staff gets them coming back. Genuine excitement from the man at the house mic will fill more chairs than all the faked and redundant screaming that fills the rafters now. I know that’s the way it’s done all over the league, but this is the South. We live in the HOME of hospitality and “blessyerheart.” Since we invented it we should display it aplenty. We also smell BS quicker than anyone else in America and the team needs a sincere voice on the horn.

5. Community involvement. It isn’t about MJ opening his wallet to save a library or two. Last Thanksgiving and Christmas the entire team visited impoverished families in the Charlotte metro area bringing gifts and food. They hit the soup lines and served the homeless. You get a lot of mileage out of rolling up the sleeves and helping. Much more than you do out of just throwing money around. The team will bill more long-term respect out of a weekend working with Habitat for Humanity in the off season than they ever will at a photo-op of a check donation.

The second group the team needs to attract in order to succeed is:

The Corporations.
It boils down to two sub-groups. The first are the National corporations with NC divisions. This is everyone from the McDonald’s franchisees to the car and beer makers. The second are the local businessmen and companies. This is already too lengthy so I won’t go into detail, but there is at least one team of suits dedicated to getting each of those two sub-groups active and involved with the team.

I don’t believe there is a disconnect between this team and the fans so much as I believe there is a whole lot of apathy. The Hornets had the benefit of being the first to many in North Carolina. The early success at the front gate only made it more exciting because it put us on the map and everyone got to participate in the process of showing the rest of the country that they were wrong – DEAD wrong – in their criticisms of the Carolinas. The team let us down. Again, I’m not talking about the uber-geek fans like us, but the community in general. They left in shame after Schinn tried to hold the city coffers hostage with increasingly ridiculous demands. The community embraced the team as only Southerners can and they got betrayed like a jilted lover. When the Hornets left they were given the cold shoulder as only Southerners can truly give the cold shoulder.
A fair percentage of the Bobcats troubles are because of that. The great Lady Charlotte responded like any scorned Southern Belle would. When her new suitor came to town she greeted him with mistrust. The once trusting belle now needs to be wooed. Well now the team wears the face of an old familiar neighborhood friend instead of some stranger that tried to win her over by merely showing off. I believe Lady Charlotte is willing to give her new suitor a chance. But Michael Jordan had best realize that at the slightest hint of betrayal this lady will turn her back once again. If that happens, it’s a fair bet it will be decades before she even thinks about trusting or embracing anyone again.