The Bobcats fan base's character

Psychologically speaking, any new item of “devotion” draws a reputation that is defined by a few measurable facets. Whether the item is sports-related, religious, or even political, it begins with an uphill battle.
Many shy away – regardless of how bad the need for that new entity may be. Anything new is viewed with mistrust and skepticism. A small percentage of curious people will give it at least a cursory look and, according to marketing theory, two to five percent of those people will “buy in.” If it’s a consumer product they’ll purchase it and give it a try. A new sports team will attract a similar base of new fans. Depending on the budget (and ingenuity) of those presenting the item, an attempt is made to get the product noticed. (Politicians buy ads and book personal appearance dates for example.)
   Each time a person is made aware of the new item it creates what marketers call an “impression.” This can be the viewing of a commercial, a mention in the media, or anything else that gets it in front of a consumer’s eyes enough to make the person consider it. Again, most marketers feel a minimum of 8-10 impressions are necessary to get people to decide to jump on board and embrace/use/accept the product. Less than that and the consumer doesn’t pay attention. More than that and each additional impression creates people that are sick of hearing about it in addition to new “buyers.”
   There is a certain amount of almost religious zeal that the first batch of buyers develop regarding the item whether the item is actually a new church/religion or not. Up until recently, this is what best defines the fans of the Charlotte Bobcats. The early fans are tenacious and rabid in their favorable opinion of the item. If you consider the amount of time the denizens of RoF devote to talking about the team, rosterbating, and arguing about the best moves the team should make to improve, I think y’all will see what I’m talking about.
    Making it to the playoffs last season generated a whole lot of media impressions for the team. In fact, Jordan’s purchase of the team, Gerald Wallace’s All Star berth, and the increased national awareness the playoff appearance brought created a virtual storm of attention for the team and the city of Charlotte. Could it have been better? Of course, but the truth is that the team performed about as well as could be expected especially when the team was once again deemed to be one of the worst in the league to begin with. That trifecta of events gave the original core fans a reason to feel vindicated and generated a huge swell in the fan ranks as new people discovered where the team bandwagon was parked. It also brought something that up until last season only came from other NBA clubs – respect for the Charlotte Bobcats.
     This coming season is one where the front office will reap the benefits of last seasons’ successes. There are more tickets sold and more interested corporate sponsors than ever in the team history. But it’s also a season full of hard work and tough decisions. In brief, it all boils down to a matter of, “we’ve got the ball rolling, NOW what do we do to increase momentum?” Most here I think would agree that the team didn’t pull off any great roster coups during the off season. Unfortunately, a lot of the new “believers” in any product also have higher expectations than the first-wave consumers. They get involved and quickly have demands and ideas regarding what needs to be done to improve things, much to the annoyance of the people that were involved from the beginning. We’ve also seen that play out right here at RoF with the new swelling of membership that occured this summer.
     This brings us to the purpose of this thread – what happens to the fanbase in the future? The first thing that needs to be realized is that we’re going to lose some fans. Like it or not, the Charlotte Bobcats tend to play better than they really are. Because of this, when the team plays at its true skill level, it can be heartbreaking to watch. Long-time fans have grown used to this, but recent arrivals will have limited patience with a “playoff team” that comes out and destroys a team like the Lakers only to lose by 20+ a night later to a team like the Nets. A decent percentage of new fans are going to walk away once “reality” sets in. There is an old saw in business that says a happy customer will tell a friend but an angry customer tells EVERYONE. Expect some backlash this season. Our immediate future is going to involve more of the, “your a Bobcats fan? They suck!” conversations we’ve been hearing for years.
     Long term however – and I’m talking in terms of 8-10 years down the road from now, the team will have better established itself and its identity for good or bad. The Charlotte Hornets started off like gangbusters and front office decisions and behaviors eroded the fan base to the point that the team had more angry former-fans than it did believers. The same could happen to our beloved Bobcats, but I don’t think so. I think the team’s fortunes with Michael Jordan at the helm will have more than its share of embarrassing gaffes. When Jordan succeeds he does it in a gigantic way and when he screws up it’s just as large and noticable. I don’t think we can expect that to change any time soon. But I also believe that the man succeeds more often than not and the team will continue to insert itself into the community in the coming years increasing the fanbase as it goes. The Charlotte Bobcats won’t move above 2nd-tier market status in our lifetimes, but I do believe they will become an example of what a successful 2nd-tier NBA team can be. As a result, the fans will be deeply devoted and eventually become very proud of the achievements of the club. Unfortunately, detractors of the club will be just as devoted in their hatred. I believe the community at large will be polarized for a long, long, time.