Charlotte bid for the 2017 All-Star Game, spent $33.5 million of public money to upgrade the arena and drew Adam Silver’s support.
It worked.
Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer:
The lesson, as always, is the NBA rewards cities that provide public funding for arenas and punishes those that don’t. Seattle lost its team. Charlotte gets an All-Star game.
Once you get past that tiny issue, Charlotte should be a fun place for the game.
The league will surely put Hornets owner Michael Jordan front and center, and his huge marketing power will help a lot fall into place.