Vancouver Grizzlies relocation to Memphis
It was the first of three National Basketball Association (NBA) franchise moves between 2001 and 2008, and the third of four major league teams to relocate from Canada to the United States between 1995 and 2005.
He immediately started the process to relocate the team, and eight U.S. cities were candidates for the team—Anaheim, California; Buffalo, New York; Memphis, Tennessee; New Orleans, Louisiana; Tampa, Florida; Louisville, Kentucky; Las Vegas, Nevada; and San Diego, California—before settling on the move to Memphis at the end of the season.
However, the last two seasons saw a reduction to among the league's lowest attendances; participating reasons were the team's poor performance and the 1998–99 NBA lockout.
Contributing to the conditions for relocation were a weak Canadian dollar, unwillingness of some U.S. players to live in Canada, and deal with the weather.
[1] The Grizzlies were created as an expansion team for the 1995–96 season which, along with the creation of the Toronto Raptors, saw the NBA expand into Canada.
They finished seventh of seven in five seasons, and claimed one sixth place in the Midwest Division, never close to reaching the playoffs.
[6] In 1999, McCaw started attempts to sell either Orca Bay or the Grizzlies, and at first negotiated an agreement with Dennis Washington, owner of Seaspan, who had a large portion of his operations in Vancouver.
The NBA Board of Governors' Finance Committee also made negative statements, as the purchase agreement was structured with incentives to move the team.
Colin Jones, University of Victoria professor in sports economics, stated that it was difficult to attract corporate sponsors as long as the team was losing so many games; the Grizzlies' lack of good draft picks led to the team failing to win, thus losing revenue.
This included selecting Bryant Reeves in the 1995 draft, and signing him to a US$65 million six-year contract extension in 1997, putting the Grizzlies in a salary cap squeeze.
However, he did draft Shareef Abdur-Rahim and his hands were tied when top pick Steve Francis refused to play for Vancouver.
[6] On the other hand, the Raptors succeeded in acquiring Vince Carter, reached the playoffs in the 1999–2000 season and played consistently in front of sell-out crowds.
[12] The location of the team in Canada was a major contributor; at the time the exchange rate was 67 U.S. cents to the Canadian dollar.
[15] Retrospectively, Griffiths stated that Heisley intentionally ran the team financially aground by alienating people, running insufficient marketing, and claiming basketball did not work in Vancouver.
[18] (Ultimately, while the Grizzlies did not move there, the city built its own NBA-suitable arena in 2010 called the KFC Yum!
The Memphis relocation effort was led by AutoZone founder Pitt Hyde, who promised to purchase 50% of the team.
The Memphis efforts to get an NBA team had started in 1997, following the relocation of the Houston Oilers of the National Football League to Tennessee.
[19] New Orleans mayor Marc Morial stated that he had approached Heisley in an attempt to attract the Grizzlies to his city.
The city had opened the US$114 million New Orleans Arena (now Smoothie King Center) in 1999, and offered it as a home to the franchise.
The city had an appropriate venue in HSBC Arena (now KeyBank Center), home of the Buffalo Sabres NHL ice hockey franchise.
Mayor Anthony Masiello, a former college basketball star, stated that the attempt was "a long shot", but worth the try.
The other issue was Stern's demand that casinos stop accepting bets on NBA games as a precondition of placing a team in Las Vegas.
Both Memphis and Louisville needed public funding for a new venue, and in either city, the team would have to play in a sub-optimal location for several seasons.
Ufford retrospectively stated that had the attempt been given more time, they may have been able to secure a deal to keep the team in town, but that the relocation decision came too quickly for any plan to be finalized.
[24] The night before Heisley's announcement concerning Memphis' selection, the Grizzlies had lost 102–92 to the Raptors in Toronto in what would turn out to be the final NBA game between two Canadian teams.
A week before the move, the Grizzlies traded away two of the top players, Shareef Abdur-Rahim and guard Mike Bibby.
[35] The failure of the Vancouver franchise was part of the reason the NBA changed the expansion drafting rules following the return of Charlotte to the league as the Bobcats in 2004.
Aquilini expressed that while Rogers Arena is ready for basketball, having the NBA in Vancouver comes down to market support, which his company assesses to see if it has improved since the Grizzlies left.
