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Krazy Kanadian
11-08-2007, 01:44 PM
I was watching the Magic@Raptors on TheScore last night, and for a couple minutes in the first half they were talking about the Vancouver Grizzlies. Anyways, they were talking about how much it would be better for another franchise to exist in Canada now than it was about 6 years ago, and I would have to completely agree. I mean think about it:

1) Now that the Raptors are a better team, there is a lot more support for Canadian Basketball than there was six years ago

2) There is already an established arena -GM Place

and most importantly....

3) The Canadian Dollar is the strongest that it has been in roughly 50 years.


The preseason game between the Phoenix Suns and Seattle Supersonics that happened a couple weeks ago at GM Place drew something between 17,000 and 18,000. Thats a pretty good number for a preseason game. There is also a lot more population in the Greater Vancouver Area than what there was 6 years ago too. And considering that Vancouver will be getting the Olympics in 2010, does it not make more sense now than before? Personally, I do believe Vancouver (or somewhere else in Canada) will get a franchise again someday, but if they are smart, it may be best to do it soon rather than later....

RottingMind13
11-08-2007, 02:07 PM
Vancouver would also be able to pick up the SuperSonics fan base once they leave Seattle to go to OKC (obv thats the speculation), but it would probably help the Vancouver fanbase be somewhat stronger than having to try to get fans to jump on the bandwagon while there is an established team, with a top tier prospect (Durant) right across the way (relatively speaking).

Krazy Kanadian
11-13-2007, 12:16 AM
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?columnist=adande_ja&page=Movingfranchises-071112

Speaking of Seattle, I thought this was an interesting article

jofc
11-13-2007, 01:37 AM
The only reason the Grizzlies left is because of the sup-par ownership group they had. GM Place is a tough cookie to get into as far as sporting goes, just look at the Vancouver Ravens but with the new Canucks owner I have a feeling that more teams are to come.

Another factor would be star power. After the origional Grizzlies' new team novelty wore away, attendance started to slip due to poor performance. The fact that Francis bailed on us, screwed us out of a star player to idol on the new team.

There's a good chance that Seattle isn't heading north this time but the future holds wonders...