Tagged: NBA

The chair of the Republican caucus in the Louisville Metro Council says a study on attracting an NBA franchise shows the city needs to improve its business climate and lift tax burdens.

A summary of the report, which was commissioned by Greater Louisville Inc., found Louisville has an enthusiastic fan base and downtown arena to attract a professional basketball franchise. What the city lacks is a proper corporate base to lease the necessary amount of suites at the KFC Yum Center.

At least one city lawmaker argues that illustrates a larger problem regarding burdensome government taxes, which he claims limit Louisville’s business growth that would attract the NBA and other amenities.

"We are a hamster on an exercise wheel: we work, we work, we work. We get off it, but yet we’re still stuck in the cage of state and government regulation," says Councilman Ken Fleming, R-7. "That’s why this whole state and particularly Louisville can’t do anything because we have politicians that can’t get their head out of the clouds and get down to the brass tacks  of doing things and changing this tax structure."

The release of a Greater Louisville Inc. study executive summary questioning the support for an NBA franchise among the city's corporations appears to be a hurdle for advocates of professional basketball in Louisville, but a longtime NBA supporter says he's undeterred—and that the prospects are far from dead.

For decades, Louisville attorney J. Bruce Miller has involved himself in the pursuit of an NBA franchise for Louisville. 

Louisville lacks the corporate support for an NBA team that would likely be needed to attract  professional basketball to the city, said a study into the feasibility study commissioned by Greater Louisville Inc.

Those corporations would be called upon to lease suites at the KFC Yum! Center for NBA games—but the "lack of corporate depth" in Louisville means that those companies would each need to lease a greater share, the study said.

Louisville does has a strong potential fan base for the NBA, the study noted.

Louisville gay rights leaders are praising veteran NBA player Jason Collins publicly announcing that he is gay, but area sports commentators say the revelation will do little to change the game.

The 34-year-old Collins is a free agent who reveals his sexual orientation in the upcoming issue of Sports Illustrated, which makes him the first active professional male athlete to disclose his homosexuality.

Collins cited the recent NBA lockout and his friendship with Demcoratic Congressman Joe Kennedy III of Massachusetts as the reasons he came out.

From SI:

Why am I coming out now? Well, I started thinking about this in 2011 during the NBA player lockout. I'm a creature of routine. When the regular season ends I immediately dedicate myself to getting game ready for the opener of the next campaign in the fall. But the lockout wreaked havoc on my habits and forced me to confront who I really am and what I really want. With the season delayed, I trained and worked out. But I lacked the distraction that basketball had always provided.