Louisville Magazine is Louisville's city magazine, covering Louisville people, lifestyles, politics, sports, restaurants, entertainment and homes. Includes a monthly calendar of events.
Issue link: https://loumag.epubxp.com/i/105989
bit the JUST SAYIN' Ever since mid-November, when the consulting frm Cambridge Economic Research released its advisory report warning that successfully recruiting an NBA franchise would cost Louisville a whole lot more money than it would bring in, all forms of media have been inundated with the voices of men expressing concurrence or derision — the latter coming most notably from Mayor Fischer, who dismissed the fnding as "a one-sided view paid for by anonymous donors." (Here you picture the University of Louisville twirling its black mustache.) Fischer's reaction is understandable, given the city's desperation to deal with the enormous debt the KFC Yum! Center is running up by standing empty so much of the time, not providing an incentive for people to fock down to the TIF district and spend oodles of cash. And of course the report angers NBA-obsessed lawyer J. Bruce Miller, who, in the world he envisions, probably sees himself inhabiting the role of Jack Nicholson at the Staples Center. Sportswriters, downtown bar and restaurant owners, and all jabber-mouthed guys with lots of disposable income and moussed hair agree: Louisville is an unfortunate one-horse town without an NBA team. If we get an NBA team, WE HAVE ARRIVED! So they'll rework the economic numbers with the same foresight and wisdom that determined the two new bridges and a new Spaghetti Junction should be an inseparable package — not to mention that the nifty taxincrement-fnancing district would make the Yum Center a resounding success in no time at all, with or without an NBA team. Te resulting GLI economic assessment will be: No, the city won't lose money; on the contrary, it will be swimming in it! Look at it this way, it'll say: We're getting a two-fer. One, we need an NBA team to bring people who aren't U of L fans downtown and help pay of the arena because we're desperate; and two, we'll all be just giddy with the thought of acceptance by the NBA and the incredible cachet it ofers. Te Fortune 500 companies will be begging us to allow them to move their headquarters here. — Jack Welch w w w. J e ff e r s o n C o u n t y C l e r k . o r g 2.13 LOUISVILLE MAGAZINE 1 5