Long-gone Vancouver Grizzlies' most loyal superfan Kat Jayme still looking for answers to a 20-year-old question -- what caused the NBA team's sudden move to Memphis, in her latest feature length documentary.
I was at UVIC in 98-99. I saw an ad for $10 upper bowl tickets and bought a bus ticket to watch AI and the 76ers play the Grizz. So, I caught the bus, ferry and invited a friend from the Vancouver suburbs. My treat. When we got to the arena they claimed that all the $10 tickets were sold out. As a poor student, I didn’t have enough to 2 lower bowl tickets for my friend and myself. We walked around the arena and snuck in an exit when someone left the building around halftime. When we got in we were stunned to see the that entire upper bowl was empty! They lied!
What does diverse have to do with it? Maybe Van lost the team because diversity. When ever I see the Jays play in Seattle, I don;t see "Diverse" The diversity is too busy making money to be part of the social fibre... like enjoying sports.
I’m sorry, but I don’t agree with that at all. It makes me sad that Canada couldn’t support a team in Vancouver, but Seattle had a team for much longer. So, you may think whatever you’d like, but that just doesn’t fly with me.
We in Memphis love the Grizzlies, I would be upset if they moved from here. We have an exciting team and hope Vancouver can root for us until you get a team back.
As a Vancouver-native.... We don't lol. I personally still root for the Grizz's success (Ja Morant is a beast), but it does bother me when I see Vancouver fans get bothered by seeing Memphis rock the old Vancouver jerseys. They go: "YOU ARE NOT THE VANCOUVER GRIZZLIES! TAKE THOSE OFF!".... And that's a shame because I actually appreciate Vancouver getting *some* acknowledgment in the history of the Grizzlies and Canada's role in the NBA.
@@thedefinitionisthis Ask somebody who’s spent a lot of time in Vancouver with a lot of family and friends I can tell you we do not speak on your behalf. We’ve grown up and we’ve let go of the old regime that failed us. Personally I love seeing Memphis wearing the old throwbacks and seeing a local kid in Brandon Clarke thrive there. There is a large appetite and a solid foundation of a Fanbase here. We are craving an NBA team back in Vancouver!
@@jaydurant3048 That's great to hear! Because from what I see/hear, and then the reactions I see on social media (yeah, i know), I see a LOT of ppl get pissed when the throwback Vancouver gear is worn on the court by the current Memphis team. I'm happy to see fans embrace that Vancouver acknowledgement. And yes, we are craving an NBA franchise back in Van!!
@@thedefinitionisthis Yeah I don’t quite understand how people would be upset about that, if anything be proud and show that they have recognition for our city still. I’m surprised there aren’t more Brandon Clarke jerseys available, it would’ve been so awesome if the Grizzlies had stayed in Vancouver that Brandon Clarke kid would be a local icon to so many young athletes growing up in the city.
I'm from Memphis, so now you wanna take our team, how contradictory. We never had an NBA team before either... plus we're actually good. #WEDONTBLUFF #MEMPHIS
First of all, it was their team first. And if you actually are able to see her documentary, you would know that she goes to Memphis and realizes she doesn’t want to take the joy away from Memphis and wants a new nba team. Also, I don’t get why Memphis never renamed the team.
I’ll forever love the Grizzlies, growing up in the Vancouver area and watching them growing up, that team meant so much to me. It was Grizz and Lakers for me. I’m a die hard Lakers fan and Kobe was my hero growing up as well. I got to see Kobe play Vs Grizzlies in 2000. I was 13 at the time and being 36 now, I’ll never forget that day and never forget watching Grizzlies games. I would probably cry is Grizz came back and got to watch them back where they belong ❤️🙏🏼❤️
@@Island1-b5h That’s awesome ! Yea it was many many moons ago we had a team, but I’ll never forget those times. I sure hope one day we can get the team back. I feel now it would be much bigger then it was back then
You are going to have to beat out Las Vegas, but don't worry, you could always pull a "Robert Irsay" if you have to; and if any team deserves to be "Irsayed", it's the Clippers.
@@stainshield very true. Those cities are definitely on a short list! Just IMO for many reasons I think Seattle and Vancouver are right at the very top of cities that’ll be next.
@@jaydurant3048 The problem is the way Seattle Super Sonics were taken from the Emerald City the NBA owes it too them first. Then you have Vegas. You never know with the right pitch and owner etc. I could see a team like New Orleans moving cities.
it will come back. this time as an expansion team. I read lately that Adam wants to expand the league to Montreal and Vancouver. and I hope that Kathleen would buy a minority stake on that team...
I never liked Stu Jackson’s strategy. He should have traded down in the draft and got some decent veterans and picked Steve Nash and in following years try to get the best player.
2011 was the best time to get another NBA team (when the Canadian dollar was stronger than the US), but the high taxes in BC pretty much kills the chance of getting a US sports league through the door.
The fact is attendance was declining, not growing. Also, basketball was never going to be able to be THE team in the city, competing with hockey. You have to compete for entertainment dollars and the existence of the Canucks was as much of what lead to the exit of the Grizzlies probably more than anything. The NBA and NHL seasons totally overlap, also. The fact they knew they could get more of a loyal fan base in a smaller city, one with no other pro sports team, speaks volumes. If it wasn’t Memphis, it would have been someone else, they were never going to be able to get the loyal attendance they needed.
economics played a role... Seattle should have theirs first.. the Canadian dollar is low so it does not make financial sense and we do not have the population nor income levels of fans to go to the games consistently... this is the truth
HA that’s completely inaccurate other then the CDN dollar being low. Even though they got off to a historically bad start the grizzlies were tenth and 12th in attendance the first two seasons. Then as the seasons progressed our attendance slowly dipped. They never ranked beyond the bottom five in attendance even though we were never more than fourth worst in the league. Only once they were able to avoid a 60 game losing season and they lost 59 in the final season. Having 101 wins in six seasons is an average of basically 17 wins per season. Most seasons every team the league wins at least 20 games per season. The fact they averaged that win total over six seasons and was middle to the pack of attendance throughout their entirety which included a 8 win season in Vancouver (which they averaged 16th in fan attendance that year, again Google it if you don’t want to believe me) and that in itself is actually mind blowing to me. And the icing on the cake is that in the last 20 years Vancouver has had the largest population growth in North America, the highest GDP and that’s including the CDN dollar being at 74cents to the USD not to mention having the third in highest capita of economic growth in North America. Major corporations headquarter here, as well as a long lengthy list of billionaires that reside in Vancouver. Vancouver also has almost 700,000 people in a city that’s considered to be geographically small and the lower mainland has a population of 2.85 million people so population clearly is not an issue not to mention the surrounding big cities in our region that would have people come out to support the team. Vancouver never failed the NBA is actually the NBA that failed Vancouver. We would open our arms to a brand new team again as the team would succeed here with a solid foundation of a good base which we have …… this is the truth.