Don Redding

Email Donald S Redding Sr

Web Page: www.donredding.com………………………….3720-M Park Road, Charlotte NC 28209

Home Telephone , Cell Telephone 4

Mr. Robert L. Johnson

Charlotte Basketball

100 Hive Drive

Charlotte, NC 28217

6/19/2003

(This is http://www.donredding.com/robertjohnson20030619.html )
(See http://www.donredding.com/20010801hornets.html)

Dear Mr. Johnson,

Thank you for your letter letting me know you want me to buy season tickets for pro basketball again. The purpose of this letter is to:

seek assurances, compared with the Hornets’ experience, that the city will do a better job supporting the team and its fans and that the new team will be more responsive to the fans of Charlotte.

I am sending a copy of this letter to Mayor McCrory, Lynn Wheeler, Sarah Spencer, and Joe White in the event they care to help you reply.

Attached is a listing of what I liked about the Hornet experiences and what turned me off . You will notice many of the negatives were the result of matters controlled by the city as well as the Hornets.. I am interested in how these negatives will be addressed in the future. Many were not addressed in the past despite many requests.

I was a charter ticket holder for the Hornets (and also bought many Cougar tickets in Raleigh) and at one time had 5 season tickets, dropping to 4 by the last season. I have 9 Panther season tickets, tickets to UNC basketball and football games so I think I could be described as a sports fan. I played football at UNC and made Phi Beta Kappa. I think my opinion should be worth something but evidently it is not as letters to various council members have been unanswered including Joe White, Lynn Wheeler, and Sara Spencer.

Mayor McCrory responded once and someone from the coliseum called me after one of my letters to him. I have not had the courtesy of any response from Wheeler, Spencer, and White. I tried several times with Lynn Wheeler but it is obvious she does not care enough to respond to me

Mystery and secrets exist. Why PSL’s was not used so the folks using the arena would pay their share is a mystery. Why the city would even consider a new arena unless it were larger and could accommodate ACC tournament games is a mystery unless everyone knows the NBA support will not be there. Then to put it downtown where traffic will be a nightmare is beyond me. And for the city to do all this with the voters having said no which was a “slap in the face “ of the public as one of our lreaders said before the action, is reminiscent of Coach Silas famous obscene gesture to the referees of his displeasure with a call. And on and on.

The response from the city was no better than from Mr. Shinn. I never could figure out why the city or Hornets (both said it was the other’s responsibility) did not fix the scoreboard so one could see if seated in the end zonethe seconds, minutes, and score especially near the end of close games is a mystery. They tried by putting tiny details on the screen and that did not work during commericails and cartoons which often were run during the action..

It is tough for you coming in here as an outsider. Shinn became an outsider way before he had troubles as he moved to SC and other places to avoid paying the State of NC taxes, I understand. It is tough to be counting on playing in an arena which the community voted down. Also it will be tough to overcome the use of the Clemson, Tennessee, and Texas colors, and I really wonder who advised you on that decision I have a new Bobcat T-shirt but the color is so Clemson like that I took it off rather than wear it outside today. When I went jogging. Maybe I will get used to it. Maybe there are more Clemson fans in the area than I realize.

I look forward to your assurances and to any comments you have on the items listed.

Sincerely yours

Don Redding

D:\Data\Data_Word\Robert Johnson (1).Doc

Copy: Wheeler, Spencer, White, McCrory