Johnson, who founded Black Entertainment Television and turned it into a multibillion-dollar enterprise, was awarded the NBA's newest expansion franchise in Charlotte last December. "What the NBA has gotten in Johnson is a calm, relatively soft-spoken but no-nonsense man who nonetheless had the drive to build his fortune from scratch and has the toughness to brush off the inevitable racism and criticism he encountered on the way," writes SI's Phil Taylor.
"My mission is to create a profitable franchise that the people of Charlotte can be excited about and proud of," says Johnson in the article. "One of the by-products of that will be that people will see something they've never seen before – a successful sports team owned by an African-American, with other African-Americans in major positions of authority. The message that sends is powerful, to both black and white people. If we can do that, everybody wins."
The City of Charlotte hired Ellerbe Becket to design the new arena where Johnson's team will play. Target opening date is fall 2005.
The new Charlotte Arena is Ellerbe Becket’s 16th NBA/NHL facility, more than any other design firm. Ellerbe Becket’s resume includes Madison Square Garden in New York City, the Fleet Center in Boston, Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, America West Arena in Phoenix, the Rose Garden in Portland and the just-completed SBC Center in San Antonio. Another Ellerbe Becket project, FedEx Forum in Memphis, is under construction and scheduled for completion in 2004.
