Nuggets, WWE Hit a Rocky Mountain Low

[Mortgage_Man_X]

Nuggets, WWE Hit a Rocky Mountain Low

By Martin Smith, 05/19/2009

Owner’s apparent lack of faith leads to scheduling conflict with pro wrestling show.

Vince McMahon couldn’t have scripted this if he tried.

World Wrestling Entertainment’s colorful owner issued an unusual challenge today. He has offered to “go toe to toe” with Denver Nuggets owner Stan Kroenke.

Considering that Kroenke made his fortune (Estimated at 3.5 Billion dollars) in real estate, it’s unfathomable why McMahon would want to challenge Kroenke to such a façade. That is, until you look at the schedule for the Pepsi Arena on May 25th.

On this day, there is a scheduled WWE Raw event that has already sold out, as most WWE events tend to do. However, despite the fact that the event has been scheduled since August 2008, there is a minor conflict of interest here. The Denver Nuggets are scheduled to play the Los Angeles Lakers in Game Four of the Western Conference finals at the Pepsi Center on the same date.

Now, this raises several questions within itself, but one that stands out in my mind is this: How in the world does Stan Kroenke schedule use of the arena to the WWE when there is a good chance his Nuggets could be playing a home playoff game at this time. One of two answers is plausible:

1. Kroenke had little faith in his team’s ability to make it this far into the playoffs despite the presence of such starts as Chauncey Billups, Kenyon Martin and Carmelo Anthony, among others.
2. Vince McMahon is correct when he says Kroenke should be arrested for being a “bad businessman”, because in my personal view, this is felony stupid.

Neither scenario looks good for Kroenke.

If I was Vince McMahon, I would make the Nuggets honor the contract. It would be refreshing to see the big, bad NBA turned on its ear for once. It would border on hilarity to see it done by a man who runs what is paramount to men’s soap opera.

Good luck, Nuggets fans. Here’s to hoping that your team can perform without the circus sideshow. That, and the WWE event thing too.

[sois]

Thats awesome, WWE is now cool.

[-GoBengals-]

This doesnt make much sense marty.

the nba schedule can alter by day or so depending on series length and other factors, and certainly in august of last year, before the nba season would even start, would this seem to be an obstacle.. had they won a few more games they'd be in home court advantage, so perhaps he assumed they would be doing even better? and Billups wasnt even on the team when the event was scheduled. that trade happened in November.

pretty hollow article.

minimal truth, incorrect information, and i dont quite understand the "big bad NBA turned on their ear for once" doesnt really make sense.. how are they big and bad? they are probably the professional sports league suffering the most.

i assume moving a game one day on one direction or another would somehow be turning them on their ear?..

the odds of the game hitting when it did was so insanely obscure no one could predict it, and scheduling a multi million dollar event at your arena and worst case dealing with a single game conflict later isnt exactly terrible business.. not like they are going to cancel a playoff game. he still gets all the money he would have had it fallen otherwise.

[Mortgage_Man_X]

[quote name='GoBengals' post='777457' date='May 19 2009, 09:23 PM']This doesnt make much sense marty.

the nba schedule can alter by day or so depending on series length and other factors, and certainly in august of last year, before the nba season would even start, would this seem to be an obstacle.. had they won a few more games they'd be in home court advantage, so perhaps he assumed they would be doing even better? and Billups wasnt even on the team when the event was scheduled. that trade happened in November.

pretty hollow article.

minimal truth, incorrect information, and i dont quite understand the "big bad NBA turned on their ear for once" doesnt really make sense.. how are they big and bad? they are probably the professional sports league suffering the most.

i assume moving a game one day on one direction or another would somehow be turning them on their ear?..

the odds of the game hitting when it did was so insanely obscure no one could predict it, and scheduling a multi million dollar event at your arena and worst case dealing with a single game conflict later isnt exactly terrible business.. not like they are going to cancel a playoff game. he still gets all the money he would have had it fallen otherwise.[/quote]

Ryan,

Couple of holes in your logic. The NBA has already refused to do anything about the game, saying it's an issue between the Nuggets and the WWE. The Nuggets had the Number two seed, so if Houston had beaten LA, the series would have been in Houston on the evening of the WWE cast. Denver's management gambled, and they lost. Besides, I didn't say that the no faith thing was the only option. I also said it was possibe they were just stupid. It does not matter what you think your team will do, you don't schedule your arena to be in use when there is a chance there will be a playoff game there. The contract bewteen the WWE and the Nuggets was not even signed until last month. Knowing that a tenative playoff schedule is set at the beginning of the season, Denver should have taken better precautions to ensure this does not happen. The NBA ALWAYS plays on Memorial Day Monday.

Subistute Billups for AI if you wish. AI is as big (If not bigger) of a star.

It's also funny that you would defend the NBA. The league is full of crooked refs, yet if you are a player and you speak out against the officals, you're fined. Besides, the NBA can't be suffering that bad. Unlike the NHL, the league isn't running any of the teams.

[-GoBengals-]

[quote name='Mortgage_Man_X' post='777492' date='May 19 2009, 11:40 PM']Ryan,

Couple of holes in your logic. The NBA has already refused to do anything about the game, saying it's an issue between the Nuggets and the WWE. The Nuggets had the Number two seed, so if Houston had beaten LA, the series would have been in Houston on the evening of the WWE cast. Denver's management gambled, and they lost. Besides, I didn't say that the no faith thing was the only option. I also said it was possibe they were just stupid. It does not matter what you think your team will do, you don't schedule your arena to be in use when there is a chance there will be a playoff game there. The contract bewteen the WWE and the Nuggets was not even signed until last month. Knowing that a tenative playoff schedule is set at the beginning of the season, Denver should have taken better precautions to ensure this does not happen. The NBA ALWAYS plays on Memorial Day Monday.

Subistute Billups for AI if you wish. AI is as big (If not bigger) of a star.

It's also funny that you would defend the NBA. The league is full of crooked refs, yet if you are a player and you speak out against the officals, you're fined. Besides, the NBA can't be suffering that bad. Unlike the NHL, the league isn't running any of the teams.[/quote]

ai isnt half as valuable as billups. all AI is doing is taking shots away from other good players... billups is a much better option for a team with carmelo and a shooter like smith, and powerful inside guys as well.

probably why they didnt go too far with AI...

probably why the pistons sunk soon after the trade... not that AI was even around much..

and there was a chance of a playoff game just about any of those days, especially when planning back in august of 2008.

how is the NBA different than the NFL? coaches cant speak out on the refs in football either, or they are fined.. how is that different?

as if all nfl refs seem on the up and up to you? and your last statement doesnt really make sense, ok there may be one worse going league, doesnt make the nba's situation any better.

still, youve got a 50/50 shot of hitting a homegame in that time frame, if you make it that far, which no matter how big of a homer you are theres always a possibility you wont... either way its a gamble. shit happens.

looks like you enjoy wrestling a bit much..... and for some reason hate the NBA.

to each his own i guess... whats the point of putting that the event was scheduled in august 2008 if the contract wasnt signed until april?

sounds like a big pointless media pot-stir. theyll make more money on the nuggets game easily, tickets are more, and they get more of the revenue obviously. so wwe will get bumped or moved.... unless there is another easy fix along the way.

[|Elflocko|]

I just think the whole thing is fucking hilarious...

[#22]

Actually, I seem to remember a story where the tightwad owner of the Cincinnati Royals made them play a home playoff game against the Celtics somewhere besides the Gardens because he had booked a Circus.

[Mortgage_Man_X]

[quote name='GoBengals' post='777497' date='May 20 2009, 01:10 AM']ai isnt half as valuable as billups. all AI is doing is taking shots away from other good players... billups is a much better option for a team with carmelo and a shooter like smith, and powerful inside guys as well.

probably why they didnt go too far with AI...

probably why the pistons sunk soon after the trade... not that AI was even around much..

and there was a chance of a playoff game just about any of those days, especially when planning back in august of 2008.

how is the NBA different than the NFL? coaches cant speak out on the refs in football either, or they are fined.. how is that different?

as if all nfl refs seem on the up and up to you? and your last statement doesnt really make sense, ok there may be one worse going league, doesnt make the nba's situation any better.

still, youve got a 50/50 shot of hitting a homegame in that time frame, if you make it that far, which no matter how big of a homer you are theres always a possibility you wont... either way its a gamble. shit happens.

looks like you enjoy wrestling a bit much..... and for some reason hate the NBA.

to each his own i guess... whats the point of putting that the event was scheduled in august 2008 if the contract wasnt signed until april?

sounds like a big pointless media pot-stir. theyll make more money on the nuggets game easily, tickets are more, and they get more of the revenue obviously. so wwe will get bumped or moved.... unless there is another easy fix along the way.[/quote]

AI may not be as half as valuable as Billups, but I'd lay $100 votes out that says AI gets in the Hall before Phillips.....and that AI gets a higher precentage as well.

The mere fact that there could have been a playoff game on that date should have detered the Nuggets from scheduling an event at the arena. When you own a billion dollar NBA franchise, you don't screw up the chance to sell $300+ playoff tickets for a one time money shot with the WWE.

As it pertains to refs.....1. The NFL refs are a LOT more accurate than the NBA refs. 2. There are no recent episodes in the NFL where a ref has mob ties and is changing the out come of games. and 3. NFL refs seem to be more willing to admit they are wrong, as does the NFL.

You said that the NBA has it worst among all professional sports franchises. I was simply refuting that point.

It's simply bad business to take a chance on a 50/50 gamble with a sports franchise as big as the Nuggets for some one off WWE event. Schedule the damn WWE in the summer, when the NBA is out of season.

I do not enjoy the WWE, nor do I hate the NBA. In the article, if you would quit cherry picking my comments, I stated that the WWE was equated to a men's soap opera.

The bottom line is this: The Nugets will have to eat the loss, and they come out with egg on their face in the face of their fans. Despite how ridicilous the whoe WWE is, Vince McMahon is not an idiot, and he will use the full leverage of the press and of the contract he has with Denver to make this a very benefical situation for himself.