Which is why I'm all for that new hotel in the Rose Quarter that Sam Adams got so much crap from the county for looking into. Obviously it doesn't make sense just to build a hotel to attract an All-Star game, but it would help our case for getting the game.
LA is a world class city. It's hard to begrudge the NBA for putting the all-star game there IMO. Ed O.
Chicago hasn't had the Allstar game since Michael Jordan stole the show at Chicago Stadium. And Stern can't really shovel that amenities crap.
So they go to LA twice in 7 years, and have a city that doesn't even have an NBA team host the damn thing, and we still don't get to sniff it. I understand market size, and all that crap, but this is ridiculous. I could understand maybe returning to LA 10 years after they hosted it, but 7 years? Before they even have ever come to a team that has been in the god damn league for (at that point) over 40 years?
You're right. It's only the 47th largest city proper population in the world and 13th largest urban area population and metro area population in the world. Hollywood. Disneyland. Overrated, indeed. Ed O.
Disneyland is especially overrated because Disney World is ten times better, and in a much better city (Orlando), which also has the NBA Restaurant on City Walk.
Weather has a lot to do with it, too. The NBA wants AS weekend to be a big money maker, and Portland in the middle of February isn't a very attractive destination for people no matter what is going on there.
in 2004. they set up a tent in a fucking parking lot and that was about it. i went to the All Star Saturday night activities and leaving the place it was a ghetto-fest downtown.
Orlando is not a much better city. It has a ton of theme parks, but it has little in the way of other things, like world-class restaurants, stores, theaters, etc. And the weather is better in LA. LA has dry warmth/heat, while Orlando is humid. As for Disneyworld versus Disneyland, Disneyworld has Epcot Center, which is great for some, boring for others. But in terms of the actual amusement parks, Disneyworld actually has LESS rides, as it's missing the Matterhorn.
So it's overrated because there's another, better place? That doesn't follow. It's like saying that Sears Tower is overrated because it's not the tallest building in the world. Visitors from across the country and around the world flock to both Disneyland and Disney World. Disneyland is just one element of a massively rich tapestry that makes LA so relevant internationally. Ed O.
The ASG will never be hosted in Portland for exactly the same reason that Milwaukee, Salt Lake City, Minneapolis, et al. will never host the game -- they are all small markets with terrible weather in the middle of February.
