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Former NBA Commissioner David Stern died yesterday at the age of 77.
Stern was Commissioner of the NBA for 30 years, in which time Charlotte launched a new franchise, lost that franchise to New Orleans and got a second franchise.
Pat McCrory was Mayor of Charlotte during the transistional period when the original Hornets were considering the move to New Orleans.
McCrory recounts the story of a meeting with the NBA owners in New York called by Stern to present the argument to keep the team in Charlotte.
A scheduling conflict with the President of the United States caused the meeting to pushed back from Stern's original time.
After much turmoil of getting from the meeting with President Bush to New York to meet with the NBA, McCrory was ultimately about 10 minutes late despite Stern's caution against being a minute late.
The presentation was given and the team moved to New Orleans anyway. However, the NBA was impressed enough with Charlotte to grant an expansion team to the city a short time later.
In this video McCrory gives the inside story from the perpesctive that is not available anywhere else.