Croce: 'Perfect time' for prospective new Sixers owners
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Croce: 'Perfect time' for prospective new Sixers owners
Bob Cooney
The Daily News caught up with former Sixers president Pat Croce on the reported "imminent" sale of the team.
"I think if you get bought by a passionate owner, who is into it 100 percent, I think it's great ... You want that owner who is dedicated, who has leadership, who will bleed red, white and blue.
"When I was there, I didn't care about any other team. I wanted the Sixers to be better than the Flyers, the Eagles and the Phillies. I still rooted for those teams, but I wanted us to be the best, to be the No. 1 team among the fans.
"When we took over in 1996, we hadn't been to the playoffs in 8 years, it was almost an insult to be a Sixers fan. I would think between 1996 and 2001, we unleashed the basketball spirit in the city. Now the new owners know that the fans are out there. They might be a little dormant, but they're out there. My man Doug Collins is so passionate, so dedicated, so right for the franchise. You can smell success with him.
"It's not like you're buying the Dallas Mavericks, who have been a top level team, but this is a great time to be taking over that franchise. A perfect time. Sixers fans will hope, and demand, whoever it is taking over gives it their all. You can't beat the city of Philadelphia or its fans."
- USAFirst and popoff - get a clue, both of you. Without a new taxpayer-funded stadium, do you think the Phillies would be the same team they are? You think they would be selling out every game like they are? Hint: no. How much sales tax do you think the city collects each year in ticket revenues, food sales, merchandise sales, parking revenue, TV rights, ETC ETC the list goes on. Plus added SEPTA ridership. Oh, don't forget all the extra jobs needed to staff a sold-out stadium 82 nights/year versus the same stadium with only 9,000 fans in the seats. The city has made it's money back on CBP, many times over. USAFirst must not, as a suffering taxpayer, derive any personal benefit or enjoyment from having a winning baseball team in Philadelphia. I know I personally like having a great team here in Philly, so I'm glad the city ponied up the dough to build this town a world-class venue.
— NE 2 yunk - Ok ,, so I am supposed to believe that the NBA lost "OVER" 1 billion in the last three years. Yea right,, these are the type of stories that they tell to get us to build stadiums with taxpayer money. Anyone who believes that story,, I have a bridge that will get you to Jersey that I can sell to you "REAL CHEAP". — phillyroni
- What's hundreds of millions of dollars to gain access to the minds of Thorn and Stefansky? Rumor is Sixers are moving to Area 51!— pedge
- Everything is great in croce's world.— Anthony77
- Lol... Thanks for reading my mind, Quixote.— bglmn
Comment removed.- USAFirst1's point is a valid one though. i guarantee the nba isn't "losing" any $. perhaps their ROI is lower than they projected 15 years ago figuring on a 15% annual profit, or some such accounting bogus-value. that's not what most people think of when they think of "losing $" though. if they're losing $ for real they'd be shutting the league down for good & moving it to Mexico or China or something. but what do i know, I'm just a tv clown. uggghhhhh,— Krusty
- Croce is old news and was irrelevant to the Sixers limited success of a decade ago. He's an old man trying to be a young man- not pretty.— Northcountry
- missybelle, That was an ignorant comment.
— spear1 - This guy is a leverage buyout guy - meaning he is going to take on a lot of debt to buythe team and not have money for payroll. Look what McCourt did to the Dodgers!!!!— LA Mike
- Open up the book, Pat.— Philly Fan in Kuwait
- MissyBelle is particially correct - Pro-ball (and college) has become very very boring (racial makeup has absolutely nothing to do with it). I cannot stand (no pun intended) the 3-point shot. Course there are way too many teams, not enough good players to support very many competive teams.— mrdip
- Comment removed.
- I always wished Pat Croce would wind up with a piece of the team, perhaps as managing partner. The franchise could obviously use his energy and marketing savvy!— downtheshore
- Comment removed.
Bob Cooney has been at the Daily News for more than 20 years, working in the sports department for the past 15. This is his third season on the Sixers beat. He has covered just about everything, but mostly college basketball, where he was the La Salle beat writer for six seasons. E-mail Bob at cooneyb@phillynews.com and follow him on Twitter.
