Commissioner Adam Silver and the NBA officially pulled the 2017 All-Star Game out of Charlotte on Thursday due to its HB2 law. Now the league is looking for a new host city and Chicago might be in luck.
Silver and NBA executives are currently looking at their options for the All-Star Game that will take place in February of 2017. The Vertical reported that New Orleans has emerged as the favorite, but other cities are making a push to land the game.
One of those cities is Chicago, according to ESPN:
Several other NBA cities have become options, including Chicago and New York/Brooklyn, sources told ESPN. Louisiana, Illinois and New York all have specific state protections that don’t allow for discrimination against LGBT people, with specific legislation passed this year.
Chicago has hosted the All-Star Game twice, both times at Chicago Stadium. The last time the city hosted was 1988 when Michael Jordan and Dominique Wilkins put on a show for the crowd in the Slam Dunk Contest:
Bringing the All-Star Game to Chicago would help the city as athletes descend on the weekend of events for multiple days. The United Center is also big enough to host the All-Star Game and the events that go along with it. But would the Bulls actually want it?
Back in 2012, owner Jerry Reinsdorf said he’d be opposed to the game being in Chicago:
“They’d have to force me to take the All-Star Game,” Jerry Reinsdorf said. “They take over the building, your season-ticket holders have to be in a lottery to see if they get tickets and then they don’t get a good ticket. Really, no good can come out of it and all it can do is upset your fans.”
It’s been four years since Reisndorf said that, maybe he changed his mind?
Jimmy Butler denies any part in former Bulls departing
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