Charlotte May Be Michael Jordan's Kind of Town

On Friday night at the United Center Chicago Bulls legend and newly anointed Hall of Famer Michael Jordan could be seen in a luxury box wearing a Blackhawks jersey with the name Jordan and number 23 on the back.  While it's unknown whether or not His Airness is a big hockey fan or just wanted to make his presence felt, it's starting to look like Jordan may become a bigger name in the Charlotte area shortly.

Jordan bought a minority stake in the Charlotte Bobcats back in 2006 and was given total control of basketball operations by majority owner Robert Johnson shortly there after.  Well, now Johnson, who also owns BET, is wondering if it's about time he sold his share of the team.  He's losing money in the franchise as they struggle to become a contender in the Eastern Conference and Johnson is looking for a way out of his $300 million investment.

One of the people who may be interested in taking over complete control of the team?  The aerial artist himself.

"My interest to grow as an investor is still strong," said Jordan. "Purchasing the whole team I don't think that's an option right now. But if parts of the team become available, financially, if I can afford it, I'd definitely like to grow my investment."

The franchise value of the Bobcats was recently valued at $284 million by Forbes magazine, $16 million less than what Johnson paid for it, so coming to an agreement on the price of majority ownership for Jordan may be hard to accomplish.

Still, as a Bulls fan, you can't help but feel a little wierd thinking about the greatest player in your team's history owning another franchise.  Wasn't seeing him in that Wizards jersey hard enough? 

You also have to wonder if Jordan could turn the Bobcats into not only a winner, but a profitable one at that.  While he failed in Washington, the Bobcats showed signs of improvement last season under Larry Brown, whom Jordan hired.   It's not going to be easy but we don't want to tell Michael he can't do it.

That would only guarantee he would, and imagine how painful it would be to see the Bobcats getting to the NBA Finals one day at the Bulls expense.

Along with writing for NBCCHICAGO.com, Tom Fornelli can also be found contributing at FanHouse, SPORTSbyBROOKS, and his own Chicago sports blog Foul Balls.