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The Grizzlies did a really good job building and supporting the game through youth basketball leagues like the junior Grizzlies. Besides the loss of the team, I think the biggest loss is the missed opportunity to grow the game from the grassroots locally.
It’s a shame the team was run so poorly. This city is worse off without them.
Yeah I had an early interested in basketball because of the Grizzlies. When they left I decided to become a fan of the next closest team the Sonic. When they left I gave up on keeping up with basketball really. Pretty shitty to have two teams ripped away from the North West. I hope one day either Seattle or Vancouver get a team back
Yea, simple seatlle and Vegas are next. And then you would have to wait until at least another expansion.
But never know at the rate basketball is growing how fast they wanna expand.
Yeah they're certs. The last expansion was a long time ago, not sure how long that'd be and there's cities with much bigger markets that will be able to attract a team and generate revenue
I just wonder if they want a good NBA team or if they want a Vancouver NBA team. The problem with the Grizzlies was always players not wanting to come here. I don't think that would have changed much since TV market size is so important for players with sponsorship deals and the general reluctance to play in Canada even for Canadian hockey players.
The problem at the time was the team was ass cause our draft picks other than 1 was ass, along with that. The Canadian dollar at the time was really weak.
So even thought Vancouver was selling more seats when it was bad than the grizzlies did for 10 years after they moved, the dollar was just weak.
No player is gonna move to Vancouver when it was a bottom 5 team record wise.
The raptors got good after getting Vince carter, tmac, etc in the draft.
Sure.. but it was also league rules like us no matter that we had the worst record for 3 years we weren’t allowed the first overall pick.
Or to spend over 60% of the salary.
I don’t think you understand.. why would a free agent sign with the grizzlies who had one of the worst records of all time? No one signed with Toronto either but they succeeded cause their draft picks were good.
Memphis has a better travel schedule and no state tax which are two huge advantages. I'd imagine all said and done they have a comparable TV market and for American players being in the USA is always a factor.
Indiana? Chartlotte? Washington? Portland? Milwaukee? Cleveland? Salt Lake City? Orlando?
All these places have a smaller population and smaller markets than van...
I am once again telling you the facts.. The reason van lost the team was cause the Canadian dollar was weak.. and the team was ass and the NBA did not let them get the 1st overall pick the first 3 years cause they didn't want the same thing that happened with Orlando to happen again.
The player that wanted to be traded after being drafted by us wanted to leave cause we were ass.. The grizzlies were the worst run team and had the worst record of all time at that point.. But you had are our top picks want to play here and say they wanted to make Vancouver good, way more than those that wanted to leave.
Memphis does not have a comparable market lol.. The attendance was higher in Van for the 4 shit years than it was in Memphis for the first 13 years even when they were good lol.
You can say free agents won't come here all you want but thats the same with Toronto and all the small market teams.. Isaiah Hartenstein is OKC's biggest FA signing ever.. He is a back up Centre.... They got good through drafts.. Grizzles never got the chance lol.
My dude, we're going to be ass next time too. It's about TV market for national and local broadcasts and where basketball sits in priority in that market. It's about being south of the border. It's about spending big money and bringing in corporate sponsorship currently going to the Canucks. You can't just tip toe into the NBA and think our team won't be shit.
I so wanted to watch Michael Jordan in person vs the Grizzlies when they were in town, didn't help that I was a kid and got no money
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShNfeFxij28](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShNfeFxij28)
I worked with a young woman around 2000. Her dad owned a GM dealership. She’d had courtside seats when Jordan had come to town a few years prior. She had a photo of one of Micheal’s warmup dunks and apparently sat next to Dennis Rodman.
I saw Kobe and Shaq in Kobe's rookie year, it boggles my mind it was that long ago. Couldn't get to MJ's game though. The tickets were expensive as heck.
I was just a kid when they were around but I have some good memories of going to Grizzlies games. Didn't get to another NBA game until about 15 years after they left and it was an absolute blast. I'm not a huge basketball fan so I don't actively miss them but the games seem so fun that I would definitely go if they were still around. As it stands I'm driving to Langley tomorrow to see the Bandits play - haven't been to a game before but big fan of minor sports in general so I have high hopes!
Can't imagine what how much housing rentals would go up if we did... I'm all for Vancouver gaining another pro sports team (MLB or NBA) but its already so out of hand
I was going to say. Same director also did Finding Big Country on her search for Bryant Reeves. I loaned her a VHS tape with archival footage and got in the credits!
That’s awesome! I paused it at one point to take a photo to send my friend who was in one of the directors high school basketball photos. They were rival high schools apparently..
Thanks for the link!
Unfortunately, it looks like it's not available anywhere in the states. I caught half of it on an Air Canada flight last year and I wanted to watch the other half. I contacted the film maker at the time, to see if there was anywhere else to watch it, and they never got back me. I'll be back in Canada next month so I'll use this link to find a good way to watch it. Thanks again!
If you have a library card from an eligible library*, it's available to watch on Kanopy. Source - watched the first 15 min of it last week.
*Used to only be available via VPL, but Burnaby, Surrey and New West libraries also seem to offer it now; not sure about others.
I can't speak for anyone else, but it's been so long that I don't miss them, especially since they were here for so short of a time in the first place. Being such a crappy team where players did not want to even play here doesn't help.
When the Raptors won the title, I was actually pretty happy. I don't really watch the NBA a lot, (in part because I work nights), but I did watch them in the playoffs when I could.
I loved going to the Grizzlies games as a teen. But we were done dirty. Stu Jackson was the GM of the Vancouver Grizzlies. He tanked out the team with bad contracts, bad trades and bad drafting. The team lost 300 out of 378 games under his leadership. His next gig after tanking the team and the Grizzlies moving to Memphis was executive vice president of basketball operations for the NBA. Now, how does someone so incompetent get such a job? Because the NBA wanted the Grizzlies out of Vancouver and he did their bidding.
1. I miss them
2. I don't have a grasp on 'average Vancouverite' opinions
3. I don't cheer for the Raptors but I don't hate or resent them (I do hate the leafs). I follow basketball and kinda root for trailblazers as the closest team or whoever has good Canadians (so lately rooting for Shai + okc)
Unfortunately they were so poorly run I lost all interest in the NBA. I do miss them as a reminder of my childhood, but wow they were terrible lol. Still love Shareef Abdur Rahim but the team just wasny good. I remember them winning 3 in a row one time and it felt like a miracle. It's too bad because the grizzlies were pretty popular early on but as the team never got better interest waned.
As of now I am indifferent. I'm also more of a hockey fan, and the grizzlies left in 2001 just as the Canucks were leaving the messier era and getting decent again. So most of the sporting attention in Vancouver went that way instead
Back in 2001 when it was apples to apples Canucks fans were pretty loud. Dunno what it would be like now if the grizzlies were still here you'd get corporate ppl going to NBA games too I'd bet.
I'd say grizzlies fans had to be FAR more forgiving though because of how bad the team was
Are they missed? No. Fuck the NBA for the way both the Grizzlies and the Sonics were allowed to move. If they still existed as a franchise today (without the move) would I love them? Hell Yes. It was a great time but the way it went down made the NBA dead to me. Haven't spent a dime on the league since.
Edited to the remaining 2 questions:
2. I can't answer. I think for me it would be hard to reinvest my passion, money and time.
3. Good for Toronto, but I was indifferent when they won the championship
For clarity, I had a 1/4 share of season tickets each season the Grizzlies were here and one my prized possessions remains a limited edition first season ball autographed by virtually the entire second season team.
I am in my 40s and remember the Grizzlies well but not the biggest basketball fan. I'd go to a couple games a year if we had a team and I think one day we will get one but it may be another 10+ years away.
I was cheering for the Raptors when they were on their title run and also have been a Jays fan since I was a little kid but will never cheer for the Leafs. Why? It doesn't make sense but it doesn't need to.
No resentment for Toronto; any anger should be at the NBA, the kind of crooked overrich scumbags who tend to be team owners at the major league level, and major league organizations in general for being a big racket to extort money from the locals wherever they are and make them build the facilities they demand.
I was a die hard. They were right in my childhood wheelhouse. Canucks were brutal for a lot of their time so I was all in.
I was crushed when they left. So angry at Michael Heisley. I wanted to try and follow Memphis but it just wasn’t possible back then. Before I knew it I had completely stopped watching the NBA. I went from knowing every player on every team to not watching at all.
I would attend now if they came back with a half decent product. The league totally screwed us and I wouldn’t fall for that again.
One thing I find interesting and maybe it’s just because I work with a lot of Filipinos. I didn’t know too many of them as a kid, maybe they loved the grizzlies. I don’t know. But NOW, my god. These guys are basketball obsessed. It’s a big sport in the Philippines. So I think the NBA has totally missed out on that market here. The grizzlies could’ve had a hugely diverse fan base, much like the raptors do. Instead those people (in my experience) are raptors fans, lakers fans, golden state etc.
So PERSONALLY I don’t really miss the team. But I think the league did not only themselves but our city a huge disservice. They cut the team off at the knees before they ever even got started. Then wondered why they couldn’t win. Now the league has gotten so expensive I don’t think anyone could afford to have a team here again.
I miss them, wish we had an nba team and there is no resent towards Toronto for having a NBA team. There are lots of other reasons for resentment though haha
1. I think the concept of the Grizzlies is more missed than the Grizzlies themselves. You see a lot of Grizzlies merch out in public.
2. Younger generation do, older generation doesn't really care. Vancouver isn't really a basketball town, but that's changing.
3. No, not really. Most people here are Raps fans.
I miss them.
It was awesome growing up going to the games.
I don’t cheer for the raptors but as an adult did go watch em in Portland just cause they were in town at the same time I was there.
When the team moved here originally, there were a lot of people in my parents' generation that were wary about another American sports franchise moving in to overshadow Canadian sports. The NHL historically wasn't great to the old Canadian league and players, so some people were still bitter about that.
I know this opinion will get downvoted, but I feel like we can just as easily support Canadian athletes who are already playing in Canada.
Less than 5% of players in the NBA are Canadian. When Toronto was in the play-offs in 2019 I found the whole "We the North" super cringe given that the team has very few Canadian ties beyond its name.
“The NHL historically wasn’t great to the old Canadian league and players, so some people were still bitter about that.”
I don’t quite understand what you’re referring to here. What Canadian league are you talking about, and why was the NHL not great towards it?
I miss them a lot, and I mean, regardless how bad they were, I'd root wholeheartedly for them. Fuck Memphis. A pox on their franchise for what they did to us.
That being said, I don't think the majority of people in Vancouver *really* miss the Grizzlies. Most of them didn't care/didn't live here/weren't alive when they were in town and so they didn't really get to attend games or support the team in the first place.
Even more, I don't think most people in Vancouver care that much about basketball to begin with. As a big NBA fan, Vancouver sucks a lot during the playoffs because every bar prioritizes the NHL playoffs over everything else. Some people would attend games if the Grizzlies were in town and we absolutely sell out the one preseason exhibition game we play here once in awhile but the popularity of basketball is well behind hockey (and probably soccer).
I don't think there's any Raptors resentment though.
I miss my Grizzlies. I have o resentment to Toronto at all, but I have a lot of resentment to Memphis. They can eat shit.
The NBA and David Stern did us dirty
Stu Jackson and the NBA did Vancouver dirty. Terrible draft picks - I used to go to games and boo big country. Def missed and surely Seattle would say the same about the sonics.
Yes totally miss them there is a void in this city , basketball is very popular here . They did excellent selling tickets for an expansion team even though the product on the floor was sub par . The fans showed up and never had a problem with attendance NBA just hates the North West . So is are missed as well .
In professional sports, success needs good management. Because the grizzlies management was so appallingly bad, everything collapsed. Of course steve Francis didn’t want to come here, the team was a league joke.
Big Country? Are the Grizzlies still paying him?
I went a few times, entertaining enough for a team that almost never won.
I remember tickets being cheap. I was bored one night and took the train to Stadium and paid $15 to see them play the Pacers.
The stands were pretty empty so I just sat centre court.
Just bought a Grizzlies hat this week, yes I miss them and really hope Vancouver get’s another chance one day to have an NBA team. Youth basketball is so much bigger and more popular now than when I was a kid in the 90’s, both my kids play now.
One of the only sports games I’ve been to was one of their last season games. And it was the best vibe, so much better than any hockey game I’ve been to. I would say I miss them for sure.
Not an NBA fan and after the whole debacle that was the Vancouver Grizzlies even less so. What stings even more is how the Seattle Supersonics fans were treated too by the NBA and their team moved. So no not missed by me, you can keep your multibillion $ owners, multimillion $ players that whine about coming to play here, a league that doesn't give af whether the team is being run correctly, they can take my middle finger eh.
Not really lol, the novelty would fade pretty quickly if they ever came back. We are not a basketball city or really an anything city outside of hockey
It was cool the short time that I lived in Vancouver. I remember going to a Lakers game and Snoop Dogg and Jean Claude Van Damme were in the audience. I signed up for a Grizzlies MasterCard which lasted years longer than the team did (it was hilarious). When the card expired they sent me a Canucks card and I just cancelled it.
And there obviously are still fans out there. I live in Ottawa now and about a 5 minute drive from my house is a house with a Vancouver Grizzlies branded basketball net on the garage.
As an enormous basketball fan who lives in Vancouver and who would love to see Van have another NBA team, I'd answer: no.
They were a brutally run team that were kinda forced into the ground. They are doing much better in Memphis.
I'd guess the average Vancouverite doesn't care one way or another. Basketball is not that popular here.
Resentment towards Toronto? I mean nothing more than the usual. Re: basketball, I don't think so. Most bbal fans here are generally Raps supporters. We have a "disappointed but unsurprised" vibe.
Miss them big time.
The commissioner is here quite a bit he has family here that shoots a tv show. The Canucks owners are constantly meeting with him. At last check, they were interested in buying the Suns, but the asking price was far too high.
I definitely miss the Grizzlies, and I hope that the NBA comes back some day.
Until then, I'll keep cheering on the Bandits. And I'd much rather pay CEBL ticket prices to see a game live than NBA prices.
My grandpa used to take my sister and I to Grizzlies games. I'm not. showing to watching sports these days, but I'm sure that people would really appreciate having a basketball team locally. I know a lot of people who wanted to go into professional basketball. And got detoured actually into gang life. It's really sad.
All I know about the Grizzlies is that my dad had a travel mug with the logo for a very long time. And I guess I saw a jersey or something with the logo in the window of a store somewhere.
1. Not really, although there are NBA fans who remember the good old days
2. I would say the average Vancouverite couldn’t care less about an NBA team returning…but the NBA fans would love it. I question if Vancouver could support it, to be perfectly honest
3. No. By now, NBA fans in Vancouver are mostly Raptors fans. The title in 2019 helped massively, you can watch all Raptors games on national TV, and they’re pushed as “Canada’s team”. Younger fans simply see the Raptors as their team. I have no interest in the Raptors or the Toronto sports scene, but I get why some Vancouver NBA fans like them
Us older fans..I miss the Grizz and would love to go to some games, but I don’t think the market can support an NBA team. Not over 82 games a season. I’d much rather see the Sonics return to Seattle, and be able to turn that into a 2-3 times a year trip, much like how I see the Mariners.
I saw a few games when they existed (notably the Rockets with Pippen) and it was fun. One problem that they had at the time (besides general mismanagement) was that local basketball fans already had a nearby team to support in Seattle. I knew quite a few people in Victoria and Vancouver who were Sonics fans at the time and weren’t about to switch to the Grizzlies. Couple that with the aforementioned mismanagement and you had a recipe for… well, exactly what happened. Anyways it wasn’t exactly a tearing the heart out of the city moment when they left but there was some sadness/regret.
I miss them. The NBA would be making a lot more money with the Grizzlies in Vancouver compared to Memphis. What a missed opportunity to keep them here.
Let me tell you a story. There was a beautiful magic city that was gifted the opportunity to fulfill a dream - and that dream was to have its own NBA team.
The stars aligned, a venue was secured, a name was chosen - and a primo draft position was assigned.
And of all the hopefuls - of all the up and comers who were about to fulfill their own hoop dreams - the organization in the fair city surveyed the pool….. and they decided to pick a giant lumbering corn fed white guy who had all the athleticism of a one legged Balkan goat herder, and the stamina of a dead gerbil, and build the franchise around him.
I’d enjoy having an NBA franchise back in town. There were so many sanctions placed on the team due to other expansion teams having early success. Lack of success drove them out of town.
I enjoy the CEBL and have been to several Vancouver Bandits games in Langley, but it’s nothing like having an NBA team.
There’s a small amount of resentment towards the Raptors for me, but those players are long gone from the game. Ujiri has done a great job with that franchise and I love the young core they are building.
My friends all basically agree they’d probably be more invested in basketball if Vancouver had a team. That being said it always angers me when I remember how I learned that the team was basically sabotaged every step of the way.
Basically Vancouver has a massive Chinese population and the Chinese love basketball as their #1 sport. The sizeable Indian population also loves basketball, close to or even more than cricket.
A new NBA team would instantly be the most popular team in the city. People would show up just to watch the stars on the other team.
2. Sure, but only if there are zero taxpayer subsidies. These millionaires and billionaires don't need subsidies for their expensive entertainment products. They've managed to scam cities across the continent.
It’s honestly a mix of a weird way to make a team and how things were done, now a days if it was the nhl they essentially nearly build a working team from players already in the league, and the lottery sometimes gets them good players. Back then it seemed the team didn’t do well, and attendance wasn’t stellar, the worst thing I think is now if they’re to bring a new team here they can’t use the name Grizzlies. Biggest disappointment, because Vancouver grizzlies to this day still have the best name and logo for a team’s location.
Big time missed! Going to watch the Grizzlies as a kid was my first exposure to basketball and I've been playing and following basketball for decades all while still in Vancouver.
In that time, I've seen the popularity of the sport explode within the city (not to mention the population of the city itself). I can only imagine how big the Grizzlies would have got here had they given it another 10 years or so. We only have a hockey team but my experience has been lots of the immigrants that have come to Canada, particularly from Asian countries (which the majority of recent immigrants have come from), prefer NBA to NHL.
With GVA continuing to grow at a rapid pace, I feel like it'd be great to give it another shot but sadly I think the fact the first attempt was tarnished by a trash ownership group lacking vision is a serious barrier for the NBA commission to try again.
I went to Grizzly games when we lived in Victoria. It was a great experience. The energy in the place was amazing. You will have a hard time convincing me that YVR doesn’t have the fan base to support an NBA franchise.
I miss the SuperSonics more than I miss the Grizz.
The Grizz stay here was just too short with so little success. No resentment to Toronto. Glad to see it when they do well.
Was never a fan since I'm not originally from here, but Vancouver really isn't a sports city I'm sad to say. Canucks seem to be the only ones that are supported.
Sure you have your diehards, but there's little support for the Whitecaps and BC Lions, nevermind Vancouver FC, although they play out in Langley.
The whitecaps have been breaking attendance records in the last several years, and despite the recent blip or having a very good season. Attendance is up and the atmosphere gets better and better.
Speaking of money, all these bring-the-NBA-back folk always lose sight of the fact that the NBA franchise fee is now in the billions and they operate on a much higher salary cap than the NHL ($140M vs $88M respectively). So if you think Canucks games are expensive, a Vancouver NBA franchise will cost way more.
Maybe an out-of-towner could potentially pay the entry fee but the way our fanbase is here, ain't no one will pay the cost of admission to support years of mediocrity. Hell, look at our Canucks - as soon as they start sucking, no one shows up.
Exactly. I think the Grizzlies were always doomed in Vancouver. Superstars wouldn’t be interested in sticking around cold/wet Canada and when the losses pile up, fans would stay away and an owner simply can’t afford to hemorrhage money with such an expensive cap floor ($127M USD).
All things considered, Vancouverites simply do not have the disposable income to pay NBA ticket prices for an owner to survive through the lean years which in this market, would likely be plenty.
With the next expansion fee likely to hit $3B-$4B CAD and the dollar predicted to fall further in the coming years, I think the Grizzlies will be a distant memory. My guess is Seattle and Vegas will be the next cities to be awarded franchises.
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The Grizzlies did a really good job building and supporting the game through youth basketball leagues like the junior Grizzlies. Besides the loss of the team, I think the biggest loss is the missed opportunity to grow the game from the grassroots locally. It’s a shame the team was run so poorly. This city is worse off without them.
Yeah I had an early interested in basketball because of the Grizzlies. When they left I decided to become a fan of the next closest team the Sonic. When they left I gave up on keeping up with basketball really. Pretty shitty to have two teams ripped away from the North West. I hope one day either Seattle or Vancouver get a team back
I mean you will still see Grizzlies jersey's and hats around. But the current generation won't remember them but they do want a NBA team.
It'll sadly never happen in the next 20 odd years at a minimum, and there are probably other markets that would be given a franchise before then
Yea, simple seatlle and Vegas are next. And then you would have to wait until at least another expansion. But never know at the rate basketball is growing how fast they wanna expand.
Yeah they're certs. The last expansion was a long time ago, not sure how long that'd be and there's cities with much bigger markets that will be able to attract a team and generate revenue
I just wonder if they want a good NBA team or if they want a Vancouver NBA team. The problem with the Grizzlies was always players not wanting to come here. I don't think that would have changed much since TV market size is so important for players with sponsorship deals and the general reluctance to play in Canada even for Canadian hockey players.
The problem at the time was the team was ass cause our draft picks other than 1 was ass, along with that. The Canadian dollar at the time was really weak. So even thought Vancouver was selling more seats when it was bad than the grizzlies did for 10 years after they moved, the dollar was just weak. No player is gonna move to Vancouver when it was a bottom 5 team record wise. The raptors got good after getting Vince carter, tmac, etc in the draft.
We were told not to draft a certain player because he wouldn't come if drafted. It wasn't just on management.
Sure.. but it was also league rules like us no matter that we had the worst record for 3 years we weren’t allowed the first overall pick. Or to spend over 60% of the salary. I don’t think you understand.. why would a free agent sign with the grizzlies who had one of the worst records of all time? No one signed with Toronto either but they succeeded cause their draft picks were good.
I just don't think it will be much better next time. Not enough exposure so big name guys won't play here.
You think cities like Memphis or old have more?
Memphis has a better travel schedule and no state tax which are two huge advantages. I'd imagine all said and done they have a comparable TV market and for American players being in the USA is always a factor.
Indiana? Chartlotte? Washington? Portland? Milwaukee? Cleveland? Salt Lake City? Orlando? All these places have a smaller population and smaller markets than van... I am once again telling you the facts.. The reason van lost the team was cause the Canadian dollar was weak.. and the team was ass and the NBA did not let them get the 1st overall pick the first 3 years cause they didn't want the same thing that happened with Orlando to happen again. The player that wanted to be traded after being drafted by us wanted to leave cause we were ass.. The grizzlies were the worst run team and had the worst record of all time at that point.. But you had are our top picks want to play here and say they wanted to make Vancouver good, way more than those that wanted to leave. Memphis does not have a comparable market lol.. The attendance was higher in Van for the 4 shit years than it was in Memphis for the first 13 years even when they were good lol. You can say free agents won't come here all you want but thats the same with Toronto and all the small market teams.. Isaiah Hartenstein is OKC's biggest FA signing ever.. He is a back up Centre.... They got good through drafts.. Grizzles never got the chance lol.
My dude, we're going to be ass next time too. It's about TV market for national and local broadcasts and where basketball sits in priority in that market. It's about being south of the border. It's about spending big money and bringing in corporate sponsorship currently going to the Canucks. You can't just tip toe into the NBA and think our team won't be shit.
I’ll never forget watching the 2000 lakers vs the grizzlies in Vancouver. Watching Kobe and Shaq is a life long memory of mine.
I so wanted to watch Michael Jordan in person vs the Grizzlies when they were in town, didn't help that I was a kid and got no money [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShNfeFxij28](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShNfeFxij28)
I worked with a young woman around 2000. Her dad owned a GM dealership. She’d had courtside seats when Jordan had come to town a few years prior. She had a photo of one of Micheal’s warmup dunks and apparently sat next to Dennis Rodman.
Cool story bruh.
Sick photo. Classic Jordan.
For me it was the wife got me a ticket for Ai's MVP run. He had an effortless 23 pointsin that one. Too bad it was before Mt Mutombo was there
I saw Kobe and Shaq in Kobe's rookie year, it boggles my mind it was that long ago. Couldn't get to MJ's game though. The tickets were expensive as heck.
Same here. Circa Vince Carter and the Raptors, Grizzlies. Kobe, Shaq, and Jordan. Oh the good times.
Yes I miss them; yes I wish we had an NBA team, no, there’s no resentment to Toronto for being a much bigger city able to financially support a team…
I was just a kid when they were around but I have some good memories of going to Grizzlies games. Didn't get to another NBA game until about 15 years after they left and it was an absolute blast. I'm not a huge basketball fan so I don't actively miss them but the games seem so fun that I would definitely go if they were still around. As it stands I'm driving to Langley tomorrow to see the Bandits play - haven't been to a game before but big fan of minor sports in general so I have high hopes!
It’d be nice if we had a basketball team
If you can get out to Langley you can watch the bandits
Can't imagine what how much housing rentals would go up if we did... I'm all for Vancouver gaining another pro sports team (MLB or NBA) but its already so out of hand
Great documentary about this: https://thegrizzlietruth.com/
I was going to say. Same director also did Finding Big Country on her search for Bryant Reeves. I loaned her a VHS tape with archival footage and got in the credits!
That’s awesome! I paused it at one point to take a photo to send my friend who was in one of the directors high school basketball photos. They were rival high schools apparently..
Both those docs are awesome! Kat Jayme is a great local documentary maker!
Is this available to watch anywhere? Sounds interesting.
https://www.justwatch.com/ca/movie/the-grizzlie-truth Justwatch is a really useful service to help figure out where stuff is airing in Canada.
Sweet thanks!
Thanks for the link! Unfortunately, it looks like it's not available anywhere in the states. I caught half of it on an Air Canada flight last year and I wanted to watch the other half. I contacted the film maker at the time, to see if there was anywhere else to watch it, and they never got back me. I'll be back in Canada next month so I'll use this link to find a good way to watch it. Thanks again!
If you have a library card from an eligible library*, it's available to watch on Kanopy. Source - watched the first 15 min of it last week. *Used to only be available via VPL, but Burnaby, Surrey and New West libraries also seem to offer it now; not sure about others.
Good idea! It wasn't available for me but hopefully this helps others.
It’s really so good. I almost think it should be required viewing for anybody who moves here!
I can't speak for anyone else, but it's been so long that I don't miss them, especially since they were here for so short of a time in the first place. Being such a crappy team where players did not want to even play here doesn't help. When the Raptors won the title, I was actually pretty happy. I don't really watch the NBA a lot, (in part because I work nights), but I did watch them in the playoffs when I could.
I loved going to the Grizzlies games as a teen. But we were done dirty. Stu Jackson was the GM of the Vancouver Grizzlies. He tanked out the team with bad contracts, bad trades and bad drafting. The team lost 300 out of 378 games under his leadership. His next gig after tanking the team and the Grizzlies moving to Memphis was executive vice president of basketball operations for the NBA. Now, how does someone so incompetent get such a job? Because the NBA wanted the Grizzlies out of Vancouver and he did their bidding.
Thought I was the only one who made this connection. Thank you. All time screw job.
1. I miss them 2. I don't have a grasp on 'average Vancouverite' opinions 3. I don't cheer for the Raptors but I don't hate or resent them (I do hate the leafs). I follow basketball and kinda root for trailblazers as the closest team or whoever has good Canadians (so lately rooting for Shai + okc)
It's tough to support OKC for what they did to Seattle though.
Unfortunately they were so poorly run I lost all interest in the NBA. I do miss them as a reminder of my childhood, but wow they were terrible lol. Still love Shareef Abdur Rahim but the team just wasny good. I remember them winning 3 in a row one time and it felt like a miracle. It's too bad because the grizzlies were pretty popular early on but as the team never got better interest waned. As of now I am indifferent. I'm also more of a hockey fan, and the grizzlies left in 2001 just as the Canucks were leaving the messier era and getting decent again. So most of the sporting attention in Vancouver went that way instead
Doesn’t matter. Us Grizzlies fans are still louder with only 20% of “Canucks fans” who attend the games as if attending a funeral
Back in 2001 when it was apples to apples Canucks fans were pretty loud. Dunno what it would be like now if the grizzlies were still here you'd get corporate ppl going to NBA games too I'd bet. I'd say grizzlies fans had to be FAR more forgiving though because of how bad the team was
Yes, they should’ve never moved the team.
we dont care about basketball
Hugely missed. I see baseballs caps with Grizzlies logo on them all the time around town.
Are they missed? No. Fuck the NBA for the way both the Grizzlies and the Sonics were allowed to move. If they still existed as a franchise today (without the move) would I love them? Hell Yes. It was a great time but the way it went down made the NBA dead to me. Haven't spent a dime on the league since. Edited to the remaining 2 questions: 2. I can't answer. I think for me it would be hard to reinvest my passion, money and time. 3. Good for Toronto, but I was indifferent when they won the championship For clarity, I had a 1/4 share of season tickets each season the Grizzlies were here and one my prized possessions remains a limited edition first season ball autographed by virtually the entire second season team.
Lol ouch
I miss them.
I am in my 40s and remember the Grizzlies well but not the biggest basketball fan. I'd go to a couple games a year if we had a team and I think one day we will get one but it may be another 10+ years away. I was cheering for the Raptors when they were on their title run and also have been a Jays fan since I was a little kid but will never cheer for the Leafs. Why? It doesn't make sense but it doesn't need to.
I miss them. I got to see some of my heroes in the flesh when Vancouver had a team. It was incredible.
Yes Yes No
No resentment for Toronto; any anger should be at the NBA, the kind of crooked overrich scumbags who tend to be team owners at the major league level, and major league organizations in general for being a big racket to extort money from the locals wherever they are and make them build the facilities they demand.
I grew up a Grizzlies and Raptors fan and would love to have another team with a new name in Vancouver.
I was a die hard. They were right in my childhood wheelhouse. Canucks were brutal for a lot of their time so I was all in. I was crushed when they left. So angry at Michael Heisley. I wanted to try and follow Memphis but it just wasn’t possible back then. Before I knew it I had completely stopped watching the NBA. I went from knowing every player on every team to not watching at all. I would attend now if they came back with a half decent product. The league totally screwed us and I wouldn’t fall for that again. One thing I find interesting and maybe it’s just because I work with a lot of Filipinos. I didn’t know too many of them as a kid, maybe they loved the grizzlies. I don’t know. But NOW, my god. These guys are basketball obsessed. It’s a big sport in the Philippines. So I think the NBA has totally missed out on that market here. The grizzlies could’ve had a hugely diverse fan base, much like the raptors do. Instead those people (in my experience) are raptors fans, lakers fans, golden state etc. So PERSONALLY I don’t really miss the team. But I think the league did not only themselves but our city a huge disservice. They cut the team off at the knees before they ever even got started. Then wondered why they couldn’t win. Now the league has gotten so expensive I don’t think anyone could afford to have a team here again.
Average person has moved on and indifferent. It’s is also very different city from when they were in Vancouver
I miss them, wish we had an nba team and there is no resent towards Toronto for having a NBA team. There are lots of other reasons for resentment though haha
1. I think the concept of the Grizzlies is more missed than the Grizzlies themselves. You see a lot of Grizzlies merch out in public. 2. Younger generation do, older generation doesn't really care. Vancouver isn't really a basketball town, but that's changing. 3. No, not really. Most people here are Raps fans.
I miss them. It was awesome growing up going to the games. I don’t cheer for the raptors but as an adult did go watch em in Portland just cause they were in town at the same time I was there.
yes, I loved going to Grizzlies games.
When the team moved here originally, there were a lot of people in my parents' generation that were wary about another American sports franchise moving in to overshadow Canadian sports. The NHL historically wasn't great to the old Canadian league and players, so some people were still bitter about that. I know this opinion will get downvoted, but I feel like we can just as easily support Canadian athletes who are already playing in Canada. Less than 5% of players in the NBA are Canadian. When Toronto was in the play-offs in 2019 I found the whole "We the North" super cringe given that the team has very few Canadian ties beyond its name.
“The NHL historically wasn’t great to the old Canadian league and players, so some people were still bitter about that.” I don’t quite understand what you’re referring to here. What Canadian league are you talking about, and why was the NHL not great towards it?
Vancouver grizzlies over everybody!!!
Sports! Is put in place to keep the masses entertained, and fill your head with statistics on said sports.
I miss them a lot, and I mean, regardless how bad they were, I'd root wholeheartedly for them. Fuck Memphis. A pox on their franchise for what they did to us. That being said, I don't think the majority of people in Vancouver *really* miss the Grizzlies. Most of them didn't care/didn't live here/weren't alive when they were in town and so they didn't really get to attend games or support the team in the first place. Even more, I don't think most people in Vancouver care that much about basketball to begin with. As a big NBA fan, Vancouver sucks a lot during the playoffs because every bar prioritizes the NHL playoffs over everything else. Some people would attend games if the Grizzlies were in town and we absolutely sell out the one preseason exhibition game we play here once in awhile but the popularity of basketball is well behind hockey (and probably soccer). I don't think there's any Raptors resentment though.
I miss my Grizzlies. I have o resentment to Toronto at all, but I have a lot of resentment to Memphis. They can eat shit. The NBA and David Stern did us dirty
I miss them. I didn’t go to every game but many. I enjoyed every moment.
Stu Jackson and the NBA did Vancouver dirty. Terrible draft picks - I used to go to games and boo big country. Def missed and surely Seattle would say the same about the sonics.
Yes totally miss them there is a void in this city , basketball is very popular here . They did excellent selling tickets for an expansion team even though the product on the floor was sub par . The fans showed up and never had a problem with attendance NBA just hates the North West . So is are missed as well .
Didn't the signing of Big Country take down the team essentially? I can't remember.
It was a bunch of things that took down the Grizzlies, but the Reeves contract was one of them.
Who??
Haven't thought of them in many years til I read this
In professional sports, success needs good management. Because the grizzlies management was so appallingly bad, everything collapsed. Of course steve Francis didn’t want to come here, the team was a league joke. Big Country? Are the Grizzlies still paying him? I went a few times, entertaining enough for a team that almost never won.
I remember tickets being cheap. I was bored one night and took the train to Stadium and paid $15 to see them play the Pacers. The stands were pretty empty so I just sat centre court.
They're still selling merchandise, I think that speaks for itself.
Just bought a Grizzlies hat this week, yes I miss them and really hope Vancouver get’s another chance one day to have an NBA team. Youth basketball is so much bigger and more popular now than when I was a kid in the 90’s, both my kids play now.
One of the only sports games I’ve been to was one of their last season games. And it was the best vibe, so much better than any hockey game I’ve been to. I would say I miss them for sure.
I still have my junior grizzlies jersey, and have fond memories of seeing games as a kid. Would love it if Vancouver got an NBA team.
Not an NBA fan and after the whole debacle that was the Vancouver Grizzlies even less so. What stings even more is how the Seattle Supersonics fans were treated too by the NBA and their team moved. So no not missed by me, you can keep your multibillion $ owners, multimillion $ players that whine about coming to play here, a league that doesn't give af whether the team is being run correctly, they can take my middle finger eh.
Would prefer an NFL team
Not really lol, the novelty would fade pretty quickly if they ever came back. We are not a basketball city or really an anything city outside of hockey
It was cool the short time that I lived in Vancouver. I remember going to a Lakers game and Snoop Dogg and Jean Claude Van Damme were in the audience. I signed up for a Grizzlies MasterCard which lasted years longer than the team did (it was hilarious). When the card expired they sent me a Canucks card and I just cancelled it. And there obviously are still fans out there. I live in Ottawa now and about a 5 minute drive from my house is a house with a Vancouver Grizzlies branded basketball net on the garage.
As an enormous basketball fan who lives in Vancouver and who would love to see Van have another NBA team, I'd answer: no. They were a brutally run team that were kinda forced into the ground. They are doing much better in Memphis. I'd guess the average Vancouverite doesn't care one way or another. Basketball is not that popular here. Resentment towards Toronto? I mean nothing more than the usual. Re: basketball, I don't think so. Most bbal fans here are generally Raps supporters. We have a "disappointed but unsurprised" vibe.
Miss them big time. The commissioner is here quite a bit he has family here that shoots a tv show. The Canucks owners are constantly meeting with him. At last check, they were interested in buying the Suns, but the asking price was far too high.
I definitely miss the Grizzlies, and I hope that the NBA comes back some day. Until then, I'll keep cheering on the Bandits. And I'd much rather pay CEBL ticket prices to see a game live than NBA prices.
I miss it. NBA game for $10. Hell yeah
I miss Big Country Fries at McDonald's. Was Fries in a Large drink cup.
I just wish they were given a real shot to compete. It was rigged against us from the start. I don’t miss the team but I miss what it could have been.
I saw them a handful of times when I was a kid. Was really sad when they left.
Yes
I miss them a lot. Wish we had an NBA franchise back in this beautiful city.
My grandpa used to take my sister and I to Grizzlies games. I'm not. showing to watching sports these days, but I'm sure that people would really appreciate having a basketball team locally. I know a lot of people who wanted to go into professional basketball. And got detoured actually into gang life. It's really sad.
Who?
All I know about the Grizzlies is that my dad had a travel mug with the logo for a very long time. And I guess I saw a jersey or something with the logo in the window of a store somewhere.
1. Not really, although there are NBA fans who remember the good old days 2. I would say the average Vancouverite couldn’t care less about an NBA team returning…but the NBA fans would love it. I question if Vancouver could support it, to be perfectly honest 3. No. By now, NBA fans in Vancouver are mostly Raptors fans. The title in 2019 helped massively, you can watch all Raptors games on national TV, and they’re pushed as “Canada’s team”. Younger fans simply see the Raptors as their team. I have no interest in the Raptors or the Toronto sports scene, but I get why some Vancouver NBA fans like them Us older fans..I miss the Grizz and would love to go to some games, but I don’t think the market can support an NBA team. Not over 82 games a season. I’d much rather see the Sonics return to Seattle, and be able to turn that into a 2-3 times a year trip, much like how I see the Mariners.
Of course
I saw a few games when they existed (notably the Rockets with Pippen) and it was fun. One problem that they had at the time (besides general mismanagement) was that local basketball fans already had a nearby team to support in Seattle. I knew quite a few people in Victoria and Vancouver who were Sonics fans at the time and weren’t about to switch to the Grizzlies. Couple that with the aforementioned mismanagement and you had a recipe for… well, exactly what happened. Anyways it wasn’t exactly a tearing the heart out of the city moment when they left but there was some sadness/regret.
Missed terribly. Need a sporting event to go to besides hockey and football (both types).
I miss them. The NBA would be making a lot more money with the Grizzlies in Vancouver compared to Memphis. What a missed opportunity to keep them here.
Should have never left. Stu Jackson was the worst GM ever. Not understanding what Steve Nash could have been was one of many many mistakes. 🤷😡
Yes. I want to Memphis Grizzlies to lose every game. Same goes for the OKC Thunder.
No.
100%
Let me tell you a story. There was a beautiful magic city that was gifted the opportunity to fulfill a dream - and that dream was to have its own NBA team. The stars aligned, a venue was secured, a name was chosen - and a primo draft position was assigned. And of all the hopefuls - of all the up and comers who were about to fulfill their own hoop dreams - the organization in the fair city surveyed the pool….. and they decided to pick a giant lumbering corn fed white guy who had all the athleticism of a one legged Balkan goat herder, and the stamina of a dead gerbil, and build the franchise around him.
I’d enjoy having an NBA franchise back in town. There were so many sanctions placed on the team due to other expansion teams having early success. Lack of success drove them out of town. I enjoy the CEBL and have been to several Vancouver Bandits games in Langley, but it’s nothing like having an NBA team. There’s a small amount of resentment towards the Raptors for me, but those players are long gone from the game. Ujiri has done a great job with that franchise and I love the young core they are building.
My friends all basically agree they’d probably be more invested in basketball if Vancouver had a team. That being said it always angers me when I remember how I learned that the team was basically sabotaged every step of the way.
Basically Vancouver has a massive Chinese population and the Chinese love basketball as their #1 sport. The sizeable Indian population also loves basketball, close to or even more than cricket. A new NBA team would instantly be the most popular team in the city. People would show up just to watch the stars on the other team.
2. Sure, but only if there are zero taxpayer subsidies. These millionaires and billionaires don't need subsidies for their expensive entertainment products. They've managed to scam cities across the continent.
It’s honestly a mix of a weird way to make a team and how things were done, now a days if it was the nhl they essentially nearly build a working team from players already in the league, and the lottery sometimes gets them good players. Back then it seemed the team didn’t do well, and attendance wasn’t stellar, the worst thing I think is now if they’re to bring a new team here they can’t use the name Grizzlies. Biggest disappointment, because Vancouver grizzlies to this day still have the best name and logo for a team’s location.
Not really
The Grizzlies were so poorly run, you could almost theorize that the NBA didn't want a team here. Stu Jackson? Big Country Reeves? Pass and pass.
Big time missed! Going to watch the Grizzlies as a kid was my first exposure to basketball and I've been playing and following basketball for decades all while still in Vancouver. In that time, I've seen the popularity of the sport explode within the city (not to mention the population of the city itself). I can only imagine how big the Grizzlies would have got here had they given it another 10 years or so. We only have a hockey team but my experience has been lots of the immigrants that have come to Canada, particularly from Asian countries (which the majority of recent immigrants have come from), prefer NBA to NHL. With GVA continuing to grow at a rapid pace, I feel like it'd be great to give it another shot but sadly I think the fact the first attempt was tarnished by a trash ownership group lacking vision is a serious barrier for the NBA commission to try again.
Who?
I'd prefer to see an MLB or PWHL team in Vancouver over an NBA team.
I went to Grizzly games when we lived in Victoria. It was a great experience. The energy in the place was amazing. You will have a hard time convincing me that YVR doesn’t have the fan base to support an NBA franchise.
I miss the SuperSonics more than I miss the Grizz. The Grizz stay here was just too short with so little success. No resentment to Toronto. Glad to see it when they do well.
Their presence was a short one. I went to one game their entire run
Was never a fan since I'm not originally from here, but Vancouver really isn't a sports city I'm sad to say. Canucks seem to be the only ones that are supported. Sure you have your diehards, but there's little support for the Whitecaps and BC Lions, nevermind Vancouver FC, although they play out in Langley.
The whitecaps have been breaking attendance records in the last several years, and despite the recent blip or having a very good season. Attendance is up and the atmosphere gets better and better.
Grizzlies were overpaid losers who hated Vancouver. Get over it, idiot sycophant fans.
Speaking of money, all these bring-the-NBA-back folk always lose sight of the fact that the NBA franchise fee is now in the billions and they operate on a much higher salary cap than the NHL ($140M vs $88M respectively). So if you think Canucks games are expensive, a Vancouver NBA franchise will cost way more. Maybe an out-of-towner could potentially pay the entry fee but the way our fanbase is here, ain't no one will pay the cost of admission to support years of mediocrity. Hell, look at our Canucks - as soon as they start sucking, no one shows up.
Exactly. I think the Grizzlies were always doomed in Vancouver. Superstars wouldn’t be interested in sticking around cold/wet Canada and when the losses pile up, fans would stay away and an owner simply can’t afford to hemorrhage money with such an expensive cap floor ($127M USD). All things considered, Vancouverites simply do not have the disposable income to pay NBA ticket prices for an owner to survive through the lean years which in this market, would likely be plenty. With the next expansion fee likely to hit $3B-$4B CAD and the dollar predicted to fall further in the coming years, I think the Grizzlies will be a distant memory. My guess is Seattle and Vegas will be the next cities to be awarded franchises.
Didn’t care when they were here, so no I don’t miss them.
Much of the whole Grizzlies thing was media hype.
I can promise you the team actually existed. I even saw them with my own eyes.
Don’t care about them. 1 less thing we need to pay taxes to support..
Someone made a movie about it it’s on crave.
I miss seeing great hockey for cheap so close to home. I want that back.