Looks like a lawsuit is on its way and the Nuggetts will lose IMO. Sounds like pure arrogance by them and the NBA.
The best storyline of the NBA playoffs this week has nothing to do with the impending battles between Kobe Bryant and Carmelo Anthony or Dwight Howard and LeBron James.
It centers on the battle for Denver's Pepsi Center on Memorial Day between World Wrestling Entertainment Chairman Vince McMahon and Stan Kroenke, who owns the Denver Nuggets and the team's home arena.
Kroenke Sports Enterprises had originally booked the Pepsi Center on Monday for WWE Monday Night Raw, a weekly pro wrestling show aired live to a worldwide audience on cable television, but a conflict arose when the NBA scheduled Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals between the Nuggets and the Los Angeles Lakers at the arena on the same day and time.
Even though the WWE secured the Pepsi Center last Aug. 15, confirmed the date in March and signed a contract on April 15, according to WWE spokesman Robert Zimmerman, the Nuggets and Lakers will play Game 4 of their series Monday night at the arena, according to Paul Andrews, executive vice president of Kroenke Sports Enterprises.
If this were an episode of Raw, McMahon might take on Kroenke in a steel cage with the Pepsi Center on the line. As it is, the WWE chairman is simply trying to figure out how he will fulfill his obligation to the over 10,000 fans that have already purchased rickets for the show (tickets for the event, which is expected to be a sellout, were still being sold online as of Tuesday afternoon) and to the USA Network, which is expecting two hours of live programming on Monday night.
"I'm up the creek and I don't have a paddle, either. I really don't know what to do," said McMahon. "We can't reschedule the event."
A similar scheduling conflict arose two weeks ago during the Stanley Cup Playoffs when the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals were forced to play Games 4 and 5 of the Eastern Conference semifinals on back-to-back nights in different cities because Pittsburgh's Mellon Arena had booked a Yanni concert the same night that the Penguins were to have a home game.
Unfortunately for McMahon, the NBA and the Pepsi Center aren't giving the WWE the Yanni treatment.
"Even though the Denver Nuggets had a strong team this year and were projected to make the playoffs," said McMahon. "Obviously Nuggets and Pepsi Center owner Stan Kroenke did not have enough faith in his own team to hold the May 25 date for a potential playoff game."
McMahon, who is looking to resolve the situation one way or another by Thursday, is especially upset because he believes Kroenke didn't present the scheduling conflict to the NBA before the schedules were released Sunday (simply starting the series Wednesday instead of Tuesday would have prevented this double booking) and because the arena signed off on the date on April 15, the last day of the regular season, when the Nuggets knew they were a No. 2 seed in the West and were likely going to still be playing in May.
The embarrassing predicament has caused all parties involved, except for the WWE, which seems to thrive in controversial situations, to remain tightlipped. Calls to Kroenke Sports Enterprises and the NBA were met with no comments and e-mailed statements.
"The Nuggets and the WWE understand that the date of Game 4 of the Western Conference finals cannot be changed," NBA senior vice president Mike Bass said in a statement. "We are confident that the Pepsi Center and the WWE will resolve their scheduling conflict."
Meanwhile Andrews issued a statement saying: "We are working with the WWE to resolve the situation amicably."
With little time and fewer options to resolve the not-so-amicable situation before Monday night, McMahon has already started to send his production trucks to Denver as scheduled. He says he still plans on having a show, even if that means setting up a ring in the parking lot outside of Pepsi Center.
"We're going to show up," said McMahon. "Our trucks are rolling."
The best storyline of the NBA playoffs this week has nothing to do with the impending battles between Kobe Bryant and Carmelo Anthony or Dwight Howard and LeBron James.
It centers on the battle for Denver's Pepsi Center on Memorial Day between World Wrestling Entertainment Chairman Vince McMahon and Stan Kroenke, who owns the Denver Nuggets and the team's home arena.
Kroenke Sports Enterprises had originally booked the Pepsi Center on Monday for WWE Monday Night Raw, a weekly pro wrestling show aired live to a worldwide audience on cable television, but a conflict arose when the NBA scheduled Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals between the Nuggets and the Los Angeles Lakers at the arena on the same day and time.
Even though the WWE secured the Pepsi Center last Aug. 15, confirmed the date in March and signed a contract on April 15, according to WWE spokesman Robert Zimmerman, the Nuggets and Lakers will play Game 4 of their series Monday night at the arena, according to Paul Andrews, executive vice president of Kroenke Sports Enterprises.
If this were an episode of Raw, McMahon might take on Kroenke in a steel cage with the Pepsi Center on the line. As it is, the WWE chairman is simply trying to figure out how he will fulfill his obligation to the over 10,000 fans that have already purchased rickets for the show (tickets for the event, which is expected to be a sellout, were still being sold online as of Tuesday afternoon) and to the USA Network, which is expecting two hours of live programming on Monday night.
"I'm up the creek and I don't have a paddle, either. I really don't know what to do," said McMahon. "We can't reschedule the event."
A similar scheduling conflict arose two weeks ago during the Stanley Cup Playoffs when the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals were forced to play Games 4 and 5 of the Eastern Conference semifinals on back-to-back nights in different cities because Pittsburgh's Mellon Arena had booked a Yanni concert the same night that the Penguins were to have a home game.
Unfortunately for McMahon, the NBA and the Pepsi Center aren't giving the WWE the Yanni treatment.
"Even though the Denver Nuggets had a strong team this year and were projected to make the playoffs," said McMahon. "Obviously Nuggets and Pepsi Center owner Stan Kroenke did not have enough faith in his own team to hold the May 25 date for a potential playoff game."
McMahon, who is looking to resolve the situation one way or another by Thursday, is especially upset because he believes Kroenke didn't present the scheduling conflict to the NBA before the schedules were released Sunday (simply starting the series Wednesday instead of Tuesday would have prevented this double booking) and because the arena signed off on the date on April 15, the last day of the regular season, when the Nuggets knew they were a No. 2 seed in the West and were likely going to still be playing in May.
The embarrassing predicament has caused all parties involved, except for the WWE, which seems to thrive in controversial situations, to remain tightlipped. Calls to Kroenke Sports Enterprises and the NBA were met with no comments and e-mailed statements.
"The Nuggets and the WWE understand that the date of Game 4 of the Western Conference finals cannot be changed," NBA senior vice president Mike Bass said in a statement. "We are confident that the Pepsi Center and the WWE will resolve their scheduling conflict."
Meanwhile Andrews issued a statement saying: "We are working with the WWE to resolve the situation amicably."
With little time and fewer options to resolve the not-so-amicable situation before Monday night, McMahon has already started to send his production trucks to Denver as scheduled. He says he still plans on having a show, even if that means setting up a ring in the parking lot outside of Pepsi Center.
"We're going to show up," said McMahon. "Our trucks are rolling."
