The possibility's there.

LINK

INDIANAPOLIS -- Indiana Pacers co-owner Herb Simon passionately says he doesn't want to see the city without his franchise.

His wishes and the bottom line appear to be at odds.

Among the key issues for the struggling franchise is its operation of Conseco Fieldhouse. The building where the team plays its home games belongs to the Indianapolis Capital Improvement Board, and the Pacers have been paying its $15 million operating cost. Pat Early, the board's vice president, said the Pacers have made it clear that they no longer can pay that amount, in part because they could lose $30 million this season.

Early said the Pacers haven't threatened to leave, but the team would be forced to make some "very difficult decisions" if it remains saddled with the operating cost of the facility or if attendance continues to lag near the bottom of the league.

"It's possible they could move the team," Early said. "It's possible they could sell the team. It is also possible they could shut the team down. What's not possible is the Pacers losing the kind of money they're losing this year indefinitely."

Simon said he doesn't want to move the team, though he acknowledges that the financial losses have accelerated the past three years.

"I have no thought of leaving Indiana," he said. "Only a thought of preserving the Pacers and keeping them in Indiana. That's the only issue right here."

So that this post doesn't shrivel any further, and so that some respect is restored for k22-- let me drop knowledge on us.

If Indiana Pacers leave the Indiana, it will be the final Wooden Stake in the heart of basketball as we know it. Larry Bird would turn over in his grave, when he dies, I mean, because he is alive now.

To clarify (this is an EDIT), Larry Bird will DIE if the Pacers leave and THEN he will turn over in his grave, promptly after being buried.

What I am getting at, in all seriousness, is that Indiana is equal parts Americana and Hoops and if the Pacers were to leave, well, an end of an era, certainly, and it will be a beacon, kind of, about the general decay in our sports and our society.

[Edited by - orangeblobman on 03-14-2009 8:27 PM]