Charlotte is a beautiful city with lush greenery and a mild climate, where you can wear short sleeves for 9-10 months a year, and it usually only snows 1-2 times a year.

It is the second-largest banking center in the United States after New York and the fastest growing city in the southeastern United States. Twelve U.S. banks, including five of the largest U.S. banks, operate banking and finance operations in Charlotte.

The headquarters of Bank of America, the world's largest bank, and Merrill Lynch, as well as Midland Bank, one of the five largest banks in the United States, are also headquartered. In 2008, Midland Bank was acquired by Wells Fargo Group, the world's sixth-largest bank, and the city became the eastern headquarters of Wells Fargo Group.

Of Charlotte's 250,000 employed people, 120,000 work in the financial industry.

Li Wei has been to Charlotte twice this summer, once for this year's draft and once for short-term financing at Bank of America headquarters during the Southeast Asian economic crisis.

In this season's season opener, the Knicks arrived here a day early, and that night Li Wei took Xia Cuirong to a dinner organized by several banking giants.

During the day the next day, the Knicks went to Charlotte Colisation for an adaptation workout.

In the first year of the formation of the Bobcats, they still used this Charlotte Stadium as their home stadium, and only moved to the newly built Time Warner Center in 05, and in 16 years, Time Warner Center was renamed Spectrum Center.

Although Charlotte is a small ball city, the team had a good record last season, so the enthusiasm of the fans is high.

Many Chinese fans don't understand the concept of big ball market and small ball market. The easiest way to measure the size of a ball market is to look at the size of the city, the size of the population, and the level of economy.

The more populous a city is, the more people will watch the game, and the higher the economic level, the stronger the spending power of the fans.

For example, in China, there is a team in Beijing (Harmony) with its home stadium in the Bird's Nest, which is the big ball market. With a population of 20 million, the city is one of the most prosperous, and even if only 1 in 1,000 people go to the game and buy souvenirs such as jerseys, it is enough to make the team owner profitable.

There is also a team in Linshui County, Gushan Township, and Xiangyang Town, whose home game is in Wangjia Village, which is Xiaoqiu City. There are only 100 households in Wangjia Village, and even if they are all fans, they can't sell a few tickets.

Of all the cities in the United States, New York is in its own gear, and then Los Angeles is in its own gear, and then other cities are in its own gear.

Of course, when you look up the population of the city, you should also pay attention to the fact that many people in the United States live in the suburbs or satellite cities around it, so it is not enough to look at the population of the city itself.

For example, Miami, in terms of Miami City itself, has a population that is even smaller than Oklahoma City, but it is surrounded by 24 satellite cities (districts) such as North Miami Beach, Fort Edward, Mihami Springs, and Hollywood, and the population of the entire region is more than 6 million.

In other cities, although the urban area has a large population, it is surrounded by barren mountains and mountains, which is actually a small ball city. For example, San Antonio, just looking at the urban population, it is the seventh largest city in the United States, but with the surrounding population, the total number of people in the entire metropolitan area is only more than 2 million, which can only rank about 30 in the United States.

Charlotte's area has a population about the same size as San Antonio, and it's also a small ball market, with cheap tickets and low attendance.

Today, Charlotte Coliseum is crowded, and one of the big reasons is that their opponents are the New York Knicks.

Last season, Charlotte had the best record in franchise history with 54 wins and 28 losses.

After 20 years, this record properly became the first in the East (in the 16-17 season, the Celtics had a record of 53 wins and 29 losses). It's a pity that in this era, the alliance is strong in the east and weak in the west!

A team with 54 wins can only rank sixth in the Eastern Conference, and then was swept by the strong Knicks with a total score of 3-0 in the first round!

How tragic this is!

That's right, it was the New York Knicks led by Jeff Van Gundy who swept the 54-win Hornets last season!

Now that Fan Bald is gone, Ewing and others have also been sold by Li Wei, and the Hornets fans have all come to see the Knicks joke!

This time, it's their turn to take revenge!

Of course, the Hornets can't have their own MSG TV station like the New York Knicks, and their games have been broadcast by Fox Sports South TV, JXY TV, or FVT TV for the past two years.

Today's live broadcast of this opening game is Fox Sports Southern, a very influential channel in the American South, which not only owns the live broadcast rights of the Hornets, but also the Atlanta Hawks, Atlanta Braves (baseball) and other teams.

"Jill, I really didn't expect our opening opponent to be the Knicks, who swept us last year, so let's predict the trend of this game!" Steve Martin Dow.

Steve Martin is a well-known host for the Hornets and has been commenting on Hornets games since the '90s. His partner, Jill McGregor, was a retired player who played for the Cincinnati Royals (the former Kings) in the seventies.

McGregor said: "I predict we're going to end the fight with a big win. Speaking of which, I sincerely thank Knicks head coach Li Wei, if he hadn't dismantled that luxury team, the Hornets would be in a dangerous situation this year! ”

"Aren't we in danger now?" Steve Martin asked.

Jill McGregor said: "It's still dangerous. However, it was the Bulls, the Heat, and the Knicks who stabilized us before, and now there are only the Bulls and the Heat. I think we can fight for the third place in the Eastern Conference this season, and even the Bulls and Heat may not be able to beat us! ”

"You're saying we can make it to the second round of the playoffs this season?"

McGregor said, "That's for sure. If we can finish third, we can fight the Heat and maybe make it to the Eastern Conference Finals! ”

Steve Martin said: "East Finals, I've already imagined that we can kill the Bulls and win the championship!" ”

"It's a bit difficult, but Coach Cowens is a great coach and he can probably do wonders!" McGregor said. ”

The two hosts chatted for a while, and the players from both sides began to enter.

The Knicks started with playmaking guard Charlie Ward, shooting guard Alan Houston, small forward Kevin Garnett, power forward Buck Williams, and center Zajunas Ilgoskas!

Steve Martin said: "Jill, you can evaluate the Knicks' roster this season. ”

McGregor said: "Actually, I personally think the Knicks have a good lineup. If they're in the West and Oakley isn't suspended, they might be able to get a playoff spot. ”

Martin said: "Are you so optimistic? Can they make the playoffs if they are in the Western Conference? ”

McGregor said, "I didn't say I would have to enter, I said I might be." Alan Houston is a very good player, who used to average 19 points per game with the Pistons, and scored low last year just because he didn't have the ball. Garnett has been improving, and he is doing a very good job defensively, these two are the poor man's version of Jordan and Pippen, and now only Oakley's poor version of Rodman is missing! ”

Martin said: "Haha, your idea is unique, I don't see them like Jordan and Pippen at all!" And the rest of their squad is so bad, Ward might be a good starter, but that rookie from Eastern Europe, do you think he can hold on for 10 games? I feel like he's going to be blown up by our center today! ”

McGregor said, "Haha, don't be so mean, yo, our players are here!" ”