THE HIVE IS ALIVE!

Promotional magazine for the 1988-89 Charlotte Hornets team. In 1985, the NBA decided to expand the league by three teams, and Charlotte was chosen as one of the cities to receive a professional basketball team. The team got its name from General Cornwallis' description of Charlotte in the Revolutionary War as "a hornet's nest of rebellion." November 4th, 1988 the team played their first game in the Charlotte Coliseum. The coliseum housed 24,000 fans and the Hornets led the NBA in attendance 7 times and eventually sold out 364 consecutive games. Charlotte acquiring a professional NBA team was huge for the region, as can be told from their attendance records. Materials like this were used to promote the team and hype up the city for the first season of the Hornets team.