The Bobcats have moved "most everything a fan would associate" with the club into storage units as Time Warner Cable Arena continues to prepare to host the Democratic National Convention, according to Rick Bonnell of the CHARLOTTE OBSERVER. The team will not be allowed back in to the arena until late September, "11 days before the Bobcats play their first home preseason game." Bobcats President Fred Whitfield said, "They've assured us we get our building back on the 26 (of September) just as they found it." Bonnell reported the team has arranged "to use Johnson & Wales' gymnasium on the edge of uptown as their temporary training facility." The college is giving the team the "gym, two locker rooms, their training room and a player lounge to the Bobcats' exclusive use" from 9:00am-2:00pm ET until classes begin the second week of September. The team's business offices "on the arena's upper floors will only be shut down for about a week, but that doesn't mean business operations won't be affected." The bowl at Time Warner Cable Arena is "gutted and off-limits," meaning the chance to "tour the facility with prospective customers is gone." The Bobcats will be "well compensated by the DNC for the six weeks they'll vacate the event level of their home base," but it is still a "major shakeup so close to the outset of their ninth NBA season" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 8/12).
