Editing Memphis Pyramid (section)

==Troubles and closure==
In 2001, the city of Memphis attempted to relocate the [[Vancouver Grizzlies]] or the [[Charlotte Hornets]] to Memphis. While the Pyramid was functional and profitable, it was well short of NBA standards despite being only a decade old. The renovations required to make the building a viable long-term venue for an NBA franchise would have been prohibitively expensive in addition to bringing the arena offline for a year.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/113592646 |title=Pyramid passe as professional sports venue |date=April 10, 2001 |page=2A |first=Rob |last=Johnson |newspaper=[[The Tennessean]] |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |url-access=subscription}}</ref> As a result, the $250 million [[FedExForum]] was built as a condition of the Grizzlies' [[Vancouver Grizzlies relocation to Memphis|move from Vancouver]] and opened in 2004. The city of Memphis did spend $7 million on renovations such as improved dressing rooms and new television camera platforms for the Grizzlies' three-year stay in the arena.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/593093024/ |date=July 21, 2000 |title=Pyramid remodeling begins in Memphis |newspaper=Johnson City Press |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |url-access=subscription}}</ref>

While hosting the Grizzlies, the arena lost $200,000 in 2002.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/293377855/ |title=Memphis Pyramid lost nearly $200,000| agency=Associated Press |newspaper=[[The Leaf-Chronicle]] |page=C8 |date=June 26, 2002 |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |url-access=subscription}}</ref>

The City of Memphis's contract with the Grizzlies forbade the use of The Pyramid without the team's approval, and, as a result, it went dark. The Memphis city council voted to keep the arena open in 2004.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/244945107/ |title=Memphis' Pyramid survives city council effort to close it |newspaper=The Tennessean |date=June 3, 2004 |page=B4 |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |url-access=subscription}}</ref> A committee headed by Memphis businessman Scott Ledbetter studied possible uses of the arena in 2005 and considered such uses as converting the arena into a [[casino]], an [[aquarium]], a [[shopping mall]], or an indoor [[theme park]].<ref>{{cite news |first=David |last=Williams |title=$250 million plan proposed for Pyramid, Mud Island |url=http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2007/dec/12/250-million-plan-proposed-pyramid-mud-island/ |newspaper=The Commercial Appeal |location=Memphis, Tennessee |date=December 12, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071224061152/http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2007/dec/12/250-million-plan-proposed-pyramid-mud-island/ |archive-date=December 24, 2007}}</ref> In November 2006, Congressman-elect [[Steve Cohen (politician)|Steve Cohen]] (D-Tennessee) suggested that he would attempt to open a Mid-American branch of the [[Smithsonian Institution]] in the building. However, these plans were never realized. In the end, the Ledbetter committee on the building's future recommended that it be used for destination retail, which would create more jobs and new tax revenues.