Imagine Wednesday?s sellout Charlotte Coliseum crowd was more than a two- or three-time-a-year event.

It used to be that way.

And it might be that way now had Hornets owner George Shinn agreed to take on Michael Jordan as his partner in the spring of 1999.

But Shinn balked at giving Jordan control, instead selling 35 percent of his team to Ray Wooldridge.

In the years since, Jordan joined the ownership group of the Washington Wizards, eventually choosing to return to action this season and ensuring profit for the first time in many years for that franchise.

And Charlotte ...

Well, anyone who?s been in the area for more than a day or two can hear theories as to why Shinn and Wooldridge have alienated their fanbase to the point of apathy and non-support.

Could Jordan have changed that history? Most think so.

But Jordan said Wednesday that his return to the NBA with the Wizards didn?t necessarily mean he?d have returned for the Hornets had Shinn agreed to take him on as a co-owner.

Jordan was in Charlotte as a player for the first time since May 1998 ? prompting the Hornets? first sellout of the season. But even as Jordan tried hard to speak as positively as he could about his potential partner, it?s quite obvious he understands why Shinn has suffered without him.

"Well, that?s a scenario where you had two business people trying to find a compromise and it never happened," Jordan said of his negotiations to become Shinn?s partner. "I moved on and I ended up in Washington. And they?re dealing with what they had to deal with here."

However, when Jordan admitted there was the possibility that a deal could?ve been struck, he confirmed what many have speculated without coming out and actually saying it.

Namely, that the Hornets wouldn?t be shopping their franchise all over the country and fans here would?ve been selling out more than just Jordan?s return games for another team.

"There were some scenarios under which it could?ve worked out," Jordan said. "But it just didn?t. Unfortunately, the people that are going to pay the most are the fans. That?s always a tough situation. I?m pretty sure management?s going to do what they have to do. But, once again, fans are the ones that are going to get the short end of the stick."

When pressed to elaborate on how the deal broke down, Jordan declined to get too specific. But it wasn?t hard to read between the lines.

"It was a number of things," Jordan said. "... I don?t turn back on something that may somehow be used to criticize management. I had a vision in terms of what I wanted to do with the team as far as control. And management had a different perspective. We both were very hardened with our views and that was the deciding situation. It wasn?t a financial situation and it wasn?t, I don?t think, a situation with getting the arena. I think it was, more or less, who had the final say-so when it came to basketball situations. That happens."

He then went further, explaining that Shinn?s stubborness was truly the deciding factor.

"When you have two egotistical guys working to find the best way to solve a problem and one?s hardened and the other?s hardened, then you don?t get a compromise," Jordan said. "So the best way to do it is to go our separate ways. Which is what happened. I wished them well. They wished me well. And I?m a situation that I very happen with. And I wish them the best."

However, the best thing for Charlotte?s current owners could involve the Hornets leaving town. It?s a prospect Jordan hopes doesn?t happen.

"I think it would be really sad to see, with the success that this franchise had early on to take it and move it somewhere else," Jordan said. "I think the fans here in Charlotte would be devastated to some degree. But, yet, I don?t know how you solve the issue that they?re dealing with.

"Unfortunately, you?ve got a lot of problems happening in the business of basketball. It just so happens that it?s going on here in Charlotte. And it?s unfortunate for the fans."

What?s most unfortunate is that the only way Jordan can sellout the Charlotte Coliseum is as an opponent.