Nothing but net profits.

That's what many thought when they heard in July that Larry Bird was joining Steve Belkin's bid to replace the Hornets, who shuffled off to New Orleans.

Having Bird in the front office, they thought, would give the expansion team a much-needed boost in a city whose attendance dropped from the NBA's best to the worst after the relationship with its owners soured.

But in the final hours, the X-factor that Bird supposedly would have provided wasn't enough to defeat Robert Johnson, the wealthy Black Entertainment Television founder who didn't spend much time in Charlotte, save a short visit with the mayor.

Maybe that's because a pinstripe-suited Larry Bird wouldn't have made much of a difference at the box office.

"Larry was valuable in getting the doors open and getting the headlines, but in the final analysis there's only one former player who could immediately sell seats in North Carolina and that's Michael Jordan," said Marc Ganis, president of SportsCorp Ltd., a sports marketing firm.

In fact, there are very few former greats who inspire fans to fork over dollars regardless of the talent on the court or field.

While Cal Ripken's ownership was undoubtedly a big reason for the box office success of the Aberdeen Ironbirds, his Class A short season team that drew more than 230,000 fans this season, Hall of Famer Kirby Puckett, the executive vice president for the Minnesota Twins, doesn't mean much for ticket sales at the Metrodome. Hall of Famer George Brett, the Kansas City Royals' vice president of baseball operations, couldn't save his team from its putrid average of 16,334 fans per game this past season. Baseball's all-time home run king, Hank Aaron, has a lofty place in the Atlanta Braves' front office, but the team can't sell out playoff games.

"You have to have someone who was excellent on the playing field and also has that magnetic personality," Ganis said. "Jordan can sell, so can Gretzky (in Phoenix) and Elway is doing it with the Arena Football team. Bird was great on the court, but he doesn't have that personality."

Lynn Wheeler, a member of Charlotte City Council who played an integral role in the city's quest to build a new arena and eventually woo an expansion team, disagrees.

"There were a lot of people in the community who expressed a desire to buy season tickets because of having an icon player like Larry Bird coming into the community," Wheeler said.

Bird's presence as the coach of the Indiana Pacers did cause a small increase in season ticket sales, but that was in Indiana where Bird was worshipped as a legend from his playing days at Indiana State in the late '70s.

"Bird would have been a tremendous credibility boost in Charlotte, but that and three dollars will get you a cup of coffee," said former New Jersey Nets president Jon Spoelstra, author of "Ice to the Eskimos: How to Market a Product Nobody Wants."

"When we hired Chuck Daly, he was the hottest coach in the game," Spoelstra said. "He already won two championships and he just finished coaching the Dream Team in the Olympics. We were told to man all the phones, but I don't think we sold one season ticket based on the hiring alone."

Darren Rovell, who covers sports business for ESPN.com, can be reached at Darren.rovell@espn3.com.