Pro basketball will return to Charlotte next year with a National Basketball Association.

• Position: Regional Report

Pro basketball will return to Charlotte next year with a National Basketball Association franchise awarded to Robert Johnson, founder of Black Entertainment Television. Johnson, worth about $1.3 billion, will pay $300 million for the team, which will play in the Charlotte Coliseum until moving into a $265 million downtown arena in 2005. Johnson, the only black NBA owner, and local investors, including retired Bank of America...