Complex sentence: However, Triangle-area fans balked at making the 80-mile drive down I-40 to Greensboro, and fans from the Piedmont Triad mostly refused to support a lame-duck team that had displaced the longtime Greensboro/Carolina Monarchs minor-league franchise.
Split into simpler sentences: However, Triangle-area fans balked at making the 80-mile drive down I-40 to Greensboro. Likewise, fans from the Piedmont Triad mostly refused to support a lame-duck team that had displaced the longtime Greensboro/Carolina Monarchs minor-league franchise.