Why are they only playing 6 games in New Orleans this year? I understand last year because of Hurricane Katrina, but why are they playing all of there other games in OKC? Are they relocating there..... Sorry I havent been keeping up with whats going on....
Well, in the economic stand point, iit doesn't make sense if the people in N.O. spend all this money on 'filling out the seats' instead of putting the money back into the economy by spending it elsewhere. It's like Chris Paul, along with Peja and Tyson Chandler taking home millions straight from the pockets of N.O. citizens. And you know these guys probably have homes/families in other cities and the majority of their money will be spent there. As much as David Stern and George Shinn would like to have things back to normal there, I highly doubt Nawlins can support an NBA team.
It has very little to do with the city itself. Its George Shinn and the douchebag of an owner that he is. Tom Benson (who's not a great owner either) and the NFL sucked it up and moved the whole shindig back to New Orleans, put them on national tv and hyped up the NFL in the city of new orleans and the country. Meanwhile, Stern and Shinn decide to change the name of the team to OKC and to give New Orleans the shaft and still refuse to commit the team to the city. The Saints are selling out every game because the NFL forced Benson to stay and forced him to promote the team and on top of that the NFL did its best to help out. The NBA hasnt done the same and the team and the city of New Orleans are both getting the screw job because of this. Stern could showcase this team and force Shinn to put some resources into marketing and pushing for support from greater Louisiana. He hasn't and as a result the city and the state lose. I know tons of people in New Orleans who absolutely hate the franchise, the nba, Byron Scott (who's basically been the opposite of Sean Payton in that he has repeatedly b****ed about how bad new orleans is), and most importantly George Shinn. The NBA ****ed up.. period and hasn't given the city a chance and instead gave them 6 token games. At the very least guarantee that all playoff games will happen in New Orleans but no they wouldn't even do that.
Yeah, but it's hard to fill up a stadium 41 times. It's alot easier to sell out 8 football games over the course of a season. Also Saints have a very long history with the city while the Hornets came from Charlotte. New Orleans won't miss the Hornets as much as they would the Saints and the Hornets won't miss New Orleans that much either
No one's asking them to fill it up. I think Sacramento is the only team left that consistently sells out games and even they do it by cheating the numbers and some other trickeration. But there's no reason why the city couldn't get 17000 or so in per a game. That's what OKC gets you and most importantly Shinn and Stern aren't even giving the city a chance. That's what really ticks me off. If after giving a real shot, the masses don't turn up then Shinn has every right to move out but the fact that he just blew off the city and turned his back on them is really upsetting. By spending the extra year in OKC, he's unecessarily alienating fans in New Orleans and greater Louisiana who don't even identify with this team anymore. He's such an ******* of an owner and I feel so bad for the cities of Charlotte and New Orleans for having to put up with this jerk.
Exactly. Even before katrina they were one of the lowest attended teams in the league. They were pretty successiful financially last year in OKC. Now that NO is even more devestated and destroyed, the city needs to spend money on more important things. A basketball team that the city never really supported should not be a priority.
The same could be said about the Saints but they've sold out every game this year. The NFL made a proactive push to help the Saints and they forced Benson to commit at least temporarily to New Orleans. The NFL also gave the Saints primetime games to showcase the city and to generate excitement for the team. Look if they cant sell out then fine, Shinn can move. But this has nothing to do with the city anymore. The city already rebuilt New Orleans Arena. They wouldn't be spending anymore money and it would help the city government in particular by having a regular tenant at the arena. I think its fair to have the NBA and Shinn to make one last push for New Orleans and if it bombs out then so be it and no one should complain. But half-assing it like this and treating them like the ugly stepchild without giving the city a chance is just asinine. The media coverage and lack of advertising and support by the NBA for New Orleans is appalling and frankly insulting to the city and its fans.
Stern has been making it clear that the Hornets are going back (with the Sonics probably moving to the Ford Center as a consolation prize). George, being the person he is, has hemmed and hawed about the subject and clearly wants to stay in OKC. The Hornets were doing terribly in attendance before Katrina hit, and have essentially flipped to the top while in Oklahoma. Shinn knows that attendance post-Katrina will mean his profits will go poof all over again. A fun twist to this whole thing was Shinn refused to sell more than a minority portion of his team to the same OKC investors that bought the Sonics. He wanted OKC buy-ins to help weasle his way out of returning (but didn't want to give up control, this has happened several times before - this is the same guy that refused to let Jordan buy in to the Hornets in Charlotte cause he didn't want to loss the limelight), but when he rebuffed their offer to buy more than he was comfortable with, they went out and got the Sonics. Shinn's reaction to that was fairly priceless, because he knew that sealed his return to New Orleans. The blood still hasn't returned to his face, I don't believe. Hornets will go back after this year, Sonics will replace them in Oklahoma as long as Seattle declines to build them a new arena (the situation is shades of the Oilers last days). Evan
Can someone explain the situation in Seattle? I thought they had a pretty big fanbase and turnout? Not to mention quite a bit of history. Sucks about New Orleans and the crappy owner.... I had no idea, but apparently this is all about $$$ and not about helping re-build New Orleans by having their sports team be a major contributor.
Shinn's been the most rotten owner in the league for a while. It's sad when you overtake Donald Sterling, but he's done that. Seattle: their turnout has been good over the years, and they've been competetive despite a shoestring budget, but their revenue has been relatively weak because of Key Arena. It was built in 1962, and it wasn't until 1994 that the team was able to get the city to renovate it (a push for a modern arena was rejected). Here's the rub: while it was a near-total gut out and redo, it still isn't a major money maker (arenas today need a slew of suites and double as mini-malls), and even more importantly, the City of Seattle owns and operates the arena. In exchange for footing ~80% of the almost $100 million bill, the city pulls a massive portion of the arena revenue as pay back. Pretty much, this defeats the entire purpose of renovating the place, because the team isn't making much more money out of it (essentially, they only see money from the increased seating). Far and away, this is the worst lease agreement in the league from a team's perspective. Howard Schultz sold the team largely because it was clear after a couple years of increasingly hostile talks with the city, that Seattle was not going to agree to a second ($200 million) renovation or build a new arena. Threats to get Tacoma to build an arena didn't go far. So he sold to the OKC group in part to stick it to Seattle's city council. Really got ugly. Seattle's doing what we always cry for - holding strong against an owner that wants the city to pay millions in cost so they can make more revenue from the city. The Sonics aren't unjustified in that their revenue stream puts them in a position where they can't compete. Evan
Evan- thanks for filling in the blanks for me. I feel bad for the fans in both cities, and I feel bad for the Hornets. It would be hard to get behind what's essentially a lame-duck team for either city.
nobody seems to remember that attendance for the hornets was horrible in new orleans before the hurricane. the hornets went to OKC and had one of the best home-court advantages last year. the "plan" is to go back to new orleans after this season, but it would be a stupid move. that city is not ready to support an nba team for a full season.
