루머 Hornets가 New Orleans로???

[L.T.&Giants&Knicks]

The Charlotte Hornets, who tried unsuccesfully last spring to move to Memphis, have decided to move to New Orleans, Mayor Pat McCrory said Wednesday.

McCrory said he was told by Mike Crum, director of operations management at the Charlotte Coliseum, that the team had applied to the NBA to move. Any move would have to be approved by NBA owners.

Hornets management refused to comment Wednesday on relocation, and NBA officials did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment.

"This comes as no surprise. We anticipated it for several weeks," McCrory said.

Marsanne Golsby, a spokeswoman for Louisiana Gov. Mike Foster, said Foster and team co-owner Ray Wooldridge would meet later Wednesday in Baton Rouge.

"It's not ever a done deal until it's signed," she said. "We've been very cautious about expressing our optimism because Charlotte could make offer and they would change their minds."

Hornets co-owner George Shinn refused to comment as he left practice Wednesday morning. But The Charlotte Observer, on its Web site, cited sources who said Shinn told players he was seeking permission for the New Orleans move.

Last spring, the team applied to the NBA to relocate to Memphis, Tenn., but withdrew the request after a strong playoff run that temporarily brought sellout crowds back to the Charlotte Coliseum.

"The Hornets applied to move to Memphis last year and that was a meaningless gesture," City Council member Lynn Wheeler said Tuesday. "As far as I'm concerned, the final approval lies with the vote of the NBA owners. Until that happens, this gesture of theirs is a moot point."

Hornets officials also talked to officials in Louisville, Ky., Norfolk, Va., and St. Louis about moving the team.

Norfolk Mayor Paul Fraim told The Observer that New Orleans "made substantial monetary concessions, the likes of which this community and maybe no other community is able or willing to do."

Shinn and Wooldridge resumed their search for a new home after June, when Charlotte voters rejected taxpayer support for a package that included a $200 million publicly financed downtown arena.

The Hornets' owners have said they cannot survive economically in the Charlotte Coliseum, which has 23,698 seats but only 12 lucrative suites. The New Orleans Arena has a capacity of 18,500 with 44 suites and room to add 20.

Chief executives of three of Charlotte's largest corporations last week pledged $100 million to help fund a $190 million downtown arena to persuade the Hornets to stay. Wooldridge said the proposal has never been presented to team officials. City council members on Monday directed city staffers to analyze the proposal within three weeks.

Under NBA bylaws, a committee assembled by commissioner David Stern to examine the proposed move would compare business conditions, fan support and facilities in the two cities. Twenty-two of 29 NBA owners would have to vote in favor of the move.

In 1994, the NBA blocked a sale of the Minnesota Timberwolves that would have moved them to New Orleans.

New Orleans has a smaller metropolitan population than Charlotte and a median household income of $38,800 a year, below the national average and Charlotte's median income of $51,000.

New Orleans' TV market, ranked 43rd nationally, would be the smallest in the NBA. Charlotte's TV market ranks 27th.

Last summer, the NBA approved a move of the Vancouver Grizzlies to Memphis, the leagues fires relocation in 15 years. New Orleans lost the Jazz to Salt Lake City in 1979.