Hornets attendance was an issue when the team first returned. What have the fans done? The people of the Gulf South have paid the ransom. Oklahoma City is lurking just in the next alley looking to bang the Gulf South over the head and grab up the team. The contract states the Hornets must average 14,735 through the end of the '08-'09 season. Was this one not teetering on the brink of disaster?
The AP got this right when talking about New Orleans basketball fans. LINK
The problem for the Hornets in New Orleans is that simply having those
tools won't be enough to pack the arena. They'll have to win, and win a
lot.
That's not only because the Hornets spent two seasons in Oklahoma City
after Hurricane Katrina. Basketball fans in this town were a bit jaded even
before the Hornets first arrived in 2002.
They supported the Jazz in the 1970s, at times with record-setting crowds in the Louisiana Superdome - they once surpassed 35,000 for a game - only to have the team pull out because owner Sam Battistone, a California native, never seemed to like New Orleans, its notoriously parochial politics, or having to take a back seat to Mardi Gras events when trying to schedule home games in February.
The Jazz moved to Utah, and like the old Minneapolis Lakers, refused to relinquish their name, giving embittered fans in New Orleans a sense that not even a moniker meant to honor their local heritage was sacred.
So when the Hornets arrived in New Orleans, they received a lukewarm welcome from fans who'd been burnt before.
New Orleans basketball fans have been held hostage by George Shinn and his carpetbagging team. The playoffs, an NBA recognized coach, and solid players have blurred the edge with which Our New Orleans Hornets have returned.
What can a Major Sports Commissioner do when cities like Oklahoma City linger with all that attractive cash? LINK
New Orleans was one of those cities, once.
