NEW LEASE ON LIFE: TIX SALES MAY ENABLE HORNETS TO LEAVE

          Hornets co-Owner Ray Wooldridge acknowledged Wednesday
     that season-tickets sales for the team will be somewhere
     between 12,000 and 14,000 when the Hornets open in November,
     according to Rick Bonnell of the CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, who
     writes that such a projection would give the team "the
     option this spring to leave the Charlotte Coliseum without
     financial penalty."  The projections could "trigger an
     escape clause in the Hornets' lease," which states that
     under a '98 agreement with the Coliseum Authority, the team
     can terminate its lease if at least 15,750 season tickets
     aren't sold by January 1.  The Hornets sold about 14,000
     season tickets last season (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 9/21).