NBA Could Provide Marketing, Sales Help To Aid Hornets

NBA Considering Extensive Marketing And Sales Help For Hornets

The NBA is considering providing the Hornets with “extensive marketing and sales help in New Orleans, which would be one of several steps taken by the league” to return the team to the city full-time for the ’07-08 season, according to John Reid of the New Orleans TIMES-PICAYUNE. NBA officials, including President of League & Basketball Operations Joel Litvin, met Friday with officials from the Hornets, Superdome Commission, SMG and local business leaders to discuss the team’s return. Litvin said NBA Commissioner David Stern “has made it clear that we’re going to devote whatever resources necessary to make sure the return is a successful one.” With the Hornets’ New Orleans Arena lease expiring in 2012, Litvin noted, “I think everyone accepts that coming back with only a few years to go on the lease is not ideal. [Hornets Owner George] Shinn is in this business to make a profit. If he seizes the opportunity to be successful the way he wasn’t previously, and we think that’s achievable, then a lease extension is a possibility” (New Orleans TIMES-PICAYUNE, 6/17). SMG Regional VP Doug Thornton said that a business model for the team’s return could be in place “in the next couple of months,” and that “multi-year commitments, most likely of five to seven years, will be sought for season tickets, suites and sponsorships” (AP, 6/16).

NUMBERS GAME: Superdome Commission Chair Tim Coulon said that current population figures for New Orleans “can be misleading because numbers for the region from which sales are generated are much closer to pre-Katrina levels.” Thornton added, “There seems to be a fair amount of disposable income in this market” (AP, 6/16).