Hornets to play in San Diego?

[riverdunesrat]

Hahn offers displaced NBA Hornets a San Diego home

UNION-TRIBUNE
September 5, 2005

For now, what the New Orleans Hornets need is shelter. In a storm, any port can suffice. When the levees break, any plot of dry land can feel like paradise.

Yet beyond the immediate and numerous needs of the displaced NBA franchise, a hard reckoning is at hand. When the waters recede, the Hornets must face the same, sad question confronting thousands of citizens in the wake of Hurricane Katrina: Is home inhabitable?

If not, then what?

"They're going to have to play somewhere pretty quick and it's not going to be ideal because they're not playing in New Orleans," said Ernie Hahn, general manager of the ipayOne Center. "My feeling is San Diego is the No. 1 city for that."

No one wants to be seen as exploiting New Orleans' tragedy for selfish ends – and Hahn is certainly sensitive to that perception – but practical issues demand practical solutions. The Hornets need a new home, at least temporarily, and their long-term outlook probably portends a permanent relocation.

"Even if the arena is operable, it still may be impossible to play games in New Orleans for some time," NBA Deputy Commissioner Russ Granik advised league members last week.

Borrowing from the playbook of Rhett Butler, who proposed marriage to Scarlett on the day of her second husband's funeral, prospective suitors have been quick to make their pleas.

Time is short. Competition is keen. He who hesitates is last.

Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett has already offered the Hornets his city's underutilized Ford Arena as a short-term sanctuary. Hugh Lombardi, general manager of Nashville's Gaylord Entertainment Center, has contacted the NBA about a dozen open dates he'd like to fill.

Hahn placed a call to the NBA offices on Friday, hoping to start a dialogue that could bring some Hornets games to the erstwhile Sports Arena. Though that call was not immediately returned, Hahn has continued to lobby his NBA network, including San Diego-based Robert Sarver, the owner of the Phoenix Suns.

"We still feel that this is one of the best markets in the country for the NBA," Hahn said. "That's our goal long-term. To the extent that we could have a team come play in our building . . . it would be a great opportunity for us to change some of the perceptions that the NBA and other people have about the San Diego market."

Short-term, at least, the Hornets would prefer to stay closer to home. They will likely play at least some portion of their 2005-06 schedule at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. They can surely find more modern sites than the outdated arena Hahn manages.

Even if Hornets management were to find Hahn's overture appealing, though, the logistical problems posed by shifting scheduled games from the Gulf Coast to the West Coast could be deal-dooming.

Example: The Boston Celtics make a Southern swing in early December, playing four games in five days in Houston, New Orleans (or its proxy), San Antonio and Dallas. To reroute the Celtics through San Diego would be insanely impractical.

Yet it still makes abundant sense for the league to look for opportunities to test-market the team as the schedule allows. Long before the devastation wrought by Katrina, the Hornets' future in New Orleans was dicey. The team's announced home attendance last season averaged a league-low 14,221.

Despite its distinct local color, New Orleans is a city conspicuously short on long green. Muhleman Marketing's 2000 study of the National Football League Saints found that the city's support was "more spiritual than financial."

"People verbally support the team," the study concluded, "but the market demographics and consumer habits indicate that they have a hard time giving the needed economic support."

The Saints have relied heavily on state and local subsidies. The Hornets have been counting on $7.5 million in public funds for a proposed training facility adjoining the New Orleans Arena.

Now, with hurricane-related job losses being estimated in the hundreds of thousands, the notion of public subsidies for professional sports seems almost obscene. If a franchise cannot survive in a disaster area without siphoning funds from those who have been left destitute, management should have the good judgment and the common decency to move on.

Though numerous cities might wish to make the Hornets welcome, few will have the means and the fan base to support NBA pricing over the long term. The leading candidates would include Kansas City (where a new arena is in the works), Louisville (where basketball is religion) and Las Vegas (where funds flow freely).

Absent a state-of-the-art arena, abandoned by two NBA franchises, San Diego could be a tougher sell.

"There are a couple of places that have more modern facilities than ours," Hahn said. "But I think those are short-term solutions and ultimately not the best markets for the NBA long-term. I still think this is the best market in the United States that does not have an NBA team.

"This is a dynamic city. There's a lot of money here. With the right facilities and the right opportunities, we'd support this team really well."

Hahn figures if you can get a team, a new facility would follow. In any case, he figures it's worth a shot.

"Who knows?" he said. "It's very early and premature, but we might as well throw our name in the ring. The worst thing they can say is no."
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Tim Sullivan: (619) 293-1033; tim.sullivan@uniontrib.com

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[Kingdom]

They'll suck no matter where they play.

[ATLien]

Oklahoma City also extended a similar offer last week.

I haven't heard anything, though.