Hornets Making Progress on New Owner

[HMFFL]

Jac Sperling, the New Orleans native given the role by the league as the team’s custodian during this period of receivership, says all signs point to an uninterrupted time table as articulated by NBA Commissioner David Stern of a transfer of ownership in the coming months.

Stern said on Dec. 14 the league hoped to have a new owner in place in the first half of 2012. Sperling said he foresees no difficulties reaching that goal.

“I think we’re making excellent progress in connection with the sale of the team,” Sperling said. “One thing I want to note is that the team is being sold on the condition that there’s a long-term lease here with the New Orleans Arena and the state. That’s being made clear to all the potential purchasers.

“We have had excellent interest from a number of different potential purchasers. Some of the potential purchasers are residents of the city. Some of them are not residents but have connections here. And some of them are just people who don’t live here but are willing to buy a team and own it in New Orleans. We’ve had great interest and I think that’s a compliment to all of the response we got this past season from the fans, the help from the governor and the mayor and the hard work of Hugh Weber and our entire staff to turn around the New Orleans Hornets financially and from a perspective of potential buyers now being interested in buying an NBA team in New Orleans.”

Stern has also gone on record as saying five to six potential owners or groups have expressed a desire to buy the team from the NBA, which purchased the Hornets from founding owner George Shinn in December 2010 for a sum believed to be about $318 million. http://www.nola.com/hornets/index.ssf/2 ... heyre.html

[Bertrob]

Hopefully the owner is prepared to take some losses to their wallet

[Muggsy Bogues]

Why is Stern so obsessed with keeping the Hornets in that terrible market? New Orleans is a football town through and through.