Getty ImagesEarlier Friday, we brought word that Saints owner Tom Benson was closing in on a deal to buy the NBA’s New Orleans Hornets.
Things have moved pretty quickly and now David Aldridge of NBA.com reports that the league and Benson have reached a tentative agreement on the sale of the team. Per Aldridge, the price of the team will be $338 million and Benson will have to pay 10 percent of the purchase price immediately. The sale also takes the team out of league control for the first time since they bought the franchise from former owner George Shinn for $318 million in 2010.
Benson’s purchase was made possible by a change in NFL rules many years ago that allowed NFL team owners to also own teams from other sports in the same market. That rule forced Rams owner Stan Kroenke to transfer ownership of the NBA’s Denver Nuggets to his son when he bought into the NFL.
The state of Louisiana and the Hornets reached agreement on a deal to extend the team’s lease through 2024 in exchange for state money to improve their arena. One of the contingencies of that deal is that the new owner must pledge to keep the team in New Orleans. That doesn’t figure to be a problem with Benson.
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Way to go Benson!
Any chance he sells the name or picks a new one? Its stupid they are called the Hornets.
Yeah! Sean Payton and Mickey Loomis can work for the Hornets during their suspensions. Lock up Brees, and the Saints are Superbowl bound, AGAIN!! Eat it, haters!!
Congrats! A logical question I have though is what would an injury bounty system in basketball look like? Curious to see how he employes it in the NBA, will be interesting…
Can’t wait to be there tonight in the arena who cares about the Jazz being here or that Gordon is actually going to play this is way bigger.
Hooray! Now we can talk about the bounty scandal in two leagues.
An NBA team? I have three of them, hardly ever use them. NBA teams are like electric pruners.
Hopefully Emeka Okafor won’t proceed on any bounties…
Now Benson “I didn’t lnow” can have payton put a bounty system in place
This was the only logical conclusion to keep the Hornets in New Orleans and should have been done a while ago.
Now change the franchise name to something that reflects the culture of New Orleans.
Now the hornets can b competitive again!! Hes prbly gonna change the brand name though! Wish we could get the JAZZ name back…thats real NAWLINS!!!
Can we go back in time and veto the veto from that douche commish and send CP3 to the Lakers?
Congratulations to the 5 out of the first 9 posters who all had the simultaneous yet incredibly original thought to make the super hilarious “bounty” joke. Well done.
I wonder the total number of people making the same awesome joke will be. 30? 40?
Probably the same knuckle draggers who post how sick they are of hearing bounty-gate every time an article about it pops up here.
So where is he moving the team to?
How about the New Orleans Zzaj. While the city waits for the name Jazz to return to its rightful place – where the name only makes sense.
Ok, now time for a name change and a change of team colors to match their Saints brothers. Kind of like Steelers,Pirates, Penguins….New Orleans bskbll team will look good in black n gold….Maybe throw a fleur de lis in there somewhere.
I hope they keep an eye on the number of injuries in the NBA. I bet they skyrocket! Benson should be stripped of his Saints franchise.
These guys are filthy rich man…. Take in perspective how much money he must have.. Unbelievable! 100000$ is like 1$ to him lol
Good for him though!
They say money cant buy happiness but I’d rather cry in a Ferrari.
Great! Bounties coming to the NBA!
If Sean Payton needs to find some work, he could probably play the part of the Hornets’ mascot Hugo.
During Vilma’s suspension, he’ll become a Hornet. He’ll be the guy brought off the bench to make five quick hard fouls. If the player is hurt, his incentives increase.
how about getting back the team name “Jazz” from Utah. They can have Hornets or something that makes more Utah sense.
All these bounty comments are just hilarious! So au current, timely and original! How about some Aaron Brooks humor or any of the Billy Joes? Did you know that Jim Everett dumped a table on top of Jim Rome? Keep up the gaiety you merry punsters!
Does anyone still watch pro basketball? Basketball season ended with the tournament.
New Orleans and Utah can switch names.It fits because Utah is known as the beehive state
jason1980,
you’re a ward of the state, correct? I can’t imagine someone like you can actually be out on their own…
WOW! The bountygate fine must not have “stung” him too badly (pun intended)
How about The New Orleans Swoosh!
NBA team name proposed changes:
New Orleans JAZZ
Charlotte HORNETS
Utah SWARM (they are known as the ‘beehive state’ – I couldn’t bring myself to suggest “Mormons”)
rubberinnertube, are you hitting on me dude? For some reason I don’t think you’re my type. SAINTS in the Super Bowl, AGAIN BABY!!!! Bounty can’t stop us now.
Markpackman, $500,000 fine, dude that’s pocket change for Tom Benson, the Saints are gonna be just fine this season. Playoff contenders and on to the big dance, whoot!
kantnockdahustle89 says: Apr 13, 2012 12:21 PM
? Its stupid they are called the Hornets.
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Obviously you have never been to Louisiana during the summer.
The Jazz name belongs in Utah now they only spent 5 years in New Orleans compared to the 30 or whatever they have been in Salt Lake.
Well, I see there are as many knuckleheads in New Orleans as we have here in Charlotte.
People, you have to be consistent. If you want to rob one team of its nickname because that nickname is more symonomous with your city than the one the name is in now, you have to do it for all such situations. If you want Jazz back in New Orleans, you can ship the Hornets name back here to Charlotte (which would make all the Charlotte knuckleheads happy), but then you also have to give the Lakers name back to Minnesota. And when you consider that David Stern only gives a damn about the New York and LA teams, and the rest can go to hell as far as he’s concerned, you’re not going to get him to go along with renaming the “iconic” “stoired” or whatever slobbering adjective he would attach to the LA Lakers.
New Orleans is stuck with Hornets, Minnesota is stuck with Timberwolves and Charlotte is stuck with Bobcats. That’s the way it is, it’s not going to change, and that’s the end of it. Everyone is just going to have to get over it and move on.
Oh, and I must say congrats to New Orleans for managing to land the only man anywhere near as sleazy as George Shinn to replace him.
“Benson’s purchase was made possible by a change in NFL rules many years ago that allowed NFL team owners to also own teams from other sports in the same market.
That rule forced Rams owner Stan Kroenke to transfer ownership of the NBA’s Denver Nuggets to his son when he bought into the NFL.”
Huh? If the NFL rules allow owners to own other sports teams in the same market, why then was Kroenke forced to transfer his NBA team to his son when he bought an NFL team?
How about a new name of “the Battle of New Orleans”?
Don’t get excited yet New Orleans, the sale is not finalized until Drew Brees signs off on it.
@jason1980…….your need serious help
jason1980,
thank you for providing evidence that you are obviously cognitively impaired.
I’m sure I’m not your type anyway. I’m conscious.
The Saints can have you.
Ahhh… keep the name and make it your own. Hornets have played there some 10 years already, and growing up there I always thought “Jazz” was a goofy name for a team.
BUT in the interest of entertaining myself – here’s a few options:
New Orleans Muffaletta – who doesn’t love a muffeletta?
New Orleans Barcrawlers – gotta have some endurance if you’re doing it down there
New Orleans West Bankers – because nobody on the roster is from New Orleans, they’re just visiting
New Orleans Bum-Piss – you ever get a whiff of a French Quarter alley on a summer Sunday morning? That should scare anyone
New Orleans Voodoo….b/c we all know the Jazz will never give up their name to New Orleans where it rightfully belongs
hooterdawg says:
Huh? If the NFL rules allow owners to own other sports teams in the same market, why then was Kroenke forced to transfer his NBA team to his son when he bought an NFL team?
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Um, in case you haven’t noticed, the Denver Nuggets and St. Louis Rams are not in the same Market.
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cincyorangenblack says:
New Orleans Voodoo….
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There already is a New Orleans Voodoo. The Arena Football League, which is also owned by Tom Benson.
I like this move a lot for the city of New Orleans. Benson is deicated to winning and I’m sure he will change New Orleans name and uniform colors.
New Orleans Hurricanes!
@jason1980……do your parents seriously know you are making comments on this site?
Tom doesn’t own the voodoo anymore, but I like the Hurricanes.
They should actually play the other side of the card.
New Orleans Saints
New Orleans Sin
For a one month period in February/March, only Las Vegas has more sin occurring on a daily basis.
You mean New Orleans Sinners