New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson now owner of NBA New Orleans Hornets too

Tom Benson buys the New Orleans Hornets from the NBA

Published: Friday, April 13, 2012, 12:59 PM     Updated: Friday, April 13, 2012, 2:04 PM

By Jimmy Smith, The Times-Picayune The Times-Picayune New York - The NBA-owned New Orleans Hornets have been sold to Saints owner Tom Benson for a price sources said is $338 million.

Michael DeMocker / The Times-PicayuneTom Benson, the new owner of the New Orleans Hornets, said one of his first priorities will be changing the team's nickname to something that has more of a New Orleans flavor.

 

Benson is the sole owner and no partners are involved.
"I'm not too good with partners," Benson said.
Benson, who initially bid to purchase the team in January but was put off by the league's asking price, said Friday he was worried that other absentee ownership groups might attempt to move the team out of the city, despite a new lease agreement that will bind the Hornets to New Orleans Arena through the 2024 season.
One of the bidding groups, headed by California swimwear manufacturer Raj Bhathal, included Benson's youngest brother, Larry, a San Antonio automobile dealer.
"I told Larry I was a little bit concerned, even though he said he wasn't going to do it, the first downturn he'd be looking to go to California or some place," Benson said in his suite at the St. Regis Hotel where the meeting took place. "That wasn't very good.
"We really never stopped talking to them (the NBA). With out of state owners. . . . I called David (Stern, NBA commissioner) and said, 'Look I'm the only guy you can count on who's really going to stay here. Let's work this thing out.' "
Benson said he would assume $125 million of the team's current debt and Friday morning wired a deposit to the league to consummate the transaction.
Benson and the NBA agreed in principle to the deal at about midnight Thursday night, and he signed the official paperwork shortly before 11 a.m. local time Friday morning in his hotel room.
Dennis Lauscha, the Saints' executive vice president and chief financial officer, will oversee the operations of both clubs in that capacity, while Saints General Manager Mickey Loomis will do the same for each team, though the Hornets will have their own management team overseeing their operation.
"We're going to operate this as a separate unit altogether," Benson said. "I don't see right now that we're going to be able to interlock a lot of stuff. That doesn't mean that these guys right here and Mickey Loomis is a good basketball guy, certainly won't have some input. We're going to have a management staff there just like you do in any other business.
"In the automobile business, we've got a management staff on board and in the banking deal, we've got a president and they operate the bank, our real estate holdings the same thing. So where Dennis is involved in a lot of things, he'll have somebody he's talking to or working with. That's what we need to do. "
Benson said he is also trying to change the name of the NBA team to better fit the ambience, culture and charm of New Orleans.
"We need to find a name like (Jazz)," Benson said, referring to New Orleans first NBA team that relocated to Salt Lake City in 1979. "Whether we can get that or let us use that, you've got to know we're working on it. We'd like to change it tomorrow. We have not gotten that approved, but we're not letting up on it, either. Because we've got a good relationship with the commissioner and his people and we're going to be on them daily to do something."
The NBA purchased the Hornets from founding owner George Shinn in December 2010 for about $318 million when it appeared Shinn might sell to investors who planned to move the team out of New Orleans.
Stern then appointed native New Orleanian Jac Sperling to broker a deal that could secure a local owner, a new lease agreement with the state of Louisiana, and at the same time seek to improve the financial condition of the club.
On March 16, the Hornets and state announced an agreement for a new lease, void of escape clauses, contingent upon finding a new owner, and legislative approval of $40 million in capital outlays to improve New Orleans Arena and give the Hornets new revenue streams that would end state subsidies and the extension of a quality jobs tax credit.
Benson said he'd spoken with Gov. Bobby Jindal on Friday morning, as well as New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu who both expressed excitement about the news of his acquisition.
Benson also spoke with Saints quarterback Drew Brees, currently in negotiation with the Saints for a long-term contract, and he said Brees also endorsed Benson's Hornets' ownership.
"I talked to Drew Brees this morning and he's very happy about it," Benson said. "He and I told each other that he's going to get in here and we're going to work his deal out and we're going to get it behind us."