Sadly, New Orleans is showing a team's home attendance does not necessarily coincide with the quality of play.
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The Hornets are off to the best start in franchise history at 28-12.
Tonight's home game against sizzling Portland will represent the halfway mark this season for the Hornets.
The Hornets lead the Southwest Division and the TrailBlazers lead the Northwest, so a good crowd should be on hand inside New Orleans Arena.
Then again ...
Despite having the second-best record in the Western Conference, the Hornets have the second-worst average in home attendance at 12,216 — which leads only Indiana (12,068).
Point guard Chris Paul is an MVP candidate and the NBA's No. 1-rated fantasy player; center Tyson Chandler is a double-double machine and a budding all-star; David West is averaging 19.4 points, 9.4 rebounds and 1.28 blocked shots; Peja Stojakovic is ninth in 3-point percentage (.444).
And yet these Bees still can't draw flies?
If this year's Hornets were playing inside the Ford Center, average attendance would be in the 19,000 range.
Entering Tuesday night, the Hornets trailed the Phoenix Suns (29-12) by just ½ game for the best record in the West.
As dynamic as the Boston Celtics (33-6) have been so far this season, the Hornets are only five back from them.
The Hornets' best regular-season record in their 20 seasons of existence is 54-28 in 1996-97, and that team was 23-17 through 40 games.
Before this season, the Hornets' best record through the first 40 was 24-16 in 1994-95.
This has the makings of the best Hornets team in franchise history, although the 1996-97 Charlotte group of Vlade Divac, Glen Rice, Dell Curry, Anthony Mason and Muggsy Bogues was pretty stout.
Even with all this good news, the franchise's future in the bayou is in peril due to too many empty seats.
Presumably, this year's All-Star Weekend will fill New Orleans Arena.
Then again ...
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Who cares what the population is in New Orleans? The fact is they aren't showing up. That's a fact regardless of how you spin it. Five years from now, I expect to see the Sonics in Oklahoma City and the Hornets in either Kansas City or Seattle (maybe Vegas).
"did i mention the National Football League Saints? are you guys still mad at LSU's thumping of ou in 2003 for all the marbles? don't feel bad. we just did the same thing to ohio st!" Actually I think that is kind of funny!! Not being a native Oklahoman, I still get a laugh out of the overwhelming emotional investment many people here have in a couple of football teams. If you want to sell something in OK, all you need to do half the time is slap a cheap OU or OSU sticker on it and a certain number of goobers are going to buy it!! Some people have really lost perspective on where sports should fit in life!!!
Latest Populations counts has New Orleans at 1.3 million compared to OKC's 1.1 million. New Orleans was bigger before the hurricane and is still bigger today.
Louisiana has 8 different metro areas over 100,000 people compared to Oklahoma which only only has three. The top three louisiana metro areas in Louisiana has a larger populaion than every metro area in the state of Oklahoma.
did i mention the National Football League Saints? are you guys still mad at LSU's thumping of ou in 2003 for all the marbles? don't feel bad. we just did the same thing to ohio st!
hey guys, greater n.o. does not include baton rouge. latest numbers on both cities: greater b.r. 800,000plus and booming!!! and greater N.O., with post katrina population loss, still a little bigger than greater okc. 1.2 million down from 1.4. difference is N.O. is growing now. okc, as you folks know, is not. forget numbers, think perception. N.O.- international city crushed by worst natural and man made disaster in us history and coming back (we are 300+ years old down here). okc-who? seriously. I am not knocking you guys but reality is what it is. I hope the best for okc, especially after mcidiot bombing, but with no tourists, no growth, and no vibrant economy AND a possible downturn in national economy (N.O. recovery money lined up and ready to be spent-downturn proof) it's beyond a longshot. you all know it. good luck but don't bash N.O. when you dont have the facts or have not visited. Oh yea, all-star game is in just a few weeks, in, ah, oh yea, New Orleans. Got to go, it's Mardi Gras time. Then French Quarter Fest, then PGA golf, Then Jazz Festival, and then... ...so much to do down here. so little time.
I think Baton Rouge may be included in the NOLA metro population figure I saw - not sure but it seems plausible. It is also a fact that population growth has stagnated in NOLA. They still have a LONG way to go before you could even consider the place to be a "normal" American city - even given the unique nature of New Orleans' "culture".
I think you all might need to check your stats on population. OKC - 1,172,339 in the greater metro, Baton Rouge - 700,000 greater metro (this is a stretch also), New Orleans - 255,000 people thats it and its not growing at all. OKC is bigger then both of those cities combined. So Kaare you are not even close.
Jill as ridiculous as it sounds what Ted is posting is correct. The hornets contract with this city was a complete joke. We could bring the Lakers to OKC with the type of contract they were given.
Kaare - you may want to check the latest population statistics. OKC metro area, while still a small market, is about 150000 larger than NOLA metro. That would make the TP what? A small town paper? No one is saying the Daily OK is going to win multiple Pulitzers, but any newspaper is going to paint the best possible picture of the town it serves - usually. Listen - it is not that I am rooting against New Orleans - really. I am being realistic about the chances of the Hornets staying in NOLA and it really looks like they will move between the 2009 & 2010 season. IF they are going to move, I want them to return to OKC. I am such a Hornets fan, I would rather postpone a decision on the Sonics in the hope the Hornets could return. Is that the smartest stand to take - probably not since NBA teams are in pretty short supply. But I am a Hornets fan from way back (Charlotte) and I will be a Hornets fan even if they do not get back to OKC. The two years they were here was good for the team and OKC - I think that could be recaptured again.
I wouldn't be braggin about how cheap courtside seats are in Nawlins. OKC averaged over 4,000 more people a night than you do, with higher ticket prices. Too bad those Baton Rouge people aren't going to the basketball games. Hey, Chris Paul said the other night "It's not working in New Orleans". Byron Scott still has his house in OKC. David Stern kicks himself every night for being stoopid enough to let Shinn move there in the first place.
kaare...Love Nawlins but the Hornets are leaving after next year...No doubt about it...Can't even blame it on the team being bad since they are one of the best in the league...That attendance mark cannot be met and Chris Paul will likely be playing in KC in '09...Since attendance stunk before Katrina you can simply chalk it up to NO not being an NBA town...Seems it's all about the Saints down south
before you guys start thinking okc hornets again, 2 things: 1-courtside tickets for a hornets game in new orleans are $750 each! what were they in okc last year? HALF? and 2-ALL of next year to prove ourselves too. Charlotte used to sell out too until realistic ticket prices were applied and now they draw 13000 a game. Not trying to be harsh but if you archive these hopeful sports writers from this "smalltown" newspaper you guys read everyday, the writers have been wrong all along. hornets will be in okc. seattle next. disappointment is next. Dont confuse real factual journalism with small town sports guys hoping they get to cover major sports and not just the preps. seattle is staying put and so are the hornets. no satisfaction, just the truth. n.o. is small market, no doubt. what's that make okc? seriously. not what you think, what america thinks. small town-fact. Baton Rouge is closing in on okc population and probably has more $$$ and definetly more growth, not even close! Think minor league. stop teasing yourselves. okc is what it is. a big, big town, not a major league city. that is reality.
Dave, I'll quit if he will. Ted is posting specious economic nonsense and trying to lure readers into believing he has soemthing rational to say. I'll quit when he does. If I'm emotional, he's obsessional.
Jill, www.okcthunderfans.com - Jan 27, 2008 at 7:36 am
Dave, I agree, but she did say: "the other guarantors would have had a significant piece of that income" ___ Dead Wrong. No ifs, no ands, no buts, just straight up dead wrong. When I posted the exact language of the contract (I mean EXACT, direct from the contract itself) that proved she was talking out of her backside - she flipped out. Instead of admitting it, she kicked and cried and went off about how I was "twisting" things. No good deed goes unpunished. Again, it's rather ironic that it's always the emotional "Jill" or the illiterate "Bug" of the world that support taxing the masses for the benefit of sports team.
Ted, Jill - Be nice! You are making me look foolish for saying this has been a good forum for debating this issue without the silliness that is pervasive on other sites! :-)
Mr. Seattle, the Hornets would have only owed the city money if they had made MORE than $40 million on arena related items. That is because it was well known that the Hornets had far more than that in EXPENSES. The team payroll was more than $40 million. The guarantee was to ensure that the team could at least make their expenses. Again, you're playing with words. The bottom line is that the team only grossed forty million on arena related items, and that was their guarantee. The team did not make a $40 million dollar profit. Definition of profit: "The monetary surplus left to a producer or employer after deducting wages, rent, cost of raw materials, etc." I'm not going to retract or apologize for anything, because I am not wrong. You're using semantics to make a ridiculous point. I hope you don't use such specious logic on your thesis. Give it up here. No one is reading this anymore anyway, but I'm sure you'll turn up like a bad penny on any other article written in the DOK. Your obsession is pretty obvious to anyone from Oklahoma City reading this newspaper online.
Jill, www.okcthunderfans.com - Jan 26, 2008 at 7:54 am
As far as your trite little "you're not adding and subtracting accurately." commentary. I'm adding and subtracting just fine. OKC gave the team a contract that let them walk with $40 million free and clear each year. None of the "team expenses" you drone on and on about are arena related. Just like none of the TV/Merchandise/Licensing revenues are arena related. OKC underwrote a $40M PROFIT guarantee on their use of the arena. Post that retraction/apology any time dear....
Now Jill, that's not the apology we should be seeing from you. I'm not twisting anything. Here's what you said: "especially since Oklahoma City and the other guarantors would have had a significant piece of that income" WELL JILL - where's that "SIGNIFICANT PIECE" - Hmmmm, I'm all ears. Why dont you elaborate on that??? Are you going to own your obvious mistake or ignore it like all your other obvious mistakes?
I thought you were an economist, Ted. You're playing with words, and you're not adding and subtracting accurately. $40 million in arena income minus team salaries, team expenses does not equal $40 million in PROFIT. Do you think anyone is stupid enough to fall for those semantics? Who cares what arena expenses were? All expenses have to be deducted from income to determine profit. You've bored what little audience you've got by now, Ted, and even a dunce can see that you're twisting words and numbers to come up with some imaginary value. Arena profit means nothing.
Jill, www.okcthunderfans.com - Jan 25, 2008 at 8:31 pm
I thought you were an economist, Ted. You're playing with words, and you're not adding and subtracting accurately. $40 million in arena income minus team salaries, team expenses does not equal $40 million in PROFIT. Do you think anyone is stupid enough to fall for those semantics? Who cares what arena expenses were? All expenses have to be deducted from income to determine profit. You've bored what little audience you've got by now, Ted, and even a dunce can see that you're twisting words and numbers to come up with some imaginary value. Arena profit means nothing.
Jill, www.okcthunderfans.com - Jan 25, 2008 at 8:31 pm
"Income-expenses=profit" YES. $40M in arena income -minus- $0 in arena expenses = $40M in arena profit. You can post an admission/retraction/apology now.
"and we guaranteed them they'd clear $40 million dollars before expenses." WRONG. OKC guaranteed they'd make $40M in ARENA revenues and pay NO expenses for it.
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Fans in Oklahoma City didn't roll out for a Hornets preseason game, but unlike New Orleans, they did fill the seats during the regular season. BY NATE BILLINGS, THE OKLAHOMAN
David West has the New Orleans Hornets going up and over Western Conference competition, but their fan base is still under the numbers the team wants. ASSOCIATED PRESS
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Louisiana has 8 different metro areas over 100,000 people compared to Oklahoma which only only has three. The top three louisiana metro areas in Louisiana has a larger populaion than every metro area in the state of Oklahoma.
Jill as ridiculous as it sounds what Ted is posting is correct. The hornets contract with this city was a complete joke. We could bring the Lakers to OKC with the type of contract they were given.