George Shinn
George Shinn
George Shinnis the former owner of the Charlotte/New Orleans Hornets as well the Charlotte Knights and Gastonia Rangers minor league baseball teams along with the Raleigh–Durham Skyhawks of the World League of American Football. He purchased the Hornets for $32.5 million in 1987. In 1997, he lost his bid for a potential National Hockey Leagueexpansion franchise to be called the Hampton Roads Rhinos...
ask bank borrowing explain generate happening hard hell help home land lots people seeing stepped suffering
If I don't generate money, I'm I trouble. These people have stepped up to try to keep us whole. I couldn't ask for anything else. I was seeing myself going to the bank borrowing lots of money. I don't see that happening now. It's bittersweet. We've got a place to land and a lot of support, which is positive. But you know, I don't know how the hell to explain it. It's not home. We've got to come back home to help with all the suffering there . . . . it's just hard to describe.
agent coach good great jeff talk wants
I've told him that I want him back. I think he's a great coach, and he's good with the guys. So I told him if he wants to talk, he can talk to me. But I'm not going to talk to an agent. If he has an agent involved, he has to talk to (General Manager) Jeff Bower, not me.
ask bad david hit home knew nba rather tea tom
I see what Tom Benson is going through, ... I don't want to be the bad guy, OK? I'd rather the NBA be the bad guy. I ask David (Stern) every day, 'What should I do? What should I say?' I can't read the tea leaves, but the day of the announcement, I knew we had hit a home run.
absolute deny everybody financial state stay step success team work
The team would be an absolute financial success to stay in Oklahoma. I can't deny that. If everybody here, the state and everybody, can step up and give us some confidence, than everything's going to work here. ... I want it to work.
city clean facility goal nobody remember temporary therefore
The thing everybody's got to remember is our goal is simple. We want to play in New Orleans. That's our home. But we can't. We can't come back even if the facility was clean because there's nobody else there. The city will come back. We don't know how long it will take, therefore we've got to find a temporary home.
businesses city families forced hurricane leave orleans recovers uprooted
Like so many businesses and families uprooted by Hurricane Katrina, the Hornets were forced to leave New Orleans while the city recovers from this tragedy,
attendance fans gone last league sales stepped team year
We've gone from being last in the league in attendance last year to being a t op 10 team in season-ticket sales this year, ... The fans here have really stepped up and made it happen.
business
From a business standpoint, it's always benefited me. The more I give, the more I get back.
great state
From the state of ... this great state.
economics economy-and-economics remember support
But we've got to remember the economics have to be there to support it,
accept city coming fact next oklahoma orleans putting ready start together
Right now, I think everybody's got to accept the fact that New Orleans is not ready for this coming season. They're not ready, so we should play in Oklahoma City next year, and then start working and putting everything together to come back.
exact kidding knew oklahoma words
My exact words were, 'Oklahoma where?' ... I said, 'You've got to be kidding me, David. Do they have an arena?' I knew nothing about Oklahoma City.
city embarrass people promote ready sell sure tickets
We need to make sure everything is ready so we can sell tickets and promote it. We don't want to embarrass the city and have only 1,500 people show up.
community elders worth
We want to make sure, ... that you and the elders of this community will say after all this is over that this was worth it.