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...
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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,
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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.
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This whole thing is somewhat bittersweet. I've got a fine line to walk. I want to be enthusiastic to the people here and let them know I'm proud and that we're going to make this thing work. I also want to make sure that people in New Orleans have hope because they've gone through a lot.
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New Orleans is our home, and we are committed to rebuilding that great city and playing there again. But at the same time, we feel that it's important to acknowledge the way Oklahoma has embraced this team. Wearing an Oklahoma City jersey is the biggest way we can say thank you for a very special season.
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It's not just about if the arena is in playing condition. Will there be any fans? I don't know how many fans will come back, or how quickly they'll come back. I'm convinced New Orleans will rebuild. I can see maybe even being stronger. But how long it's going to take, I'm not going to touch that. This option was just a cushion, just to make sure if it got to this point.
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It's not just the arena (being) in playing condition, but will there be any fans there. I don't know how many will come back, how quickly they'll come back. I'm convinced New Orleans will rebuild. With the dollars that the federal government is putting in, I can see it rebuilding and even being stronger. But how long is it going to take? This option (for a possible second year in Oklahoma City) was just a cushion just to make sure if it got to that point.
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I've got all the confidence in the world New Orleans is going to be back. The question all of us have is when.
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I've got a fine line and I've got to be very careful because if these people have no hope, they don't want to support it. If the people in New Orleans have no hope, then they're not going to come. So it's a situation that I've got a very delicate balancing act here to try to make it work.
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It's a sellout, which sends a signal around the country that New Orleans is coming back.
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I was in New Orleans just this past week. It is a terrible, terrible feeling to see all the homes that, to me, look destroyed. It's not just the arena. If the arena is in playing condition, will there be fans there? I don't know how many people will come back and how quickly they'll come back.
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Our objective is not to abandon ship here or to get out of dodge, ... Our plan is to hope and pray New Orleans rebuilds. And I think it will with everyone's support and the federal money that's coming in there. I think it will be stronger.
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I think New Orleans is going to come back. I don't think it can be this year, but I think next year if they keep heading in a positive direction, they've got a good chance of coming back. All indications I see, they're going to come back stronger.
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This is just the beginning of our commitment to provide relief to our family, friends and fans who have been affected by Hurricane Katrina, ... New Orleans is our home, and we are focused on helping to rebuild and revitalize our great city.
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I believe it's going to come back. I feel its going to come back bigger and stronger. We're here (Oklahoma City) for this year. New Orleans has a lot do to get back and when they come back, we're coming back. I want the people there to have hope. In a lot of ways that's all some of them have, and I'm not going to take that away from them.