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...
arena fans feeling homes orleans past people playing quickly terrible
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.
arena convinced fans maybe option orleans playing quickly sure touch
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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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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You have been absolutely incredible and we are so grateful. Tonight is a celebration for Oklahoma City with what you have done for us. We will never forget this. We are so grateful. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
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There is no self-made man. You will reach your goals only with the help of others.
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But we've got to remember the economics have to be there to support it,
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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.
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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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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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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.
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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.
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The plan, again, is to come back here. I'm not God. ... If another Katrina hits here and hits dead on here, what's going to happen? I don't know the answer to that question, but it's probably not going to be good. We've all got have our eyes open and we've all got to make the right decision.
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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.