we are all Hornets ..... I mean Pelican fans who love and want this team to succeed. However some of us seem stuck on attendance issues, while others turn the other cheek claiming that attendance doesn't matter now that Benson owns the team. at the end of the day we all want the same outcome - for the team to be successful both on the court and with fan support. however for those arguing that attendance doesn't matter, I beg to differ. the Gulf South is not a good basketball market no matter which way you try and spin it and there are only so many billionaire owners who are willing to lose money nearly every year.

the "win more games and fan support will come" argument is somewhat true, but in New Orleans case it is not. this team has had FIVE different seasons in which the Hornets have made the playoffs during their tenure here in NOLA and it was only in ONE of those seasons did the organization turn a small profit. The Hornets organizing has lost money in 7 out of their 9 seasons in NOLA and 4 out of those 9 were playoff seasons.

Hornets History in NOLA

2002-03
Attendance: 15,650 (not bad, but not good. first year in new city)
Record: 47-35 *PLAYOFF TEAM*
Operating Income: (NEGATIVE) $8.3M
LINK

2003-04
Attendance: 14,332
Record: 41-41 *PLAYOFF TEAM*
Operating Income: unavailable by Forbes, but certainly negative again considering drop in attendance

2004-05
Attendance: 14,221
Record: 18-64
Operating Income: (NEGATIVE) $3.9M
LINK

Relocated to OKC, another small market

2005-06
Attendance: 18,168
Record: 38-44
Operating Income: $12.9M
LINK

2006-07
Attendance: 17,833
Record: 39-43
Operating Income: $10.2M
LINK

so despite having back to back losing seasons and overall poor teams they were still profitable and still drew impressive crowds. quite honestly we all should be thankful that Stern forced Shinn to come back because he certainly tried not to.

Returns to NOLA

2007-08
Attendance: 14,181
Record: 56-26 *PLAYOFF TEAM*
Operating Income: $3.2M (first profitable year in NOLA thanks to second round playoff run)
LINK

2008-09
Attendance: 16,968
Record: 49-33 *PLAYOFF TEAM*
Operating Income: (NEGATIVE) $100K (basically broke even)
LINK
LINK /

2009-10
Attendance: 15,130
Record: 37-45
Operating Income: (NEGATIVE) $5.9M
LINK

2010-11
Attendance: 14,709
Record: 46-36 *PLAYOFF TEAM*
Operating Income: unavailable by Forbes, but again likely in the negative considering the poor attendance.

2011-12
Attendance: 15,109
Record: 21-45
Operating Income: $3.3M (second profitable year in NOLA)
LINK :

2012-13
Attendance: 13,803
Record: 27-54
Operating Income: unavailable yet, but you can imagine

the bottom line is Louisiana sports fans need to step up and support this organization. they are not going to win 50 games every year and that cannot be expected. however the team makes the game experience top notch and they offer some of the most affordable tickets and ticket plans in the entire NBA (usually the cheapest tickets or in the top 3 cheapest every year). no there is nothing exciting about watching a bad team play basketball, however the elephant in the room is that even when we have had playoff caliber teams on the floor, the fan support has been decent at best.

you can walk into any random sports bar in NOLA, BR, etc. and chances are you won't see anything of the Hornets. however you'll see countless Saints, LSU, and you'll even see more Tulane and Southern stuff than you will of the Hornets. how can we help fix this and get this city and entire state of Louisiana behind the team? this issue is far more important than anything happening on the basketball court.