Team Rebound

[BullDawg]

The Saints and the Hornets are defying naysayers who predicted they would not survive the crippling economic blow Katrina dealt to the city, turning New Orleans' potential lost cause into a Cinderella sports story



Jeff Duncan / N.O. Times-Picayune

Saints owner Tom Benson stood in the lobby of a posh Washington, D.C., hotel at the NFL spring meeting in May 2005 and bemoaned the grim state of his club to a pack of reporters.

Benson's Saints were stuck on a treadmill of mediocrity. They played in one of the poorest markets and at one of the oldest stadiums in the NFL, and their frustrated fans had bought fewer than 35,000 season tickets for the upcoming season. Reports had surfaced that Benson was interested in moving the team to San Antonio or even New Mexico.

Meanwhile, George Shinn, owner of New Orleans' other major league team, the NBA's Hornets, wasn't in much better shape. Having bought out the minority interest of co-owner Ray Wooldridge, Shinn had leveraged himself into a financial hole, and his team was in even worse shape, coming off a miserable 18-64 season.
Full Story – Picayune