Mr. Bart,

I know you frequent the Hornets247.com blog so I figured this was a good place to post this letter.  I have read how you would like to be a part of a new ownership group for your beloved NEW ORLEANS Hornets.  I share that desire, yet sadly I do not have the impressive assets you do that would allow such a desire to be fulfilled.  In the copious amounts of reading I have done since the NBA began discussions on the buy out of Mr. Shinn, one thing has stuck out as the most important step we as fans could take to save our team, deny the league the attendance based opt out clause.

Now I know you already spend a very, very large amount of money on the Hornets.  However, if you would like to be able to buy into the Hornets one day wouldn’t it seem like a wise use of some of your money to help end the opt out?  So, as an equally passionate NEW ORLEANS Hornets fan I would like to ask for your help.  I know you will remember back in the lean days for the Saints, nearly every home game was under threat of a blackout.  So generous and passionate corporations and business leaders in our community would step up and buy large blocks of tickets to ensure a “sold out” game just for the community’s sake.  These business leaders understood that during tough times, the poor ticket sales weren’t due to lack of love and desire for the Saint’s product, but were a storm that needed to be ridden out.

This effort and love for the community was done just so people could watch the games, not save the team and keep them in NOLA where they belong like a similar effort would be with the Hornets.  As a quick look at Ticketmaster available seats shows a couple hundred seats per home game under $12 per seat and a thousand or more under $20 a seat, it made me hope for a NOLA business leader that would step up and take a page out of the Saints support handbook and gobble up those available cheap seats on game day.  I am not asking that you do this on your own, though it would be nice; I am asking that you find other like-minded leaders to team up with fans to make this happen.  I personally am giving all I can which is around 4 seats a game.  There are others, many out of state, on this site that would be willing to do so as well.

We just all want to ensure that the bidding war can’t begin because all these outside bidders see that $10 million buyout as their golden ticket to an NBA franchise in their city of choice.  Please help us get this done.  Let’s show the NBA and this country of naysayers that we will not be pushed aside.

Thanks for your time.

Sincerely,

Christopher Price

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