Effect of Hurricane Katrina on the New Orleans Hornets

• 1. Introduction

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  On the 29th of August 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans and changed the city in ways that reached far beyond its neighborhoods and into its basketball arena. The New Orleans Hornets suddenly had no home. The flooding surrounding the New Orleans Arena made the building unusable, even though the structure itself had suffered only slight damage. What followed was one of the strangest chapters in NBA history: a team split between two states, playing at four different venues in a single season, uncertain whether they would ever come back. Would the Hornets survive the storm? And what would their absence mean for the city, and for the unexpected place that took them in?

• 2. A City in Crisis

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  With training camp set to open on the 4th of October 2005, the Hornets had almost no time to find answers. They announced that the first three weeks of camp would be held at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado, rather than their usual facility, the Alario Center in Westwego. Back in Louisiana, the team hoped to play home games at either the Pete Maravich Assembly Center or the Rivercenter in Baton Rouge. On September 3, Hornets owner George Shinn publicly stated that the storm would not be used as an excuse to permanently move the franchise.

  By September 10, that Louisiana option was slipping away. The Baton Rouge facilities were needed for hurricane relief operations, and multiple cities had stepped forward to offer a temporary home: Kansas City, Louisville, Nashville, San Diego, and Oklahoma City all expressed interest. Mid-September brought a brief flash of hope when SMG reported that the New Orleans Arena might be ready by the All-Star Game break. But by late September, the decision was final. Oklahoma City would host 35 games at the Ford Center, with six more assigned to Baton Rouge at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. There was also a provision: three March games could return to New Orleans if arena repairs finished in time. The NBA formally renamed the team the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets for the duration.

• 3. Oklahoma City Steps Up

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  The Hornets opened the 2005-06 season in Oklahoma City with a 26-point win over the Sacramento Kings on the 1st of November 2005. The response from the city was striking. Playing at the Ford Center, the Hornets averaged 18,168 fans per game, a 78% increase over their attendance figure from the previous season in New Orleans, where they had finished last in the league. Hornets star Chris Paul captured the mood, saying that "You get a feeling you're a part of something special." Mayor Mick Cornett said, "My expectations were lofty, but we've exceeded them."

  The team's first game back in Louisiana came on the 21st of December 2005, a loss to the Phoenix Suns. Then, on the 8th of March 2006, the Hornets played the first professional sports event held in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, losing to the Los Angeles Lakers. The Hornets closed out the 2005-06 season with 38 wins, placing tenth in the Western Conference. They also became the first team since the 1974-75 Boston Celtics to play home games at four separate venues in a single season: the Ford Center, the New Orleans Arena, the Pete Maravich Assembly Center, and the Lloyd Noble Center in Norman, Oklahoma.

• 4. The Delayed Return

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  On the 31st of January 2006, the NBA announced that the Hornets would not return to New Orleans for the 2006-07 season. The league cited the need to allow a full recovery of the New Orleans market, and set the 2007-08 season as the new target. The announcement also confirmed that New Orleans would host the 2008 All-Star Game. As a further gesture, the Hornets were scheduled to play six of their 41 home games in New Orleans during the 2006-07 season.

  All repair work on the New Orleans Arena was finished by March 2006, and a new scoreboard and video displays were installed during the process. In June 2006, George Shinn publicly reaffirmed his intention to bring the team back permanently. Still, many New Orleans fans remained skeptical. The popularity of the Hornets in Oklahoma City was hard to ignore, and the team was simultaneously negotiating with Oklahoma City as a contingency for a potential third year away. The Hornets opened the 2006-07 season with a win over the Boston Celtics in New Orleans, improved their win total by one game over the previous year, but again finished tenth in the Western Conference, three games out of the playoffs. Their attendance dipped slightly, leaving them 15th overall in the league.

• 5. Coming Home

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  On the 31st of October 2007, the Hornets made their permanent return to New Orleans, defeating the Sacramento Kings 109-90 to open the 2007-08 season. In the two seasons that followed, the team averaged 15,574 fans per game. During the 2008 All-Star Game weekend, the NBA donated $5 million toward relief work in the city and ran an NBA Cares program to support rebuilding efforts.

  The Hornets' time in Oklahoma City had an unexpected lasting consequence. Following the success of the franchise's two-year tenure there, the Seattle SuperSonics relocated to Oklahoma City for the 2008-09 season and became the Oklahoma City Thunder. As for the Hornets themselves, they changed their name to the New Orleans Pelicans in 2013. That opened the door for the Hornets name to return to Charlotte, North Carolina, where it had originally belonged, replacing the Bobcats name one year after the Pelicans rebranding.