New Arena Lease keeps Hornets in New Orleans through 2014

New York, Jan. 9 ( Xinhua ) -- The Hornets and the state of Louisiana reached a new arena lease Wednesday to keep the team in the city through 2014 if fan support improves.

The extended lease includes specific benchmarks. For instance, the Hornets can opt out of the agreement if the team fails to draw an average attendance of 14,735 at the end of the 2008-09 season. Even such an average still would leave the Hornets in the bottom third of NBA attendance.

Hornets owner George Shinn believed that the new agreement would give his team a realistic expectation of success. "We want this to be our home for a very long time, and we have great confidence that we will succeed."

The Hornets averaged 11,871 in their first 15 games this season, which is last in the league.