The New Orleans Times-Picayune and TNT/NBA.com scribe David Aldridge are reporting that New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson is buying the New Orleans Hornets for close to $340 million. The Hornets had been languishing ever since the league purchased them from George Shinn in late 2010. This was especially the case over the winter, when the team was forced to trade franchise point guard Chris Paul yet couldn’t get the most value in a trade because the league didn’t want large or lengthy contracts on the books. Benson won out over at least one other group including Los Angeles businessman Raj Bhatal and former NBA coach/player Mike Dunleavy.

Benson, who has owned the Saints for more than a quarter-century, is exactly the kind of local interest that David Stern and the other owners wanted to keep the team in New Orleans. The car dealership magnate was lauded in the 80’s and 90’s, then turned into a pariah as he demanded publicly financed improvements to the Superdome. When Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, it wasn’t clear what the team’s future would be. Benson split his time between The Big Easy and San Antonio, where the Alamo Dome awaited with open arms. A large percentage of NOLA’s population left the area, making economic prospects bleak. The Superdome itself was hit hard, its roof skin torn off, its lower level flooded, and its interior and reputation damaged by some evacuees. FEMA and the Louisiana government came in and rehabbed the stadium for $180 million, which gave locals a rallying point and Benson an reason to stay. A few years later the team won the Super Bowl, the dome got a naming rights deal with Mercedes-Benz, and throughout it all Benson performed one of the greatest public relations turnarounds in the history of sports – thanks in no small part to a hurricane.

In buying the Hornets, Benson will get a long-term lease at the New Orleans Arena through 2024. Knowing that a local like Benson is now the owner should help bump up ticket sales, making the biggest weakness the team’s lack of a franchise player. Staked with the third-worst record in the league, perhaps they’ll sneak in and get the #1 pick in the NBA draft lottery. It was only a 11 days ago that Kentucky’s Anthony Davis dominated the national championship game in the Superdome. The team could eventually switch nicknames to something more befitting the city. Too bad the Jazz name moved with the team to decidedly not-jazzy Salt Lake City.

This news solidifies the team’s stay in NOLA, which was Stern’s biggest goal. Stern rebuffed overtures by Larry Ellison to buy the team, as Ellison was more interested in moving the franchise to San Jose. Now we’ll find out if New Orleans can be a basketball town in the long run.

Update 11:04 AM – Now we have the Maloofs’ proposal: Refurbish Power Balance Pavilion/ARCO Arena. Good idea or not? (I’ve been sitting on my post about ARCO, looks like it’ll go up tomorrow.) David Stern and the NBA Board of Governors have a press conference going on now.

As the Maloofs flew to New York to discuss the terms of the Sacramento ESC/Arena deal, civic interests rallied together to write a letter urging NBA commissioner David Stern to find new ownership. Clearly, whatever goodwill was captured a month ago has evaporated.

Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson with Kings owners Joe and Gavin Maloof in happier times

The Sacramento Bee followed up with an editorial also calling for the Maloofs to sell. The level of distrust between the two parties is extraordinary. For their part, the Maloofs contend that they remain committed to a new arena in Cowtown, whereas the City and its backers continually accuse the Maloofs of trying to derail every arena plan, going back several years.

My problem with the whole affair is this: Have the Maloofs ever come up with their own plan for an arena? Based on the Bee’s timeline of the Kings’ tenure in Sacramento, the answer is no. They piggybacked onto a railyards plan in 2002, and when it collapsed they blamed the City. In 2006, they famously backed away from arena measures shortly before elections. Now they’re balking at the ESC plan over money for pre-development work. They’ve also attacked the plan’s feasibility and had their lawyers make a huge, aggressive information request of the City over the plan.

KJ took the red-eye to New York to meet with the Maloofs and Stern on Friday. He’ll have the letter and support from the business community and the Bee, which is great. But this request of Stern is not going to change things. Sure, the NBA has leverage over the Maloofs because they’re tapping into the league’s credit line. It isn’t enough to break them. As cash poor as they are, neither they nor the team are in danger of bankruptcy. Kings payroll is the lowest in the league, and the only thing keeping it from dropping lower is the league’s salary floor ($44 million).

Knowing that the Maloofs are wary of Sacramento’s feasibility, Stern should force the Maloofs to do the one thing they haven’t done yet: come up with their own plan. Maybe that incorporates all or part of the ESC plan, maybe it’s something completely new. At least it would force the Maloofs to be engaged to a degree that they’ve never demonstrated. Then Stern can compare what the Maloofs have with ESC, take the best parts from both, and we’ll see who’s truly committed and what’s feasible. It would put ownership on the defensive and compel them to act instead of sitting on the sidelines as they’ve historically done. Stern can extend the artificial deadline another year, which won’t hurt things. If Sacramento can’t work out, they should know by next year, with Anaheim waiting in the wings. if the Maloofs are running into money problems, it’s possible that will be exposed in the next year, which could force Stern’s hand. That’s the only way I can see a sale happening not by the Maloofs’ choice. They’d have to run into a legal/financial crisis that de-prioritizes owning a team. In conjunction, Sacramento doesn’t need to do more than they’re doing now – figuring out the ESC plan feasibility. They’ve bent over backwards and spent a lot of money on this and the failed 2006 plan. And that is much more than I can say for Oakland.

Added: Pro Basketball Talk’s Aaron Bruski covers the Maloofs’ recent actions in great detail.

It looks like the Warriors won’t be partnering up with the Giants for an arena after all, which, if Matier and Ross are correct, is the best decision the franchise has made under the Lacob-Gruber ownership group. Instead of building on the parking lots south of China Basin, the Warriors’ arena could end up at Piers 30 & 32, which were recently abandoned as part of the America’s Cup project due to the cost of development.

The new foundation, which would consist of hundreds of deeply driven piles, would cost $80 million. The piers are currently an 11-acre parking lot, so there’s ample room for an arena, parking, and as would be expected, green space.

It’s a supremely attractive location, at the foot of the Bay Bridge and equidistant from both BART and Caltrain (3/4 mile). The only issues are a lack of parking in the vicinity and potential EIR difficulties stemming from the visual impact of the structure. You can imagine the bumper videos of ferries approaching a bayside arena during Warriors broadcasts, with the Bay Bridge and Financial District in the background.

Matier and Ross argue that the W’s are getting rid of a middleman in the Giants, which is probably correct, but it’s easy to see them exchanging one partner for another. It makes sense for the W’s to partner with AEG or another arena operator to defray some of the cost. If we’re projecting to a 2017 or 2018 opening, the cost of the arena could run $700 million easily, maybe more. Key to the deal is the fact that the W’s don’t currently operate Oracle Arena, since they have no control over it. SMG operates the arena instead, and while SMG could pitch the W’s on operating an arena in SF, I imagine that their history leaves something to be desired.

The arena could be anywhere from 120 to 150 feet tall, depending on how complex the structure is. With the lack of nearby parking, the arena could be built with 1,000+ spaces underneath. It’s more expensive, but knowing the NBA’s requirements for premium seating, also necessary. There is an example of a waterfront arena with 1,000 parking spaces built in a garage underneath. That venue happens to be in Miami, and it was designed in part by 360 Architecture, the same firm working with the A’s.

American Airlines Arena (Image from Wikimedia Commons)

On second thought, maybe it’ll cost $1 billion.