NBA commissioner David Stern said the ‘Jazz’ nickname will remain in Utah, despite prospective Hornets owner Tom Benson’s desire to bring it back to New Orleans.
Benson said he wants to change the name of the NBA’s New Orleans franchise to something that’s more identifiable with the city than ‘Hornets’ and suggested that ‘Jazz,” which moved with the team that relocated from New Orleans to Utah in 1979, was his first preference.
“We need to find a name like (Jazz)," Benson told the Times-Picayune last week. "Whether we can get that or (they) let us use that, you've got to know we're working on it. We'd like to change it tomorrow. We have not gotten that approved, but we're not letting up on it, either. Because we've got a good relationship with the commissioner and his people and we're going to be on them daily to do something."
But Stern, when introducing Benson as the team’s new owner on Monday, said that won’t happen.
"It belongs to Utah," Stern, per the Times-Picayune, said of the ‘Jazz’ brand. "I wouldn't make it such an important point. There are many things that are indigenous to the area. I'm sure there will be some wonderful nicknames (suggestions)."
"I'm going to ask all of you to help me with this, too," Benson said at Monday’s news conference. "We want to change the name from Hornets . ... to something that means New Orleans and Louisiana. The 'Hornets' doesn't mean anything.' "
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