Tom Benson, who has agreed to purchase the Hornets for a reported $338 million, wants to change the name of the team to something more identifiable with the city of New Orleans.
The name “Hornets” moved with the team when previous owner George Shinn relocated it from Charlotte to New Orleans, and when the Jazz moved from New Orleans to Utah in 1979, the name went with the team then too.
"We need to find a name like (Jazz)," Benson told the Times-Picayune. "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."
The Jazz organization did not respond to an inquiry from the Salt Lake Tribune asking if it would consider selling the name to Benson.
But Utah coach Ty Corbin said, “I’m sure it’ll work itself out, but we can’t give up our name.”
The Tribune noted that in the Hornets’ first season in New Orleans, one of the team’s owners said he wanted to bring the Jazz nickname back.
"I’m willing to sit down and talk about it," late Jazz owner Larry Miller said at the time.
The Jazz are now run by Miller’s son, Greg Miller.
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