Report: Canucks owner eyes NBA team
Posted February 16, 2011 8:55 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Vancouver Canucks owner Francesco Aquilini would like to bring the NBA back to town and he has set his sights on the troubled New Orleans Hornets, according to a report in the Globe and Mail.
Canucks Sports and Entertainment chairman Francesco Aquilini has been seeking a portable franchise for five years that could be bought for a bargain and moved to Vancouver, says the report.
He is allegedly looking at the Hornets, who are currently owned by the NBA and are a prime candidate for relocation.
Aquilini did not respond to requests for comment from the Globe.
NBA commissioner David Stern told ESPN earlier this week that he has had “visits” from a potential ownership group from Vancouver and he went out of his way to praise the management of the Canucks.
“I have regrets about both Seattle and Vancouver,” Stern added, referring to the circumstances in which the two Pacific Northwest markets lost their franchsies to Oklahoma City and Memphis respectively.
