Charlotte-based car dealer and entrepreneur Felix Sabates, who invested in the city’s original basketball expansion franchise in 1987 and “stayed on through the Michael Jordan era,” is “ready to get out of his basketball investment,” according to Erik Spanberg of the CHARLOTTE BUSINESS JOURNAL. Sabates, who is 78, said that he wants out “not because of Jordan’s imminent sale of majority interest in the Hornets.” Rather, he said he is “excited” for the new majority investor group led by Gabe Plotkin and Rick Schnall saying, “These guys want to win.” Sabates: “They’re going to put up the money. And they’re young enough to do it.” Spanberg wrote on the “business side, prospects are bright” for the franchise. Sabates said, “You saw how well we did financially with a crappy team,” adding Hornets President Fred Whitfield “and his people deserve a medal.” Sabates: “You haves fans, a lot of sellouts -- you have to give credit Fred (and the front office.)” Spanberg noted last season the team sold 12,000 season tickets, the “most since the NBA returned in 2004," and that number “includes all of the lower bowl.” The Hornets also “sold out 16 of 41 home games in 2022-23,” the “most in a season” dating to the original Hornets in 1997-98 (CHARLOTTE BUSINESS JOURNAL, 7/5).
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