In November 2001, four people gathered inside Ray Wooldridge’s suite at the Hyatt Regency on Loyola Avenue to discuss what it would take to move the Charlotte Hornets to New Orleans and into the 2-year-old arena that sat blocks away. Earlier that year, Charlotte taxpayers had voted no on a referendum to replace the Charlotte Coliseum with a new downtown arena at a cost of $205 million. That decision spurred Wooldridge, who owned a 35% stake in the team, to pursue relocation of the team to another city.