NEW ORLEANS -- Selling out the New Orleans Arena for the Hornets' six games this season is vital to keeping the NBA team in the city, owner George Shinn said Friday.

The NFL's Saints have sold all of their tickets for the first time since they were formed in 1967, but Shinn said that cannot predict anything about the attendance expectations for the Hornets.

"I think it's wonderful what happened to the Saints. But it's not fair to put us in the same category," Shinn said after the team's fan appreciation day.

Shinn said the Hornets have sold about 13,000 of the arena's 18,000 seats for the Nov. 5 home opener against Houston. Three weeks ago, no more than 7,000 seats had been sold, he said.

"I was really worried then. I feel a lot better now," Shinn said.

Shinn told fans the Hornets will be back for the 2007-08 season, which includes the 2008 NBA All-Star game in New Orleans.

The big question is, what happens after that?

Shinn said the Saints' 68,300 season-ticket sellout is "a great sign the community's willing to step up and support this market." But because NFL games are almost all on Sundays and so many NBA games are on weekdays, the Hornets have a much smaller sales market, he said.

Still, prospects are improving in New Orleans, Shinn said. The team sold every ticket last season in Oklahoma City, where most home games were moved after Hurricane Katrina damaged the New Orleans Arena. Last year, two of the team's three games in New Orleans were sellouts and the third was close.

Depending on the game, 9,000 to 13,000 tickets have sold so far for the six contests in New Orleans.

"From our standpoint, obviously, it's important to get sponsorship deals put together and to continue to sell tickets and to sell out these games," Shinn said. "That's really the critical thing. I don't want to have any of the games any less than what we had last year for the three games."

Shinn also said he is continuing talks with a group of potential local partners in the team's ownership.

"I am optimistic that something will be done in a short period of time," he said. "The last time I said two or three months. We're two months down. When you've got lawyers involved, everything slows down.

"I am confident everything will work out."