Tim Whitmire of the Charlotte Observer reports: Using their strongest public language to date, some NBA owners are expressing serious concern about the Charlotte Hornets' proposed move to New Orleans.

Speaking Wednesday at a sports-business conference in New York, Seattle SuperSonics owner Howard Schultz told Sports Business Daily that the requested move by Hornets owners George Shinn and Ray Wooldridge reflects poorly on the league.

Schultz and other NBA owners are attending the World Congress of Sports at New York's Waldorf Astoria hotel.

Also attending is Phoenix Suns Chairman Jerry Colangelo, who leads the committee that will make a recommendation on the Hornets' relocation.

The seven-member committee, along with NBA Commissioner David Stern, is to visit New Orleans on Wednesday.

Colangelo acknowledged significant opposition to the move.

"I think it's a hot button for a lot of people in the league," he told Sports Business Daily. "I've heard from a number of people who are very strongly opposed to a move, but our committee will weigh all the plusses and make the recommendation to the board."

Hornets spokesman Harold Kaufman could not be reached for comment Wednesday evening.

After Colangelo's committee makes a recommendation, representatives of the league's 29 teams are to vote in early April on the Hornets' move. A majority vote would be needed for the team to relocate.

Sources have told The Observer that many within the NBA are concerned because New Orleans is a smaller television market than Charlotte and has a substantially lower median income and a smaller corporate community to buy luxury suites and premium seats.

Those same sources blame Shinn and Wooldridge for declining support that has seen Hornets' attendance go from the top of the league to the bottom in recent years.

A Charlotte lawyer and restaurateur said another NBA owner, outspoken Dallas Mavericks head Mark Cuban, recently told him league owners oppose the move.