The (AP) reports: The Charlotte Hornets are more than 8,000 season-ticket sales and 44 luxury suite sales below March 15 target levels that are a key to the NBA team moving to New Orleans.

But the head of the team's business operation in New Orleans said he remains confident the ticket drive will reach its goals.

The Hornets have 2,062 deposits for all seating levels and have sold 10 luxury suites since they began accepting deposits on Jan. 23. That was several days after owners George Shinn and Ray Wooldridge filed their intent with the NBA to move to New Orleans.

According to the Hornets' agreement with the state, the team can back out of the move unless the team has sold 2,450 club seats, 54 luxury suites and 8,000 other season tickets by March 15 but it's very unlikely that the Hornets will back out of the deal.

Alex Martins, who heads the team's business operation in New Orleans, said the figures are incomplete because the team has been unable to reach 400 people on the team's ticket pledge list of 7,000. Another 500 have been contacted, but have not decided on the number of tickets and location in the New Orleans Arena, Martins said.

"I'm very comfortable with where we're at, but being a newcomer to the region I probably underestimated the magnitude of Mardi Gras," he said.

Martins also said the team was hampered by the Super Bowl earlier this month. He said the team has not received a response from all 37 current suiteholders to determine if they will keep the suites for an NBA season.

The team's proposed relocation must be approved by 15 of the 29 NBA owners. Wooldridge said a seven-member relocation committee of owners will visit New Orleans on March 20.