NBA All-Star Game Returning To New Orleans

(SB Nation, Mike Prada) The NBA is expected to announce on Monday that New Orleans will be the host of the 2014 All-Star Game, according to a report by Jimmy Smith of the New Orleans Times-Picayune. A 2 p.m. "major announcement" is scheduled to introduce new team owner Tom Benson, and that announcement will also include the news of the All-Star Game, Smith reports.

This is the second time in seven years that the city will host an All-Star Game. The city last hosted the event in 2008, which, at the time, was the first major sporting event besides home games to be held New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina. With a new owner and a new lease on the New Orleans Arena, the NBA has evidently decided to bring the event back to the city.

The New Orleans Arena will be undergoing renovations, and the first phase of those is expected to be completed before February, 2014, Smith reports. Benson, the owner of the NFL's New Orleans Saints, formally announced his purchase of the franchise from the league on Friday.