New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson has agreed to buy the city's struggling NBA franchise New Orleans Hornets, league commissioner David Stern said on Friday.

Financial terms were not announced but local media reported Benson, owner of the National Football League (NFL) Saints for almost three decades, would pay $338 million for the team.

The sale remains subject to approval of the NBA Board of Governors.

The fact that he was born and raised in New Orleans and done such a spectacular job with the Saints made him in my view the ideal owner for the NBA franchise in New Orleans," Stern told a news conference.

Benson, 84, purchased the Saints in 1985, blocking efforts to move the franchise to another city.

He acquires a Hornets team that has the worst record in the Western Conference (16-42) and lost its top player in December when All-Star guard Chris Paul was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers.

The NBA has been trying to sell the team since buying it from founding owner George Shinn in Dec. 2010. Shinn had moved the team from Charlotte, North Carolina, in 2002.

Benson promised to make the team a winner.

?We expect this club to be one of the most outstanding clubs in the league, otherwise I wouldn't want to get involved with it," he said. "Right off the bat, our goal is to win championships."