this sonics ok city fiasco intrigues me

gtc08 · Apr 19, 2008

i dont get why they dont let them out of there lease at KeyArena. the owners voted 28-2 to allow the relocation. stern is saying seattle will lose 30 mill a year staying there. bennett is offering 30 mill to buy them out of there lease.

i just dont get why they wont accept the buyout. even if seattle stays through the lease there still gone in 2010. just doesnt make sense to me.

guitarjosh · Apr 19, 2008

Seattle just got screwed. The owner bought the team just so he could put one in his hometown.

bellyputter · Apr 19, 2008

Oklahoma City has an NBA franchise because the Seattle people got tired of being held hostage by professional sports. The sad thing is, if OKC doesn't build a new arena in 8 to 10 years, some other city will "pony up" and get our team. Sad but true.

Legend-I-Aint · Apr 19, 2008

gtc08 said:
i dont get why they dont let them out of there lease at KeyArena. the owners voted 28-2 to allow the relocation. stern is saying seattle will lose 30 mill a year staying there. bennett is offering 30 mill to buy them out of there lease.

i just dont get why they wont accept the buyout. even if seattle stays through the lease there still gone in 2010. just doesnt make sense to me.

Slade Gordon and the rest of the politicians want to exact a "pound of flesh" if you will. There are some that believe if the team is still in town for two more years, anything is possible. I for one don't believe it. This team is gone and basketball will never return to Seattle. It sets a bad precedent for other cities who won't pony up when the NBA comes calling.

The "fans" in any city make up only a small portion of the voting public. In short, they are held hostage while the very wealthy individuals and politicians wrangle. In this case, the Seattle fans are the true losers and all the local businesses around the Key. The economic impact isn't felt today, but will be heard from real soon.

Bluemyboy · Apr 19, 2008

Legend-I-Aint said:
Slade Gordon and the rest of the politicians want to exact a "pound of flesh" if you will. There are some that believe if the team is still in town for two more years, anything is possible. I for one don't believe it. This team is gone and basketball will never return to Seattle. It sets a bad precedent for other cities who won't pony up when the NBA comes calling.

The "fans" in any city make up only a small portion of the voting public. In short, they are held hostage while the very wealthy individuals and politicians wrangle. In this case, the Seattle fans are the true losers and all the local businesses around the Key. The economic impact isn't felt today, but will be heard from real soon.

There has been plenty of people willing to pony up the money needed.

anyone who has followed this from day one would agree Seattle has been screwed. They are being portrayed as a city that does not want to buy into a new arena. That is entirely not true. What is true is the ways in which ownership wanted the fans to unfairly cover most of the cost on expensive renovations.

Bennet's second proposal which got turned down, where he made it known he was putting up more, was a complete joke as his newer project was also way more expensive overall and more expensive for the city.

I think that the new MLS team can fill in the void of when/if the sonics leave. I dont know a bigger soccer hotbed in the nation then the northwest, plus the fan support is amazing. The sounders pulled in tons of people, and that was in a crappy stadium for a semi-pro team.

Enfuego · Apr 19, 2008

Bluemyboy said:
There has been plenty of people willing to pony up the money needed.

anyone who has followed this from day one would agree Seattle has been screwed. They are being portrayed as a city that does not want to buy into a new arena. That is entirely not true. What is true is the ways in which ownership wanted the fans to unfairly cover most of the cost on expensive renovations.

Bennet's second proposal which got turned down, where he made it known he was putting up more, was a complete joke as his newer project was also way more expensive overall and more expensive for the city.

I think that the new MLS team can fill in the void of when/if the sonics leave. I dont know a bigger soccer hotbed in the nation then the northwest, plus the fan support is amazing. The sounders pulled in tons of people, and that was in a crappy stadium for a semi-pro team.

If you think soccer can fill the void for the Sonics you are dumber than David Stern. Lived in Seattle almost my entire life. Nobody gives a crap about soccer. It's football and basketball in that order.

Legend-I-Aint · Apr 19, 2008

Boss Hog said:
If you think soccer can fill the void for the Sonics you are dumber than David Stern. Lived in Seattle almost my entire life. Nobody gives a crap about soccer. It's football and basketball in that order.

It will not fill the void, you are right. They just had over 50,000 for Mexico/China friendly. There will be plenty of folks filling the stadium for the games. Perhaps a NHL team would do well, I just don't think so.

Legend-I-Aint · Apr 19, 2008

Bluemyboy said:
There has been plenty of people willing to pony up the money needed.

anyone who has followed this from day one would agree Seattle has been screwed. They are being portrayed as a city that does not want to buy into a new arena. That is entirely not true. What is true is the ways in which ownership wanted the fans to unfairly cover most of the cost on expensive renovations.

Bennet's second proposal which got turned down, where he made it known he was putting up more, was a complete joke as his newer project was also way more expensive overall and more expensive for the city.

I think that the new MLS team can fill in the void of when/if the sonics leave. I dont know a bigger soccer hotbed in the nation then the northwest, plus the fan support is amazing. The sounders pulled in tons of people, and that was in a crappy stadium for a semi-pro team.

It's been one big charade man. Bennet never intended to keep the team and Stern has known that all along. This is what the NBA wants and this is what the NBA will get. It sends a sick twisted message though. Very sad.

Bluemyboy · Apr 19, 2008

Boss Hog said:
If you think soccer can fill the void for the Sonics you are dumber than David Stern. Lived in Seattle almost my entire life. Nobody gives a crap about soccer. It's football and basketball in that order.

It is actually just Football in this city right now, although the M's have been able to do much better fanwise over the last few years then the Sups.

As far as this city loving soccer.... whether you agree or not, this is one of the bigger soccer hotbeds in the nation, Soccer has GREAT roots in the city especially at a youth level. And that will create fans

as far as taking the place of the Sups, yes I agree due to the size of the leagues I they will not be as big, but I would not underestimate the ownership of that team and the future of the MLS.

FairWarning · Apr 19, 2008

Legend-I-Aint said:
It will not fill the void, you are right. They just had over 50,000 for Mexico/China friendly. There will be plenty of folks filling the stadium for the games. Perhaps a NHL team would do well, I just don't think so.

I think the NHL would succeed in Seattle. May have a problem with territorial rights with Vancouver though. Another problem would be the stadium issue. If the people of Washington/King County wouldn't pass the funds for the Supersonics, why would they for the NHL? Not real sure the move from the 12th market to the 45th is real good for the league.

What do these cities have in common?

Tampa
St Louis
Pittsburgh
San Diego
Hartford
Nashville
KC
Columbus
Cinci
Greenville/Ashville, NC
West Palm Beack
Grand Rapids/Kalamazoo, MI
Birmingham, AL
Harrisburg/Lancaster, NY
Las Vegas
Albuquerque

These are all larger markets than OKC that do not have the NBA. OKC is the 45th market. Why should they get one? Good question, as the two weakest are Memphis (47th) and New Orleans (53rd). There is a high probability this blows up in the NBA's face. No free agent will ever want to go there. I don't want to hear about oil money, as Edmonton and Calgary are two of the NHL's weaker teams are have oil money too.

BillyWaltersJr+ · Apr 19, 2008

Take this from a Seattle native and someone who knows what is really going on:

This is not over by a long shot!

Clay Clay better be ready for court, first trial starts May 2nd! Then June 16th for the City of Seattle one, and Howard Schultz's date has not been discussed yet but it will be later than the City's. This is going to be fun!

Talking and hearing with several people who know how you can word contracts and agreements, it sounds that Howard has a better than average chance at winning this case. He used specific wording for the "good faith" clause, which obviously, from the emails, Clay Bennett and his ownership group did not fulfill those agreements that were signed. Remember also that Howard Schultz is not suing just Clay Bennett, but Clay's whole ownership group which includes our two good friends Aubrey McClendon and Ward. Well, the fact that Aubrey stated in an Oklahoman business journal that they had no intention on staying in Seattle (this was last year), and the fact that he was fined $250,000 for saying that by the NBA puts us in pretty damn good shape.

There are so many other things in the mix here it would take hours of typing to try to explain it all. We DO have Slade Gorton (great politician and legal genius) who is orchestrating all of this. He won't take kindly to what David Stern said about him yesterday. He is the man who helped save the Seattle Mariners on numerous ocassions, as well as helping to get them in the first place.

The problem here is that people outside of Seattle have not been hearing what is really going on up here! For God's sakes, when the AP article about Clay's email exchange with McClendon and Ward came out, he had it edited when it was printed in the Oklahoman to take out the line where Clay stated that he was "a man possessed"! Why, you ask? Because Clay's family owns the Oklahoman newspaper as well as some of the TV stations in the area.

Like I said at the beginning of my post, this is FAR from over. Can't state that enough!

BillyWaltersJr+ · Apr 19, 2008

Boss Hog said:
If you think soccer can fill the void for the Sonics you are dumber than David Stern. Lived in Seattle almost my entire life. Nobody gives a crap about soccer. It's football and basketball in that order.

You are correct...right now! That will change.

Living here I would think you would notice the large Asian and Hispanic population. Who do you think filled 55,000+ seats earlier this week for the international friendly?!

I think that this city, being as diverse as it is, will allow for a successful and profitable MLS franchise.

Bluemyboy · Apr 19, 2008

Intrinzik, Im right there with you on all that.

gtc08 · Apr 19, 2008

oklahoma city is more of a basketball hot bed then seattle dont you guys think?

Bluemyboy · Apr 19, 2008

Seattle has had some good teams in the past, they have a good youth movement, hosting events such as Final 4s. UW is in town and has a great background. In fact right now there is a movement in place trying to move Seattle University up to the D-1 level as well again. I don't know exactly what OKC has, but Seattle does have a past and a future for basketball.

gtc08 · Apr 19, 2008

okc has norman, univ of oklahoma, and ok state less then an hour away. and they also have tulsa, about an hour and a half away. so you got like 800,000 people within an hour, hour half of base.

Bluemyboy · Apr 19, 2008

gtc08 said:
okc has norman, univ of oklahoma, and ok state less then an hour away. and they also have tulsa, about an hour and a half away. so you got like 800,000 people within an hour, hour half of base.

Seattle has more then 2x that many with in half hour of the stadium, not even of the city.

Enfuego · Apr 19, 2008

gtc08 said:
oklahoma city is more of a basketball hot bed then seattle dont you guys think?

Uh, no. Have you ever taken a good long look in the NBA or college and seen how many players come out of the state of Washington?

Marvin Williams
Luke Ridnour
Spencer Hawes
Scott Pollard
Nate Robinson
Adam Morrison
Rodney Stuckey
Jamal Crawford
Brandon Roy
Martell Webster

And I'm sure I'm leaving some out. University of Washington, Washington St., Gonzaga and Eastern Washington are all pretty competetive programs.

BigMike56 · Apr 19, 2008

I lived in OKC when the Hornets were there, and they put together a pretty solid product. The Ford Center is small for an NBA franchise, but they filled it up regularly, and it was always rocking. The people of Oklahoma are huge sports fans, and they embraced the Hornets like they had been there for 20 years. Because they have no professional teams they will be patient while the youth of the Sonic's develop, as they have no other options. Being that I experienced a few games there, I got to say I think it will be a success. Huge sports town and the city is really growing.

FairWarning · Apr 19, 2008

gtc08 said:
okc has norman, univ of oklahoma, and ok state less then an hour away. and they also have tulsa, about an hour and a half away. so you got like 800,000 people within an hour, hour half of base.

So you have mentioned two college towns that the NBA has just priced out. The Seattle area has 3.2 million people. How are they going to fill the skyboxes in OKC, and who will buy the $250-500 courtside seats?