Thread: Sonics Move to OKC: Your Thoughts?

Originally Posted by Thnikkaman

I'm an ass since I was hoping they would move to Vegas.

I was hoping KC...

Originally Posted by MissouriBronc

I was hoping KC...

I know, I read the thread.

Come to think of it, does the NBA have a franchise in the state of Missouri?

Originally Posted by Thnikkaman

I know, I read the thread.

Come to think of it, does the NBA have a franchise in the state of Missouri?

Nope....last one was the Kansas City Kings, I believe, and then the St. Louis Hawks before them.

Oklahoma's just too good guys.

BTW, the City of Seattle is getting beat up in court today. Lots of e-mails and plans to "poison the well" for the Oklahoma ownership. That won't help them enforce their lease at all.

Originally Posted by NightTrainLayne

Damn, don't hold back dude.

OKC has had some huge growth over the past 10 years or so. The problem is after the oil bust in the mid-eighties all the money here dried up as the economy was geared for the oil business.

However, the past 10 years some great things have been happening. Bricktown is one, and you mention its "small", but it currently occupies about a half of the space set aside for development.

Last year we approved a sales-tax devoted to the roads and public transportation, so that is on the way. In fact, the worst part of the roads are in progress of being replaced. They are currently starting to re-route I-40's route through downtown, and once that's done there will be another round of development along the river to tie in to Bricktown.

The OKC metro area has a population well over 1 million people, and when the Hornets were here as a lame-duck team on an emergency basis for two years they ranked near the top of the league in attendance.

I'm sorry you don't like OKC, and it's not Denver or Seattle yet, but we're on our way, and it's progressive thinking like going out and getting an NBA team that is causing our city to grow, and enjoy a strong economy with virtually full employment, and a growing housing sector while the rest of the country is facing recession.

I have visited several times since JAN 2006 and I have liked everything I have seen there.. My daughter goes to college up there and go to see her alot. Has nice small but a good Airport, the roads I've been on have been good, to great compared to alot of other cities I've been in..

When I saw his post I was wondering if it was a different OKC than the one I've been to 30 time in the last 14 months..

Unless I'm wrong there are alot of towns and cities around OKC that would help to support the team besides OKC proper..

Originally Posted by Jrwiz

I have visited several times since JAN 2006 and I have liked everything I have seen there.. My daughter goes to college up there and go to see her alot. Has nice small but a good Airport, the roads I've been on have been good, to great compared to alot of other cities I've been in..

When I saw his post I was wondering if it was a different OKC than the one I've been to 30 time in the last 14 months..

Unless I'm wrong there are alot of towns and cities around OKC that would help to support the team besides OKC proper..

The airport is not bad. The FAA facility is super nice, but that's government money.

I don't know what roads you've been driving on JR, but I'm scared I'm going to damage my car or bend a rim or something every time I drive. It's really bad.

NTL, I did not know that about the funding for the roads. I'm glad to hear they know it's an issue. I have seen quite a bit of construction going on, especially on I-44. Instead of making a 100 foot patch every 100 feet they need to just pave over several miles. The patched sections almost make it worse. Drive I-44 Northbound over I-40 and you'll see what I mean. I live by Lake Hefner and drive from there to the airport every day.

I don't mean any offense to anyone who lives in OKC, honestly. If I could find more positive things to say about OKC, I would. I know none of this has to do with the Sonics, and getting a team would be a step in the right direction if this town is going to grow. I still feel like I've stepped back in time 10-15 years.

Good for NTL. I love sonic. I would recommend the supersonic bacon cheeseburger and a cherry lime-aide.

Originally Posted by ChampWJ

The airport is not bad. The FAA facility is super nice, but that's government money.

I don't know what roads you've been driving on JR, but I'm scared I'm going to damage my car or bend a rim or something every time I drive. It's really bad.

NTL, I did not know that about the funding for the roads. I'm glad to hear they know it's an issue. I have seen quite a bit of construction going on, especially on I-44. Instead of making a 100 foot patch every 100 feet they need to just pave over several miles. The patched sections almost make it worse. Drive I-44 Northbound over I-40 and you'll see what I mean. I live by Lake Hefner and drive from there to the airport every day.

I don't mean any offense to anyone who lives in OKC, honestly. If I could find more positive things to say about OKC, I would. I know none of this has to do with the Sonics, and getting a team would be a step in the right direction if this town is going to grow. I still feel like I've stepped back in time 10-15 years.

The best part of OKC is the people.

I've been to plenty of other "Big Cities", and nobody's as nice as the folks in OKC. Dallas, Denver, Houston, KC, San Franciso etc. Everybody's all stuck-up, but here it's real folks who are quite friendly even to perfect strangers.

You're 100% right about the roads needing improvement, although I have driven on worse. But as I said money is being allocated to fix that.

If you want to catch a beer sometime let me know.

Well its done, owners pay 75 mil to Seattle and the city keeps the logo and name rights as well. Sad if your in Seattle but it is a biz.

Originally Posted by BroncoAV06

Well its done, owners pay 75 mil to Seattle and the city keeps the logo and name rights as well. Sad if your in Seattle but it is a biz.

Actually it's 45 million now, and the Sonics owner's reserve the name and colors for now.

If Seattle/Washington build a new arena, or remodel Key within the next year, then the owner's will be on the hook for another 30 million if an NBA tenant is not found in 5 years.

So, unless there is a renovation or new arena in Seattle within the next year AND an NBA team does not arrive there within 5 years, then and only then are the Sonics owners on the hook for the other 30 million.

Also, they are keeping the name and colors unless another team locates there within the same 5 year span. I.E. if it is longer than 5 years before the NBA comes back, they will have to pay for using the Sonics name and colors.

Meanwhile, the team plans to use a new name and new colors in Oklahoma City. The records and Championship trophy/banners will remain in Seattle no matter what. However, the owner's will create duplicates that they will have at their disposal although Clay Bennett says he's not sure what they'll do with them.

When a better article is out there I'll post it, but for now the articles I've found don't list the details that Clay put out in the press conference which was carried here.

For the most part I think both sides can claim victory. If Seattle can get it's act together they will have an NBA team soon.

If not, then the OKC owners can say they were right, and Seattle doesn't really want basketball. All the while Seattle gets more than enough money to pay off the lease and pay off the remaining debt on Key arena with some extra kicked in to compensate for any economic damages.

Originally Posted by BroncoAV06

Well its done, owners pay 75 mil to Seattle and the city keeps the logo and name rights as well. Sad if your in Seattle but it is a biz.

Okay good. The team can leave Seattle, but the Sonics can't.

The Oklahoma City Sonics? No thanks.

Congrats to all the people of Oklahoma. Getting a pro sports franchise is a big step in the right direction if the state, OKC have growth aspirations. God knows they need something to do in OKC.

This here is an abortion. David Stern is the Anti-Christ.

Reasons for a pro sports team to leave town.

1) no attendance.
2) terrible arena with no prospects for change.
3) Owner greed.

Seattle Supersonics Attendance

Year Total Avg
2006-07 654,163 15,955
2005-06 664,157 16,198
2004-05 675,490 16,475
2003-04 631,349 15,399
2002-03 637,194 15,541
2001-02 633,516 15,452
2000-01 640,847 15,630
1999-00 615,730 15,018
1998-99 426,800 17,072
1997-98 699,952 17,072
1996-97 699,952 17,072
1995-96 697,301 17,007
1994-95 633,748 15,457
1993-94 601,969 14,682
1992-93 632,205 15,420
1991-92 586,929 14,315
1990-91 510,166 12,443

Not a lot of change there.

Seattle was willing to pay a hundred million to renovate the old arena, again, or to put up half-ish of the funds for a new arena, maybe more if the ownership would pay cost overruns as the other town's sports teams have and contribute some to construction.

So it comes down to owner greed. I really don't want to hear any more about how Seattle just wasn't viable for the Sonics. The NBA wants to be able to hold towns hostage and the owners want to STOP contributing to the giant palaces they want.

OKC assisting in this theft of public funds and sports franchises annoys me. But as long as there's a sucker around, this stuff will happen. Next on the list, Las Vegas. Bye, Memphis.

Hopefully this doesn't happen to too many other towns. There aren't a lot of places where teams can legitimately move to, but that hasn't stopped teams from moving to non-legitimate towns.

And now we'll see if with government assistance and civic pride OKC can keep its own team, or if after 5 years of losing they too will be on the losing side of a court battle.

~G

Originally Posted by G_Money

Reasons for a pro sports team to leave town.

1) no attendance.
2) terrible arena with no prospects for change.
3) Owner greed.



Not a lot of change there.

Seattle was willing to pay a hundred million to renovate the old arena, again, or to put up half-ish of the funds for a new arena, maybe more if the ownership would pay cost overruns as the other town's sports teams have and contribute some to construction.

So it comes down to owner greed. I really don't want to hear any more about how Seattle just wasn't viable for the Sonics. The NBA wants to be able to hold towns hostage and the owners want to STOP contributing to the giant palaces they want.

OKC assisting in this theft of public funds and sports franchises annoys me. But as long as there's a sucker around, this stuff will happen. Next on the list, Las Vegas. Bye, Memphis.

Hopefully this doesn't happen to too many other towns. There aren't a lot of places where teams can legitimately move to, but that hasn't stopped teams from moving to non-legitimate towns.

And now we'll see if with government assistance and civic pride OKC can keep its own team, or if after 5 years of losing they too will be on the losing side of a court battle.

~G

G, I have to disagree somewhat.

I know your upset, and that Seattle SuperSonics fans are upset about losing their team and they have every right to be upset.

Let's go back to the real start of this in Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Bennett, McClendon et al (Professional Basketball Club, PBC) were the driving force in guaranteeing profitibility for the Hornets when they needed to temporarily relocate after Katrina. These guys had been trying to prove for years that OKC could host a major-league team and make it work, and when the Hornets needed help they stood up to the challenge and guaranteed $40 million to guarantee profitability of the Hornets while they were here.

With only 5 weeks to go before the '05-'06 season, PBC, in conjunction with the Hornets sold more season tickets than had been sold in N.O. in the previous year leading up to Katrina. Due to their hard-work the Hornets were profitable in OKC and their guarantee wasn't needed afterall. In fact, they were so profitable that a profit-sharing clause in the lease with OKC was activated that forced the Hornets to share a big chunk of that profit with OKC.

Needless to say, the Hornets experience proved that OKC was indeed more than capable of supporting an NBA team. At this point the next step was to find a team either through relocation or expansion.

Stern led PBC to get in contact with Schultz in Seattle. Schultz had become so frustrated in dealing with Seattle in trying to secure a new arena or renovate Key and update the lease that he decided to sell the team.

Shultz made no bones about the fact that if the team was sold, that whoever bought it would attempt to relocate the team. While Seattle fans are very vociferous in their defense of the Sonics, the majority of the citizens of Seattle who vote seemed apathetic.

PBC bought the team, but agreed to wait 12 months to see if a deal could be put together before attempting to relocate.

G and most Sonics fans don't think PBC really tried that hard to make a deal work. Only the people involved from the legislature, City and PBC really know what transpired. Yes, Bennett asked for the moon, but doesn't everyone when negotiating? You can't go backwards when negotiating. You have to ask for the moon and then move towards the center. BTW the other side was asking for the moon as well. They didn't want to do anything, and just expected PBC to play out the final two years in Key without doing anything until the current lease expired.

The 12 months went by and then PBC started the relocation process. In the interim the people of OKC voted to extend a $.01 sales-tax to spend $220 million to renovate the Ford Center and build a practice facility to welcome the Sonics. You can say that Clay was asking too much of Seattle, but while Seattle has yet to pass anything, the people of OKC have gone above and beyond the call of duty.

Will we find ourselves in the same situation in 5-10 years? Maybe, maybe not. One big difference is that we won't have MLB and NFL teams here as well asking for stadiums too.

I sucks. It really does suck how the NBA holds cities over the barrell on this, but that's the reality of the situation. There's no way around it, that's the way the business is run, and you ignore the reality of that situation at your own peril.

I understand the anger and contempt at the NBA and Stern. However, I don't think the anger directed at the citizens of OKC and Bennett et al is justified.

Obviously, Bennett's intent all along was to find a team to relocate to OKC. That being said, he agreed to sit on this for 12 months to allow Seattle to get it's act together. You can argue whether or not Seattle should have to do anything, but the reality of the situation is that they didn't do anything.

In the settlement reached yesterday PBC agreed to be put on the hook for an additional $30 million payment to the City of Seattle if they approve a renovation of Key arena in the next legislative session. Basically, it's a dare. PBC is daring the legislature to do something within the next year. They're read on the situation is that nothing will get done, and they're putting $30 million behind that bet. If nothing gets done, then we can let all the talk about "stealing" a team go.

PBC bought the team fair and square, and Schultz let everyone know that they had better get their act together by putting the 12 month clause in the contract. Seattle could have really put some pressure on PBC by passing a renovation of Key arena and making it contingent on the Sonics being there (just as OKC did), but they sat on their hands and did nothing.

I'm not trying to argue that it's an ideal situation, but that's the reality of the NBA right now. I understand the arguments against the business model, and the reasoning behind that. In fact, I would agree with most of the arguments that this business model sucks, and is somewhat unfair to cities with aging arenas.

Unfortunately, that's life. Sometimes things just suck. Don't want to play by those rules? Fine, but crying about it doesn't change anything.

There has already been much discussion in OKC about plans for 10-15 years out for a new arena to replace the Ford Center. I.E., we're not going into this blind. For the most part we understand that the same will be asked of us in the future.

If we decide at that point that we don't want to fund a new arena, then the team can go elsewhere, but if the whole of OKC really supports the team we won't let that happen.