1. Welcome! Please take a few seconds to create your free account to post threads, make some friends, remove a few ads while surfing and much more. ClutchFans has been bringing fans together to talk Houston Sports since 1996. Join us!

Say goodbye to the Seattle Supersonics and portland Jailblazers?

Discussion in 'NBA Dish' started by geeimsobored, Apr 13, 2006.

Tags:
Page 1 of 3
  1. geeimsobored

    geeimsobored Member

    Joined:
    Aug 20, 2005
    Messages:
    8,968
    Likes Received:
    3,389
    http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=ap-stern-sonics&prov=ap&type=lgns

    Stern: Seattle 'not interested in having the NBA there'
    By BRIAN MAHONEY, AP Basketball Writer
    April 13, 2006

    NEW YORK (AP) -- David Stern gave another warning that the SuperSonics could eventually leave Seattle, saying Thursday that the city is, "not interested in having the NBA there."

    The NBA commissioner also touched on the situations regarding the Trail Blazers and Hornets during a conference call, but his strongest words were saved for the Sonics' future in Seattle.

    ADVERTISEMENT
    Stern has said the Sonics' lease with the city is the worst in the NBA, and he went to Seattle in February to ask Washington state lawmakers for tax money to renovate Key Arena.

    Sonics owner Howard Schultz, the chairman of Starbucks Corp., has threatened to move or sell the team if state lawmakers don't approve a sales-tax package to pay for a new or renovated arena. But state lawmakers last month said there would be no deal this year.

    "I would say that the city is making it pretty clear of what they want us to do, and we'll accommodate them," Stern said.

    Asked what that meant, Stern responded: "What I mean is they're not interested in having the NBA there. We understand that, we understand that there are competing issues, and the mayor is free to make whatever decisions he needs to make and I support that.

    "But that's a pretty strong signal and I think that the existing ownership has said they don't want to own a team that's not in Seattle, so I know what they're in the process of doing. So we'll just see how this play ends."

    Marianne Bichsel, spokeswoman for Mayor Greg Nickels, said the city wants the Sonics to remain in Seattle.

    "The mayor has made it perfectly clear in several interviews given, the Sonics have been in Seattle for 40-plus years, and we would like them around another 40-plus years and we'd like them at Key Arena," she said. "We're in discussions with the Sonics a lot about the situation, but we have a lease through 2010 and we fully expect that the lease will be honored."

    But once the lease expires in 2010, it doesn't sound as if the league would stand in the way if ownership wants to move the franchise.

    "It's not a very good lease, to say the least it's the worst in the league," Stern said. "The city says they're not prepared to do anything to improve it. I don't think this is a difficult choice."

    Also, Stern said he would "never say never" to getting involved again in the situation in Portland. The NBA recently pulled out of the process of trying to help find one buyer for both the Trail Blazers and the Rose Garden because it was frustrated by Portland Arena Management, the lenders who now own the arena.

    And he repeated that the Hornets will return to New Orleans, even if investors from Oklahoma buy a minority share of the team from George Shinn, saying that he didn't even know how the Hornets would get out of their lease with the city.

    "I have no idea," he said, "because we're not planning to break it."

    Associated Press writer Tim Booth contributed to this report from Seattle.
     
    #1 geeimsobored, Apr 13, 2006
  2. MadMax

    MadMax Member

    Joined:
    Sep 19, 1999
    Messages:
    76,683
    Likes Received:
    25,924
    man, i hate this crap. raise sales taxes or we'll leave!!!
     
    #2 MadMax, Apr 13, 2006
  3. AntiSonic

    AntiSonic Member

    Joined:
    Feb 13, 1999
    Messages:
    8,318
    Likes Received:
    57
    bwahaha
     
    #3 AntiSonic, Apr 13, 2006
  4. Hippieloser

    Hippieloser Member

    Joined:
    Feb 25, 2003
    Messages:
    8,273
    Likes Received:
    2,137
    Seattle should be able to raise the money no problem in a couple years when Shawn Kemp's army of children is old enough to pay taxes.
     
    #4 Hippieloser, Apr 13, 2006
  5. peleincubus

    peleincubus Member

    Joined:
    Oct 26, 2002
    Messages:
    26,774
    Likes Received:
    15,092
    dang dude thats wrong kemp is trying to make a comeback right now so they can take them children off of food stamps.
     
    #5 peleincubus, Apr 14, 2006
  6. geeimsobored

    geeimsobored Member

    Joined:
    Aug 20, 2005
    Messages:
    8,968
    Likes Received:
    3,389
    Yea I believe the excessive government welfare spending for his kids is hindering them from putting up enough money for the team.
     
    #6 geeimsobored, Apr 14, 2006
  7. Rockets34Legend

    Rockets34Legend Member

    Joined:
    Jun 12, 2002
    Messages:
    23,413
    Likes Received:
    21,393
    I wonder if Seattle moves....would Rashard come here?!? :cool: :D
     
    #7 Rockets34Legend, Apr 14, 2006
  8. bejezuz

    bejezuz Member

    Joined:
    Jun 26, 2002
    Messages:
    2,772
    Likes Received:
    69
    Move... to where? Seattle's a big city. What other city can actually support a team?
     
    #8 bejezuz, Apr 14, 2006
  9. LonghornFan

    LonghornFan Member

    Joined:
    Sep 16, 2002
    Messages:
    15,718
    Likes Received:
    2,628
    Pasadena.
     
    #9 LonghornFan, Apr 14, 2006
  10. emjohn

    emjohn Member

    Joined:
    Jul 29, 2002
    Messages:
    12,132
    Likes Received:
    567
    This is what sucks about the direction pro sports has been heading in the last decade+. Harder and harder pushes for corporate money and revenue that can't possibly be supported by most local populations. Not every town is a NY or LA, but that's what you have to be to adequately support multiple sports each with $60-100 million dollar payrolls.

    The majority of the cities now need to either be a one or two sport town in order to hold on to their franchises. Returning the Saints and Hornets to New Orleans is laughable, since it's become the size of a suburb.

    And every time Stern plays a heavy like this, he jilts hardcore fans for life. It's not smart business, and it was this (squeezing smaller but dedicated cities for money they couldn't afford or moving) sort of thinking that murdered the NHL.

    Evan
     
    #10 emjohn, Apr 14, 2006
  11. Omer

    Omer Member

    Joined:
    Mar 25, 2006
    Messages:
    3,933
    Likes Received:
    56
    Norfolk is lookin for an NBA franchise and they dont have any pro sports teams right now.

    I'm hoping they move there so I can get closer to NBA action.

    Then I can go to MCI Center (Wizards) or Norfolk to watch the Rockets play :D
     
    #11 Omer, Apr 14, 2006
  12. htownballa23

    htownballa23 Member

    Joined:
    Mar 31, 2006
    Messages:
    323
    Likes Received:
    1
    Sugarland SuperSonics
     
    #12 htownballa23, Apr 14, 2006
  13. SamFisher

    SamFisher Member

    Joined:
    Apr 14, 2003
    Messages:
    61,914
    Likes Received:
    41,461
    It's ture, you've got to think that there's really not that many cities willing to fall all over themselves for a team this day and age.

    What's left -- Lousivile? Jacksonville? Tampa/St. Petersburg? None of these options seems very attractive to me in the long term if I'm an owner. Vegas I think is the only attractive market and it depends if the NBA will allow a team there
     
    #13 SamFisher, Apr 14, 2006
  14. Baqui99

    Baqui99 Member

    Joined:
    Jul 11, 2000
    Messages:
    11,495
    Likes Received:
    1,231
    This is stupid. Key Arena is still relatively new ~12 years old now.
     
    #14 Baqui99, Apr 14, 2006
  15. Two Sandwiches

    Two Sandwiches Member

    Joined:
    Feb 6, 2002
    Messages:
    23,136
    Likes Received:
    15,078
    Cincinnati, Louisville, Buffalo, Kansas City, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, San Diego, Las Vegas, Syracuse among those not listed in this thread.
     
    #15 Two Sandwiches, Apr 14, 2006
  16. cuneo77

    cuneo77 Member

    Joined:
    Aug 24, 2003
    Messages:
    1,003
    Likes Received:
    12
    move em to austin,so we can cheer the rockets over there then hit 6th street
     
    #16 cuneo77, Apr 14, 2006
  17. geeimsobored

    geeimsobored Member

    Joined:
    Aug 20, 2005
    Messages:
    8,968
    Likes Received:
    3,389
    Move em over the border back to Vancouver. They already have an arena and basketball facilities
     
    #17 geeimsobored, Apr 14, 2006
  18. Ubiquitin

    Ubiquitin Member
    Supporting Member

    Joined:
    Jul 7, 2001
    Messages:
    19,568
    Likes Received:
    14,574
    I might be crazy, but why should the citizens of Seattle foot the bill? It's about capitalism and sports, not welfare for the wealthy. Someone explain it to me.
     
    #18 Ubiquitin, Apr 14, 2006
  19. jaredg777

    jaredg777 Member

    Joined:
    Jun 29, 2005
    Messages:
    311
    Likes Received:
    0
    I hate this crap, don't hold it over Seattle citizens heads that they either have to pay to keep the team or leave. You want a new arena? Take it out of the player's salary for 10 years and you've got a nice downpayment. When these owners get their feelings hurt and threaten to move, Stern's job should be to discourage it and make amends with the city, not stir the pot.
     
    #19 jaredg777, Apr 14, 2006
  20. tiger0330

    tiger0330 Member

    Joined:
    Mar 2, 2003
    Messages:
    4,759
    Likes Received:
    63
    The stadium or arena can be publicly financed or privately owned depending on the demographics of the area. In Seattle's case since there is no hockey team, not enough concerts or alternate events, the only viable alternative is for municipal ownership and a lease because a basketball team owner only uses it for 6 months a year. So capitalism is exactly what you have playing out in Seattle, a tenant/landlord dispute where the tenant is not happy with the terms of the lease and threatens to move out.

    I'd like to see Seattle do an economic impact study if one hasn't been done already. NY did one when the Jets wanted a new stadium built in Manhatten, the study said that it would lose money because it would only be used 16 times a year and it wasn't built. I think Seattle would lose on this if they allowed the Sonics to leave, having an empty arena with no sports team to support it.
     
    #20 tiger0330, Apr 14, 2006
(You must log in or sign up to post here.)
Page 1 of 3

Share This Page