jasonemilio, you might want to avoid posting Associated Press material. They're going after websites who paste their articles.
OH I already found that article that you posted, but I decided to post the "nonpartisan" one (ie AP). Hell, I live in Oklahoma, how would I not know about it? Just admit, I got there first! Woo!!!
I wonder if a new team will come in seattle and what will the OKC team be called... My guess is the OKC cowboys =) lol sounds very gay
This disgusts me. You know Bennett was intending for this all along, and that very fact makes it a robbery. The words "we made it" just...ugh. Terrible. I am very sorry, Sonics fans.
Hey-watch your mouth there buddy. That happens to be the name of favorite college sports school, home to Gallagher-Iba Arena, long recognized as one OF THE BEST ARENAS in the nation!!!!! And we also have one of the founding fathers of basketball so show some respect!!!!!
Dude, don't be sorry for them. They did nothing about the Arena, and the fans stopped caring about them for some time now, so they should be sorry for themselves. They could've prevented this. STOP VIEWING US AS THE "VILLAINS" HERE!!!!!
David Stern's statment: So, hopefully, the people in Seattle will support the funding and the return of NBA to Seattle in the near future. But last time, IIRC, 75+%(?) voted against funding of an arena solution. Hmmm... The people said they rather had the money spend on education.
From a legal standpoint, there's not really much they could have done at all. Yes, two years ago they could have done a little more, but that's not what you're supposed to ask of your fans when your team isn't doing well. Fans aren't going to come out in huge numbers when you're losing. They had no idea their team was going to leave their city. You don't know they didn't care about the team. The Rockets had one of the worst attendance rate in the league in the early part of this decade. But it would still have been a robbery. And that's what this was. Clay Bennett robbed Seattle.
As for that vote in which the fans went against the renovation...the terms for it were ridiculous. It was stadium vs education, essentially, which would do wonders for their schools. It was a baited vote that was going to fail no matter how much the fans cared about the team.
your not bennet... okalahoma city residents are not the villians.... it is bennet. so if the team name stays there... what if a team like grizzlies decides to move to seattle... are they forced to change their name? or only new teams (like how bobcats came to the league.) can be in seattle?
NO-Clay Bennett bought the team fair and square. The city had a last minute remorse and forced the team to honor their contract. Again, they could've prevented this also. The people refused to pay the extra tax money for the new arena, so this isn't exactly like anyone "robbed" it from them.
No, the terms of settlement lets the city of Seattle to keep their name and history when they do get a new team in the future. This works out for both sides imho.
Thank you. You said it perfectly. The fans are blameless in this imho, All the blame should start with Howard Schultz- The man is a billionaire and I have to imagine he has some kind of intelligence to help him attain his status but WTF did he think when he sold the team to a guy from Oklahoma?? The OKC/NO Hornets had just shown America that an NBA team would have a chance to succeed in Oklahoma, you can't tell me Schultz had no clue that Bennett planned to move the team. I don't care what Bennett told Schultz, not one of us would have believed Bennett if we were in Schultz' position. The dummb*#@ couldn't wait and be choosy with regard to prospective buyers. The City of Seattle- I have no idea where to start with this bunch. Just amazing the lack of regard they had for the Sonics while they pandered to the Seahawks and Mariners. I know that no city wants to have Stern and the NBA bully them but c'mon. They decided to be hard headed with the NBA and they just closed the whole chapter by selling out to Bennett. Disgusting. I do not put any blame on Bennett because a Leopard can't change its spots, he had one aim from the moment he bought the team and it was obvious. I don't blame him one bit nor do I blame the Seattle fans.
This just seems like a big mistake that the NBA will likely be correcting later(ie moving from OKC). Seattle is a much more viable city for a pro team than OKC, and instead of stepping in and finding a solution that works for both parties and the leagues best interest, David Stern does nothing but let Clay Bennett get away with his scheme to move the team. It's already been documented in this thread that Bennett offered stadium deals to the seattle area taxpayers that he knew wouldn't get accepted, so he could be a savior in his hometown. Going to a place like New Orleans(like the hornets did) is much different than putting a team in what will be a small market(OKC).
Well, this was never going to end well for the people of Seattle. At best, the Sonics would have had to stay in town for 2 lame duck years - albeit, it would be kind of funny to see 3 thousand fans at a game in a near empty stadium. At least, this settlement takes care of the citys outstanding debt on the arena and gives them a chance to have a team there for the long term. As a guy who grew up in Vancouver -the Sonics were my hometown team before the Grizzlies. I recall with great fondness watching GP, Reign-man, Detlef, Big Smooth, the Hawk do their thing...... This whole situation was a travesty to begin with. I don't care how "garbage" the arena is.... Those were the specs requested 12 years ago by the owners and the NBA - THATS ONLY 12 years. Can you imagine being asked to rebuild the Toyota centre in 7 years time for the bill of 500 million? Thats what the good people of Seattle were asked to do and that is just plain wrong.
Houstonians have felt this before; an owner makes outrageous demands that are not viable for the city with full intention of moving if said demands are not met. A $500 million arena in Renton? Seriously? After Seattle had spent BILLIONS on new stadiums for the Mariners and Seahawks? After about a decade ago they spent hundreds of millions on renovating Key Arena? Heck, after spending hundreds of millions on Reliant Stadium, Minute Maid Park, and Toyota Center, the city of Houston is reluctant to chip in anything for a Dynamo stadium. Even though I love the Dynamo, I can see where they're coming from, even though the stadium would cost only a fraction of the others. But I digress; do not blame the fans. They were smart enough to know that Bennett and his cronies were just holding them hostage so they could move to OKC. Would you honestly get excited about watching Kevin Durant in a Seattle SuperSonics uniform knowing that he will be gone next year because of a few wealthy businessmen who want to watch basketball in an incredibly small media market? As Houstonians, we know how this is. Once it became clear that Bud Adams was going to move the Oilers to Tennessee, we stopped going to games and lining his pockets. And why should we have done otherwise? There seems to exist a bond between fan and team, one that connects an entire city to something that they can take pride in. When Bennett and his good ole boys swooped in and sabotaged that bond, Seattle was smart to distance itself. In order to be fans, we rely on the notion that it is our team in our city. The OKC tycoons brought the city down to earth which is what always happens when the illusion of communal pride is replaced with what I as a fan reluctantly admit: that sports are primarily a business with little concern for the average fan. The NBA has made a terrible decision here and I hope that David Stern lives to regret completely abandoning the Pacific Northwest by allowing the Vancouver Grizzlies and the Seattle SuperSonics bolt for small towns and new arenas, effectively sapping large fan bases and other revenue sources. Did he learn nothing from the debacle in Memphis (no fan support, constant rebuilding, inability to retain star players and remain relevant)? For all of the talk about wanting to open gateways to Asia, Stern has let one of the most Asian-centric areas of North America lose two teams in lieu of two of the smallest media markets among "major" cities. And who knows. Maybe Oklahoma City will prove me wrong. Maybe you will sell out - literally, of course, because your ownership group have already done that figuratively - for years to come. But I hope that in a few decades when the time to renovate the Ford Center or build a new arena comes that you are held hostage by the team and are forced to weigh the values of sports against those of other civic issues. Of course, that won't happen with Clay Bennett at the helm because he just wants what's best for the city, hyuk, hyuk hyuk. So with all of that said, I hereby offer up my suggestions for team names: Oklahoma City Carpetbaggers Oklahoma City Tycoons and my favorite... The Oklahoma City Joads
Bennett never offered a reasonable deal to the city of seattle because it might get accepted and he couldn't then move to OKC and be a hero. Secondly, the city of seattle about a decade ago approved renovations to key arena with taxpayer money. A new arena was not and should not have been paramount at this time, especially coming from a new owner. Lastly, David Stern should have mediated and worked towards something that kept the Sonics in seattle. Instead he let bennett play and get away with his con game, acting like the city didn't do what was necessary to have a team. BS, if they approved millions in renovations to the existing arena a decade ago, that should have been good enough for the league. I understand your joy in getting a team, but don't think that Bennett ever had any intent of keeping the sonics in seattle. He wanted to be the hero in Oklahoma City all along.
Not to mention that he had to believe that the chances of Bennett succeeding in getting an arena within a year were pretty slim even if he believed that Bennett would put his full effort into an arena in Seattle.
