The Seattle NBA basketball team will start moving to Oklahoma City this morning and will begin playing in the Ford Center this fall under terms of a settlement agreement announced Wednesday.
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“We made it,” said Oklahoma City investor Clay Bennett at a 7 p.m. news conference. “Congratulations. The NBA will be in Oklahoma City next season playing their games.”
“The move begins tomorrow morning,” he said. “It begins with the most important piece of our organization. It begins with our players.”
The SuperSonics name and colors will remain in Seattle. A new name for the Oklahoma City team will be announced “soon,” Bennett promised.
The settlement reached between the city and the team could require team owners to pay the city up to $75 million to break the lease at Seattle’s KeyArena and move to Oklahoma City, according to the agreement reached Wednesday.
Bennett and other owners agreed to pay Seattle $45 million now to break its lease.
Under the agreement, the team will pay another $30 million to Seattle if the Washington Legislature by the end of 2009 approves funding for a new building for a NBA team or for renovation of the KeyArena but Seattle fails to get a team in five years.
If the Legislature doesn't provide funding, the team doesn't owe the $30 million. If the Legislature does provide funding and Seattle gets a new team in five years, the team will not owe the additional money.
“I hope that we don't get the second $30 million. I hope we get a basketball team back in Seattle,” Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels said.
The NBA issued a news release assuring Seattle officials that KeyArena could be renovated to meet NBA standards if public funding is approved and that the NBA would support the location of a team in Seattle if a franchise becomes available and the renovations have been done.
Bennett acknowledged that a separate lawsuit is still out there by the teams' former owners. That lawsuit asks a federal judge to rescind the sale.
Bennett called the lawsuit baseless but said Seattle will refund half of the $45 million payment if the team has to return to Seattle's KeyArena for one more year because of the lawsuit, and must refund the full $45 million if the team is forced to play there two more years.
Bennett said tickets to games for Oklahoma City’s new NBA team will be generally higher than they were for Hornets games, but promised there will still be affordable seats.
Bennett said all home regular season games will be played in Oklahoma City, but talks are in progress that would allow some preseason games to be played in Tulsa.
The local chamber of commerce will assist the team in dealing with people interested in employment or establishing vendor relationships with the team, Bennett said.
U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman was expected to rule Wednesday whether the Oklahoma City-owned team could buy out the last two years of a lease at KeyArena, which is controlled by the city of Seattle.
Early Wednesday afternoon, word leaked that Seattle and the team owners were negotiating some type of settlement.
Before the trial, Sonics owners offered the city more than $26 million to get out of the lease.
At 6 p.m. Wednesday, Pechman issued an order saying the two sides had come to a settlement.
Seattle leaders filed the lawsuit last fall to keep the Sonics from moving to Oklahoma City.
Sonics owners argued that KeyArena was no longer a competitive NBA venue and was at the root of the team's financial problems, which began before Bennett and others bought the team in 2006.
During the six-day trial the city claimed the owners couldn't buy out the last two years of the lease because a dollar figure couldn't be put on the value that the 41-year-old franchise brings to the city.
Witnesses, including Bennett, estimated during the trial that the team could lose upwards of $60 million over the last two years of the lease.
The Sonics' lead attorney, Brad Keller, argued that the relationship between the city and the owners was a failed marriage and that the Sonics shouldn't be forced to stay under the city's roof for the final two years when a financial remedy was available.
The owners also contended in their case that the city's lawsuit was part of a plan to keep the Sonics in Seattle and hurt them financially so they would consider selling the team to a group of Seattle-area investors.
The goal all along of the city's legal fight to enforce the KeyArena lease was to ensure some sort of future for NBA basketball in Seattle, City Council President Richard Conlin said Wednesday.
Mayor Nickels said a group led by Microsoft mogul Steve Ballmer will immediately begin exploring options to bring a new team to Seattle.
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O-City, I agree the team name needs to be unique and should stand apart from the other NBA teams but like I said, it needs to have a logical connection with either Oklahoma City specifically or Oklahoma in general. Play to your strengths (even a "negative stereotype" can be turned into a positive). The most likely choices are either western, weather or energy related. There are a few western related teams already so that wouldn't be unique (even though I like those best of all). One of the columnists here (instead of saying the team formerly known as the Sonics, called them the "Oklahoma City Whatchyamacallits", kind of lengthy but it did bring a smile...besides, we could get Hershey to buy the naming rights to the arena and have a nice tie-in.
lol. Well "Mr. Hunter" and " Mr. Larry" what kind of name would you give them? Since you say we cant be called Knights are people in Washington wizards? are people in San Fransisco Warriors? Are people in Memphis Grizzlies? So far the Knights have been the best name I've seen so far.
How about you think of a name better. He probally wants the teams name to be Bison. lol. The Knights would be a unique name to me. That was all that I was trying to say. Thunder? are you serious? Bison? lol. Now the Chiefs and the Braves? There are other pro teams with those names. And The 89ers would sound to close to 76ers, but the 89ers is a great name. lol.
Interesting comments from the Seattle Times: . . . "Longtime Seattle journalist David Brewster said the lack of groundswell for the Sonics reflects Seattle's civil transformation into a destination city. Seattle is more concerned about the effects of growth — housing costs and traffic — than it is eager to gain the status that comes with an NBA franchise, he said.
"The city has arrived," said Brewster, publisher of the online news site Crosscut.com. "The quest to have major-league status is really intense when you don't have it, or just got it."
A city like Seattle, Brewster said, doesn't have an inferiority complex, or the need to prove that it's big time — "because it is."
Asked in June 2006 by nonpartisan Elway Research if taxes should be used to renovate KeyArena, 78 percent of those surveyed said they'd rather let the Sonics leave Seattle.
A second poll, commissioned by the team late last year and used during the recent trial against the city of Seattle, found two-thirds of Seattleites were indifferent or glad to be rid of the team. In contrast, roughly half of the poll's respondents said they would grieve the Seahawks' or Mariners' departure.
And in the November 2006 ballot, Seattle voters approved an initiative limiting public financing for stadiums by a 3-to-1 ratio."
A lot of the suggested team names are cliche and/or plain. OKC needs a team name that reflects progressiveness, technology and/ or sophistication of - steering away from the names/ images that are stereotypical of Oklahoma. A name that's jazzy, that can make a good logo, etc.....
Twisters is kind of a plain name (sounds like a 50's dance group) but how about The F5, or Doplers?
Research wrote: "Just be sure you dear people are not conned into bearing the cost of an Updated arena" Sorry, too late, in the OKC lease it says the City is on the hook for at least the next 15 years (up to 30 years).
Just be sure you dear people are not conned into bearing the cost of an Updated arena, in the same fashion San Diego's millionaire John Moores, he of stock-dumping Peregrine fame, who foisted upon San Diego (with a little help of some crooked city council members, now appealing their convictions) in the form of Petco Park - which is actually an updated version of your fine ball park....right on down to the restaurant off the third base line.
Unlike Oklahoma City, San Diego cannot build a beautiful new library, but thanks to the sports thirst over education, San Diego now has on the backs of its people, a underfunded billion dollar pension scandal large enough for John Broder of the NY Times to dub San Diego, "Enron-by-the-Ocean."
The short version? Make the owners pay...not the populace. Trust me, they can afford it. And there are several books on the subject of owners duping the locals. So don't take my word for it. I've just lived it. Smarter people wrote the book. :D
Clay Bennett was transparent from day one; everyone knew from day one that he and his pack of lying hyenas had no intention of keeping basketball in Seattle. From his first press conference - to his last he has been dishonest. It's a shame that the entire state of Oklahoma is now being linked with these kinds of morals. Southern hospitality, integrity and graciousness must be reserved to those south of Oklahoma, because even up here in the far reaches of the Northwest a man's word means a lot. Obviously not the case in Oklahoma. Even the Dallas Mavericks owner, from the great state of Texas was the only owner not swayed by Clay's buddy David Stern, and voted to have the Sonics stay in their rightful place. By the way - Why did David Stern not have to testify?
Our politicians were skeptical of Clay's efforts from the beginning, and made working with him almost impossible. He demanded a half billion dollar building be built for him, the most expensive basketball arena in the USA, but was unwilling to contribute to the cause. Very noble of him; would have gone a long way to show his sincere commitment to the region if he had.
Seattle is very progressive, but things don't get done overnight. It took some time but we did build a brand new baseball stadium, one of the finest, at a very high price tag - but it was a joint public & private partnership. Seattle constructed a tremendous football stadium, state of the art, but yet it too was a private / public subsidized venture. When the Sonics wanted to completely remodel / rebuild Key Arena 12 years ago it got done and was also a private - public partnership. These buildings were all built with public and private monies - where as Clay Bennett would not offer any contribution to the cause to get the ball rolling.
Seattle will get a new basketball arena with Ballmer's future ownership group coming forward and offering to pay half the cost of the building, Bennett never offered to pay a dime because he never wanted to keep the team in Seattle as the emails so aptly point out. The Oklahoma hero whose lies and deceiving acts must make you all very proud.
Lets put it this way, in straight talk - which might be foreign to Oklahoman's alike, Seattle is still paying off the new Qwest Stadium, Safeco Field, and the newly remodeled Key Arena (144 months old); it would be like a home owner having not one, but three mortgages at the same time, and then be asked to tear down one of those homes and rebuild it again, at an even far greater cost; and then given a small window of time to accomplish this feat. We have a proven record of getting projects like this done – but his timetable was unrealistic – and his motives transparent and insincere. Hard to work with someone when you don’t believe a word out of his mouth. The city of Seattle was not going to be held at ransom by a group of ‘shysters’, which is exactly what they were. Yes Oklahoma you can be very proud to call Clay Bennett one of your own.
David Stern spoke highly of Key Arena upon his first visit in 1995, but then deemed it unsuitable for his product less than 10 years later. 10 years is all an arena gets these days. How long will the Ford Center be good in the eyes of Stern & Bennett.
Now Key Arena is not the Taj Majal but it is no dump; but unless you are a wealthy luxury box owner it is a fabulous place to watch basketball, intimate with great sight lines. It is a terrific basketball arena - but it is NOT a large shopping mall with 100 high priced luxury suites, & 75 restaurants, that is demanded these days. It’s a basketball arena - home of the Seattle Sonics for a better part of 41 years.
Now a days we have congressional inquiries and trials into whether a player uses steroids or not; and then there are ongoing trials into the ensuing perjury that occurred from those events. Should Clay Bennett not be held to the same standards? The senate inquired on behalf of the people, against players cheating; should they not do the same when a owner steals a 41 year old franchise from a community and then perjures himself repeatedly on the stand. Yes this is a man Oklahoma can be proud of.
The community of Seattle has 'always' supported this team. Clay Bennett’s idea of a “Good Faith Effort” was to strip it of all its marquee players, and trade away any player that could make them competitive - Seattle fans still showed up in the stands. Would Oklahoma show up at Oklahoma football games and support a man who was trying to take that football program to - say Montana? Well -Seattle did. Even when Clay Bennett managed to put the worst product Seattle has ever seen in its ‘41-year history’ - they did not play in front of 7,000 fans. Though he tried in vain, he never could completely disengage the Seattle Sonic fan base; while getting rid of all fan favorites, even coaches with long ties to Seattle basketball and the community - just the opposite thing you would do if you were trying to build fan support for a new arena.
Seattle will get another franchise - but we won't rip one out of somebody else's community. We have had polls in Seattle - and overwhelmingly people voted up here that we would not want to be granted a team if it meant stealing one, and all its history from another city. I guess you can say that is where people from Oklahoma and Seattle differ - its called morals; look it up in the dictionary if you don't understand what it truly means.
Though you successfully stole our team - you cannot buy a team's history - it is Not something you purchase - it is something you live; something that is woven into the community, into the people that shared the fond memories - not something you buy. Make your own history and then rightfully celebrate it. Don't make mock NBA Championship trophies and banners that have absolutely no meaning to you. Remember a NBA team does not make you a big city, any more than Los Angeles losing the Rams made them a small city. Oklahoma will still be Oklahoma – with just another entertainment value available.
I was in Oklahoma for the first time a week ago, and met many nice people when I was there; and came away with the feeling they were happy to get a team but they did not agree with how they were getting one. From what I saw of the area - I have no idea how Oklahoma plans on supporting an NBA team - past the 3-5 year novelty phase, at which point your hero will be asking for a new arena to be able to compete - even though Ford Center looked adequate.
Most of you from Oklahoma know an injustice was done - and for you to stand for this injustice and not voice your opinion - makes you no better then Clay Bennett. I have read that Clay is regarded as a hero now, while most of the United States reserve that term for the likes of our ‘honorable’ fighting troops, policemen and the like. For any of you to consider him a hero for what he has done - only shows your lack of integrity & values - for he has painted your state, your region with a brush of dishonesty, and unscrupulous behavior that will far outlive your short NBA lives.
Enjoy the honeymoon, soon you will need a new arena to compete, and then when Durant is up for a contract ticket prices will go up. In Seattle a family of four can spend $200 and not go to the concession stand. Also get ready for two years of losing because the team has 1 star and 11 role players and stiffs. How will you like the team when it has won 20 some games at the end of the year. What will you do in December when the Sooners are playing and the team is playing hard but losing. Also I hope you enjoy looking at the banners from the team to remind you that the team was ripped away from us.
the oklahoma knights idea is FUGLY. for one thing, that ugly green has no place in oklahoma. for another, WE AREN'T KNIGHTS! i don't like thunder, either. I think we should be a dark red or maroon... but not OU colors.
some things we shouldn't be like: indians. cowboys. weather.
I did look at the logo page and it does look kinda cool, but knights doesn't have any logical connection with OKC, need a team name that is instantly identifiable and doesn't need to be explained (also one that wouldn't make sense in another city, just in case Bennett gets bored in a few years and sells or relocates)
Will they sell real beer at the games? You know, Miller and stuff like that -- i hope they don't sell that phony ale garbage. If they do try to sell that California beer, by lord I will cancel my season ticket -- this is not Seattle you know - this is American Heartland baby.
Hi Phil, you wrote: "A second poll, commissioned by the team late last year and used during the recent trial against the city of Seattle, found two-thirds of Seattleites were indifferent or glad to be rid of the team." Polls have to be taken with a grain of salt, you have to consider who paid for the poll, how the question was phrased (can ask the same question but depending on the wording, can get two opposite answers from the same person). Polls and ballot questions are written to get the response the writers are wanting. Good example, even though the city ordinance OKC voted on said the tax was "additional" (not extended) no less than 5 times, the language on the ballot didn't mention this at all (it didn't mention it was "extending" it either). But by leaving out the fact that it was an "additional" or "new tax" it didn't go against the mis-leading claim of the Mayor and the Chamber that it wouldn't raise taxes. This paper, a strong proponent of the Ford tax, finally admitted it WAS a tax increase in shortly after the Tinker bond election. In the same article they admitted that the recent school bond and general obligation bond elections were also increases (which this paper and the campaigns claimed they weren't, before they elections). "two-thirds of Seattleites were indifferent..." Same could be said of OKC residents as 85% didn't bother to vote at all. Of those that did vote, it did pass with a 62% approval, or about 8.5% of OKC residents deciding that 100% of the residents have to pay as well.
I think the "Knights" would be way better than the "Thunder" because its like a real mascot to me. Its kinda funny that thought about the nights being a potential name earlier today and then to see that design. I really want it now. lol.
Well, good luck, Oklahoma City. Bennett wanted Seattle/Washington State to chip in upwards of $350 million toward a new arena, plus development rights to adjoining properties, use imminent domain to seize the property from unwilling sellers, have a merely nominal lease payment, the city to pay for all cost overruns, and for the city to pay all operating expenses, but give him all of the revenue, with only the hope that Seattle could make it back from increased sales tax revenue. On top of that, there was no guarantee the Sonics wouldn't break that lease, too, and move elsewhere after a few years. It was a fool's bargain, and the local politicians were right to refuse it. It was interesting that at trial, Bennett's lawyers argued that the economic benefit of the team over the next two years was less than the lease payments! So considering that history, I will be profoundly surprised if Bennett doesn't start arguing that arguing that OKC needs to put a LOT more money in the facility, and it needs to locate it elsewhere so Bennett can have development rights to adjoining properties, and even then cry about what a bad deal he's being forced to live with, and how he really should move the team elsewhere. What he really wants is to have the politicians shoveling money on his prostrate form, while he keeps murmering, "Keep shoveling - I don't feel the love yet!". As I said, GOOD LUCK Oklahoma City!
tu, Oklahoma City - Jul 3, 2008 8:11 AM post: FYI. A $750 million resort at Lake Texoma will be the players playground.
Mason, bellevue - Jul 3, 2008 11:37 AM post: How about the woman that killed a woman and cut her baby out of her belly? This happened in Washington.
I agree with Pierre about Westbrook being an impending bust. I don't understand why the team didn't take D.J. Augustin; he was without a doubt the best PG in the entire draft. Westbrook didn't do squat as a freshman & had a decent sophomore year but his numbers were nothing compared to what Augustin put up in TWO years at UT. It would've been nice to reunite Augustin with his old UT teammate Kevin Durant.
I m in Seattle right now for the concert last night. The key arena is the size of the fairgrounds arena. It is teeny tiny, I had 40 rows back floor seats, i was on the back row at the back of the floor abd still had great seats. This place is SMALL. Some fans were cussing Clay,. It was funny.
I really, really, really hope the practice facility is built downtown...like at the old downtown airpark. I know it's not the nicest area of town, but the NBA likes to reach out to inner city kids, it's close to the "core to shore" area, and that area of town could really use something like this.
Tu, move away if you have such dislike for the state. What is keeping you in Oklahoma? Are you being held hostage? Everytime I see one of your post, you are bad mouthing Oklahoma. If you feel that way about it, get somewhere where you are happy. Here is a suggestion, move to Kansas. Or do something about whatever it is you feel is wrong with Oklahoma, make a difference. It is kind of hollow to hate something so much but choose to stay in it, and then whine about it. Want some cheese with that whine?
I think we should name the team the Oklahoma City Teradactyls. It has a good ring too it with Oklahoma City much the same as does the Toronto Raptors. The high flying acrobats fit well with the team image. Have him flying overhead clutching a basketball ready to swoop it into the net. Dinasaurs are not a stretch for the state of Oklahoma as in fact fossils have been found in abundance making them indigenous to Oklahoma. I just think it has a good ring to it and fits well with the team image.
too bad this is such a poor state and a horrible place to live, nobody will be able to afford tickets and no player will ever want to be here and anyone on the team will do whatever they can to be traded.
Here it comes, although the Mayor’s office said the seating in the Ford was “adequate” (in response as to why we aren’t adding any seats to the Ford and actually decreasing seating by 500 after the “improvements”...dropping us from #14 to #24). The Mayor said the following:
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http://www.newsok.com/article/3265341
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Now that Seattle lawsuit has been settled, the NBA is on its way here to stay (July 3, 2008)
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“I think somebody is going to have to pinch me to think this day is really here,” Cornett said. “If I had a concern — and my tongue is not in my cheek — I’m concerned WE DON’T HAVE ENOUGH SEATS in that arena. I think the season ticket sales are going to blow the roof off the building.”
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They are already gearing up for the demands for a new arena (due to inadequate seating) and we haven’t even started making the improvements or collected one penny of the $100 million yet. Maybe they can alter the plans and increase seating somehow. Otherwise, we are flushing $100 million down the improved Ford toilets.
These post are truly what people from oklahoma are like. Trashy jealous people. o-city, so this is what is to be expected with the arrival of the NBA, I figured this would be the case from the lowest pro sport on the totem pole.
Dude, seriously, stop with the McVeigh stuff. That's really immature and ignorant. Walk thru the memorial and I bet you'll change your attitude. It's not something that should be brought up in such a way. Until you've visited Oklahoma you have no room to talk of what it is like here. If you think it's a dry, dusty, treeless desert, your sadly mistaken. That just further proves your ignorance and lack of respect.
Guys, our anger should be directed only at the politicians and David Stern--not the good people of OKC and OK. Clay is a product of Stern. Ignore the NW jerks.
Well anyway. Im done entertaing this lame who claims to be from Portland but is spening his night on an Oklahoma website. People from Portland are ashamed of you.
You know what's almost a twisted case of justice? OKC might get to know how Seattle feels after only one season! From ESPN:
Schultz's lawsuit and the settlement offer the possible scenario of the Sonics playing a season in Oklahoma City and then, as the result of a court action, returning to Seattle for the 2009-10 season.
Just remember, if clay-clay is so sure it's all over, how come he included provisions in the settlement to GET HIS MONEY BACK in case Schultz wins!?!? he knows it ain't over. Can't lie his way through this one.
From another poster, summing it up perfectly: IF Schultz gets an injunction then the City would get the lease payments for the season(s) the team plays in Seattle, just as they would have gotten had they won the lawsuit. So really, all the City did was (a) eliminate the "bad bargain" angle that Judge Pechman referenced, and (b) force Howard Schultz to post a ($30M-$60M) bond in order to proceed with his suit.
In return, they got a cash payment that could potentially be enough to pay off the existing Key Arena debt and then some. I know that we, as Sonic fans, HATE this settlement, but.... from the City's perspective it's all upside with NO DOWNSIDE.
What's interesting in the just-announced settlement is that Howard Schultz' lawsuit wasn't part of it. Given that Howard Schultz didn't sign off on today's settlement, it's safe to assume that he still plans to proceed with his suit. It's also safe to assume that HE BELIEVES HE WILL WIN!!!
"Paul--I do not see ghosts and I thankfully have a positive attitude. Would you like to make a wager that the team will be located and playing in OKC in the 2008-2009 season? Let us see who gets "hosed"--are you up to matching your money with your mouth? Just doing a reality check.
Ron, Altus - Jul 2, 2008 8:03 PM"....Reality check? OK...Whether or not I win or lose this bet, you'll still be an idiot...how's that for reality?
Just remember that those of us following this legal process have felt that this trial was just a pre-season warmup to the real show.
Watch Schultz slap an injunction down to stop the move, and sit back and watch the real show. The Schultz lawsuit is the real contest and where the men will be separated from boys. Or sheep. Whatever your preference is.
Clay-clay's intent was truly irrelevant in this lawsuit, but will be the fulcrum of the next. We will see how the "man possessed" sweats it out in the next go around.
Why are you people still here from Seattle. lol. Its over now. You guys are making fools out of yourselves. You freakin lames. Go cry somewhere else. Haters!!!! If you want to see NBA games just go to Portland or something.
OKC "FlyCatchers" ..... Can't wait to spend my money on season ticket.
I think the best color is Red-Orange-Yellow
Combination of Fanta Strawberry, Orange and Pineapple. :)
I am not too enthused about calling the team "Thunderbirds". Near Norman, Lake Thunderbird has the nickname "Dirtybird" and the team could possibly pick up that unflattering nickname too.
I figured the settlement would include the name, colors and such to stay in Seattle. Didn't think the amount would be that low. Thought it would be around $100 Million, but hey, it is over. .... PBC probably already have a name picked out for the team.
I am glad this is over. I usually just read the post, but I must say, I really feel sorry for the fans of Seattle. I will say now, It will suck that the excitement that I feel now will be stripped in 5-10-15-41 years. I guess I better save my money so when it happens, I can hopefully buy the team and not blame anyone else!
You people who haven't seen a game in the Key Arena, and talk about it as the worst stadium in the NBA are listening to the Clay and Stern speak. It's not true. Its a very nice place to see a game. Every seat is a good seat. It was just remodeled in 95 I think. Don't believe all that. I agree that it is probably not as Profitable as some other stadiums as far as amenities go, but if you haven't seen a game there, you shouldn't regurgitate the "worst arena in the NBA" garbage.
I am glad it is over. I wanted things to end differently, but they didn't.. lol I hope Shultz folds his lawsuit also. Both sides need to move on now. Just like you followed the Hornets this year, I may check in from time to time and see how the team is doing, although I suspect a lot of the players will be traded within a year or 2 and I won't really have a connection anymore. I see just Durant, Green and Westbrook remaining for any length of time...
Anyway, good luck with the team, hopefully you'll be
seeing the Seattle SuperSonics visiting OKC in a couple of years and we can have a friendly rivalry. Enjoy the games, Jill .. and hopefully Larry can keep up with the facts and figures ... and don't treat Paul too harshly ...
You know, I think I just got done with all the stages of grief, and have come to this conclusion. What Seattle really needs to do is TOTALLY redo the Seattle Center, and I'm talking everything. Brand New key, expand it much father out, add more seats that anyone in the league, but somehow maintain the intimacy, and of course the accoustics. New center House with top of the line retail. Huge parking garage, above and below ground levels. And lets FINALLY get some new rides there, I mean sheesh. PS I wouldn't mind seeing the Monorail go all the way around the city, start and end there. IF these are done, the profits of which would more that help to foot half the bill, along with ballmers, and others money. Seattle can, and WILL do this, I have no doubts about it now. If any of these people want to get their jobs back they better get it done, and done soon!! And I'm talking about you governor, cause you almost lost to this Rossi last time, and he's already came out and said he'd work with the NBA. Theres no way EVER that the NBA wouldn't come back here, and SOON. I just hope that the NEW OKC team is in the east, because I can't wait to meet you guys in the Finals. Your welcome for Durant, and good luck, I'm sure that you'll do great. PS. looks like I owe david and his son a trip to seattle, guess I better work some overtime.
I think the new name should be something like Colts, Dodgers, Braves, Stars - like some of the stolen franchises in the past. Honor the path set by Indianapolis, LA, Atlanta and Dallas!
What does this mean? ---> http://www.king5.com/sports/stories/NW_070208SSB_minute_by_minute_ruling_reaction_TP.17aaceae.html <---... Schultz won't file an injunction.
Darrell, Clear, it’s more like $45m, $35m towards the pervious renovations and $10m towards the new renovations, and another $30m, if another team can't be found, towards the new renovations or Arena, because I’m doubtful the NBA would agree to allow Seattle to force another team into a long term agreement for an arena which the only way it would be up to par with other arenas would be to tear it down and replace it, you can only upgrade it so far, this is also why OKC is looking at a larger solution for a team, with the upgrades to the Ford Center as a temporary solution, but knowing OKC they’ll probably treat it like Seattle treated the Key Arena, a 15 year lease agreement began turning into an indefinite one.
Seattle would be foolish to dump enough into the Key to bring it up to par. Quit thinking with such finite minds and realize that a new arena will get you another team sooner than later. With all the money in oil and gas, and the net dollars saved in the draft this year, look for free agency to bring Bennet and OKC the players to fill out our roster. With our cost of living our players will be sporting private jets not Ferraris and Lambos. This is going to be fun!
Since the team can sell naming rights to the Ford Center, I'd love for Dunkin Donuts to purchase them. What justice for Mr. Schultz's former team to play in the Dunkin Donut Center!!
Just saw Brian Robinson with the Save Our Sonics on ESPNews and he didn't even mention the Schultz case just that this is a sad day for Seattle...If he says it's over there really shouldn't be any doubt it's over
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How about you think of a name better. He probally wants the teams name to be Bison. lol. The Knights would be a unique name to me. That was all that I was trying to say. Thunder? are you serious? Bison? lol. Now the Chiefs and the Braves? There are other pro teams with those names. And The 89ers would sound to close to 76ers, but the 89ers is a great name. lol.
"The city has arrived," said Brewster, publisher of the online news site Crosscut.com. "The quest to have major-league status is really intense when you don't have it, or just got it."
A city like Seattle, Brewster said, doesn't have an inferiority complex, or the need to prove that it's big time — "because it is."
Asked in June 2006 by nonpartisan Elway Research if taxes should be used to renovate KeyArena, 78 percent of those surveyed said they'd rather let the Sonics leave Seattle.
A second poll, commissioned by the team late last year and used during the recent trial against the city of Seattle, found two-thirds of Seattleites were indifferent or glad to be rid of the team. In contrast, roughly half of the poll's respondents said they would grieve the Seahawks' or Mariners' departure.
And in the November 2006 ballot, Seattle voters approved an initiative limiting public financing for stadiums by a 3-to-1 ratio."
Twisters is kind of a plain name (sounds like a 50's dance group) but how about The F5, or Doplers?
Just be sure you dear people are not conned into bearing the cost of an Updated arena, in the same fashion San Diego's millionaire John Moores, he of stock-dumping Peregrine fame, who foisted upon San Diego (with a little help of some crooked city council members, now appealing their convictions) in the form of Petco Park - which is actually an updated version of your fine ball park....right on down to the restaurant off the third base line.
Unlike Oklahoma City, San Diego cannot build a beautiful new library, but thanks to the sports thirst over education, San Diego now has on the backs of its people, a underfunded billion dollar pension scandal large enough for John Broder of the NY Times to dub San Diego, "Enron-by-the-Ocean."
The short version? Make the owners pay...not the populace. Trust me, they can afford it. And there are several books on the subject of owners duping the locals. So don't take my word for it. I've just lived it. Smarter people wrote the book. :D
Our politicians were skeptical of Clay's efforts from the beginning, and made working with him almost impossible. He demanded a half billion dollar building be built for him, the most expensive basketball arena in the USA, but was unwilling to contribute to the cause. Very noble of him; would have gone a long way to show his sincere commitment to the region if he had.
Seattle is very progressive, but things don't get done overnight. It took some time but we did build a brand new baseball stadium, one of the finest, at a very high price tag - but it was a joint public & private partnership. Seattle constructed a tremendous football stadium, state of the art, but yet it too was a private / public subsidized venture. When the Sonics wanted to completely remodel / rebuild Key Arena 12 years ago it got done and was also a private - public partnership. These buildings were all built with public and private monies - where as Clay Bennett would not offer any contribution to the cause to get the ball rolling.
Seattle will get a new basketball arena with Ballmer's future ownership group coming forward and offering to pay half the cost of the building, Bennett never offered to pay a dime because he never wanted to keep the team in Seattle as the emails so aptly point out. The Oklahoma hero whose lies and deceiving acts must make you all very proud.
Lets put it this way, in straight talk - which might be foreign to Oklahoman's alike, Seattle is still paying off the new Qwest Stadium, Safeco Field, and the newly remodeled Key Arena (144 months old); it would be like a home owner having not one, but three mortgages at the same time, and then be asked to tear down one of those homes and rebuild it again, at an even far greater cost; and then given a small window of time to accomplish this feat. We have a proven record of getting projects like this done – but his timetable was unrealistic – and his motives transparent and insincere. Hard to work with someone when you don’t believe a word out of his mouth. The city of Seattle was not going to be held at ransom by a group of ‘shysters’, which is exactly what they were. Yes Oklahoma you can be very proud to call Clay Bennett one of your own.
David Stern spoke highly of Key Arena upon his first visit in 1995, but then deemed it unsuitable for his product less than 10 years later. 10 years is all an arena gets these days. How long will the Ford Center be good in the eyes of Stern & Bennett.
Now Key Arena is not the Taj Majal but it is no dump; but unless you are a wealthy luxury box owner it is a fabulous place to watch basketball, intimate with great sight lines. It is a terrific basketball arena - but it is NOT a large shopping mall with 100 high priced luxury suites, & 75 restaurants, that is demanded these days. It’s a basketball arena - home of the Seattle Sonics for a better part of 41 years.
Now a days we have congressional inquiries and trials into whether a player uses steroids or not; and then there are ongoing trials into the ensuing perjury that occurred from those events. Should Clay Bennett not be held to the same standards? The senate inquired on behalf of the people, against players cheating; should they not do the same when a owner steals a 41 year old franchise from a community and then perjures himself repeatedly on the stand. Yes this is a man Oklahoma can be proud of.
The community of Seattle has 'always' supported this team. Clay Bennett’s idea of a “Good Faith Effort” was to strip it of all its marquee players, and trade away any player that could make them competitive - Seattle fans still showed up in the stands. Would Oklahoma show up at Oklahoma football games and support a man who was trying to take that football program to - say Montana? Well -Seattle did. Even when Clay Bennett managed to put the worst product Seattle has ever seen in its ‘41-year history’ - they did not play in front of 7,000 fans. Though he tried in vain, he never could completely disengage the Seattle Sonic fan base; while getting rid of all fan favorites, even coaches with long ties to Seattle basketball and the community - just the opposite thing you would do if you were trying to build fan support for a new arena.
Seattle will get another franchise - but we won't rip one out of somebody else's community. We have had polls in Seattle - and overwhelmingly people voted up here that we would not want to be granted a team if it meant stealing one, and all its history from another city. I guess you can say that is where people from Oklahoma and Seattle differ - its called morals; look it up in the dictionary if you don't understand what it truly means.
Though you successfully stole our team - you cannot buy a team's history - it is Not something you purchase - it is something you live; something that is woven into the community, into the people that shared the fond memories - not something you buy. Make your own history and then rightfully celebrate it. Don't make mock NBA Championship trophies and banners that have absolutely no meaning to you. Remember a NBA team does not make you a big city, any more than Los Angeles losing the Rams made them a small city. Oklahoma will still be Oklahoma – with just another entertainment value available.
I was in Oklahoma for the first time a week ago, and met many nice people when I was there; and came away with the feeling they were happy to get a team but they did not agree with how they were getting one. From what I saw of the area - I have no idea how Oklahoma plans on supporting an NBA team - past the 3-5 year novelty phase, at which point your hero will be asking for a new arena to be able to compete - even though Ford Center looked adequate.
Most of you from Oklahoma know an injustice was done - and for you to stand for this injustice and not voice your opinion - makes you no better then Clay Bennett. I have read that Clay is regarded as a hero now, while most of the United States reserve that term for the likes of our ‘honorable’ fighting troops, policemen and the like. For any of you to consider him a hero for what he has done - only shows your lack of integrity & values - for he has painted your state, your region with a brush of dishonesty, and unscrupulous behavior that will far outlive your short NBA lives.
some things we shouldn't be like: indians. cowboys. weather.
http://jeffreyvancealbertson.com/okcinnba.html
Mason, bellevue - Jul 3, 2008 11:37 AM post: How about the woman that killed a woman and cut her baby out of her belly? This happened in Washington.
34230 views Dog sex tapes lead to arrests
31519 views Oklahoma City gets NBA team
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http://www.newsok.com/article/3265341
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Now that Seattle lawsuit has been settled, the NBA is on its way here to stay (July 3, 2008)
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“I think somebody is going to have to pinch me to think this day is really here,” Cornett said. “If I had a concern — and my tongue is not in my cheek — I’m concerned WE DON’T HAVE ENOUGH SEATS in that arena. I think the season ticket sales are going to blow the roof off the building.”
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They are already gearing up for the demands for a new arena (due to inadequate seating) and we haven’t even started making the improvements or collected one penny of the $100 million yet. Maybe they can alter the plans and increase seating somehow. Otherwise, we are flushing $100 million down the improved Ford toilets.
Schultz's lawsuit and the settlement offer the possible scenario of the Sonics playing a season in Oklahoma City and then, as the result of a court action, returning to Seattle for the 2009-10 season.
From the New York Times Feb. 2, 1996"
Seahawks to Move to Los Angeles
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A04E7DA1739F931A35751C0A960958260
In return, they got a cash payment that could potentially be enough to pay off the existing Key Arena debt and then some. I know that we, as Sonic fans, HATE this settlement, but.... from the City's perspective it's all upside with NO DOWNSIDE.
What's interesting in the just-announced settlement is that Howard Schultz' lawsuit wasn't part of it. Given that Howard Schultz didn't sign off on today's settlement, it's safe to assume that he still plans to proceed with his suit. It's also safe to assume that HE BELIEVES HE WILL WIN!!!
Ron, Altus - Jul 2, 2008 8:03 PM"....Reality check? OK...Whether or not I win or lose this bet, you'll still be an idiot...how's that for reality?
Watch Schultz slap an injunction down to stop the move, and sit back and watch the real show. The Schultz lawsuit is the real contest and where the men will be separated from boys. Or sheep. Whatever your preference is.
Clay-clay's intent was truly irrelevant in this lawsuit, but will be the fulcrum of the next. We will see how the "man possessed" sweats it out in the next go around.
Supersonics. Not just a regular team!
Oh, and go Big Red!
I think the best color is Red-Orange-Yellow
Combination of Fanta Strawberry, Orange and Pineapple. :)
That said. I will still follow the Sonics.
Anyway, good luck with the team, hopefully you'll be
seeing the Seattle SuperSonics visiting OKC in a couple of years and we can have a friendly rivalry. Enjoy the games, Jill .. and hopefully Larry can keep up with the facts and figures ... and don't treat Paul too harshly ...
All this time, they could not wait to post here-What's wrong with those poor loosers now?