Here comes NBA team, and there's plenty to do
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8
By Darnell Mayberry
Published: July 3, 2008
Clay Bennett strode to the podium, grinning from ear to ear as he climbed each of the stage's steps. He cleared his throat and delivered what will go down as this city's most memorable opening statement.
"We made it. Congratulations. The
NBA will be in
Oklahoma City next season,” Bennett told a standing-room-only crowd Wednesday evening at the Skirvin Hotel.
And with that, reality officially set in. There was no more doubt. No more questions of when or if. Instead, a question of what now?
The
Seattle SuperSonics reached a settlement with the City of Seattle over their lease dispute, allowing the franchise to relocate to Oklahoma City for the 2008-09 season. In exchange, Bennett and his Oklahoma City-based ownership group will pay the city of Seattle $45 million to escape the final two years of the
KeyArena lease and as much as $75 million depending on certain criteria.
"The transition and the move of this operation and this team begins (this) morning from Seattle to Oklahoma City,” Bennett said.
Oklahoma City's NBA journey began in earnest on Nov. 2, 2007, when Bennett officially applied with the NBA for relocation. The voyage ended Wednesday, with Bennett providing the long-awaited answers to questions such as ticket prices.
Although he was unable to provide concrete answers, Bennett also addressed the team's future name and colors and the state of the training facility.
"Another element of our settlement agreement was that we will reserve the name Sonics and SuperSonics and the marks and the colors and will not use them,” Bennett said. "But we will return them to (Seattle) if a team does indeed return to Seattle.”
Bennett said Seattle will keep its original 1978-79 championship banner and trophy, but the ownership group will create a duplicate banner and trophy to bring with the team to Oklahoma City "as a part of what we believe is the history that we purchased as part of this transaction.”
The team's historical statistics and records, Bennett said, will remain with the future Oklahoma City franchise for the time being but is transferable to a future Seattle franchise.
The team name and colors for Oklahoma City's franchise have not yet been finalized, Bennett said, but will be soon.
"We are working very closely with the NBA on the development of this new name and color scheme,” Bennett said. "There are vast legal issues, licensing issues relative to the league with how they use the name with the distribution that the league has around the world. A lot of work has to go into seeing that we can protect the name and use the name appropriately in our business.”
Bennett said the franchise will do everything it can to allow former Hornets season ticket holders an opportunity to reclaim their tickets. A plan for that, however, has not been finalized and the franchise cannot make any guarantees.
"Of course without the experience of the Hornets, we would not be standing here today,” Bennett said. "We all know that and I appreciate that very much. It's going to be very difficult to say that if you had a seat at the
Ford Center for the Hornets, that you can have that very seat again with a new team and a new building.
"But rest assured we are cognizant of the passion that the Hornets' fans had and have and want to try to find a way to somehow reward that and recognize that as we move forward.”
Comments
Maybe the Washington Huskies should put up banners from OU's winning national championships? It would have the same amount of legitimacy.
And I'm hoping we see WNBA in OKC soon, too.
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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.