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Oklahoma City Thunder (1979 NBA Champions )

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ScriptOhio

ScriptOhio

Everybody is somebody else's weirdo.
Seattle NBA Franchise

SuperSonics, Seattle reach last-minute settlement

SEATTLE -- The SuperSonics will move to Oklahoma City for the 2008-09 season as part of a settlement with the city of Seattle, ending a contentious relationship that resulted in a trial in which the judge was due to issue her ruling Wednesday.
The settlement calls for Sonics owner Clay Bennett and the Professional Basketball Club LLC to pay up to $75 million to the city in exchange for the immediate termination of the KeyArena lease between the NBA team and the city.
The team's name and colors will be staying in Seattle.
"We made it," Bennett said after stepping to an Oklahoma City podium featuring the NBA logo and the letters OKC. "The NBA will be in Oklahoma City next season."
Bennett said the move would start Thursday and the first focus would be on the SuperSonics' players.
Bennett announced that the settlement calls for a payment of $45 million immediately, and would include another $30 million paid to Seattle in 2013 if the state Legislature in Washington authorizes at least $75 million in public funding to renovate KeyArena by the end of 2009 and Seattle doesn't obtain an NBA franchise of its own within the next five years.
"We understand that city, county, and state officials are currently discussing a plan to substantially rebuild KeyArena for the sum of $300 million," NBA commissioner David Stern said in a statement. "If this funding were authorized, we believe KeyArena could properly be renovated into a facility that meets NBA standards relating to revenue generation, fan amenities, team facilities, and the like."
Bennett said he and Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels signed a binding agreement Wednesday, which would be formalized later, that keeps the SuperSonics' name, logo and colors available if Seattle gets a replacement franchise.
"We have 30 million reasons why we have support for a future NBA team," Seattle city attorney Tom Carr said.
In April, the NBA Board of Governors approved Bennett's application to move the team to Oklahoma City, pending the outcome of the trial between the team and the city. The settlement came six days after the trial concluded.

Entire article: ESPN - SuperSonics, Seattle reach last-minute settlement - NBA
 
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Sonics saga sends out a bad message

nba_a_fan2_580.jpg
Terrence Vaccaro/Getty Images
Apparently, signs like this one weren't enough to keep the Sonics in Seattle.

The NBA should be banned from using the phrase "NBA cares" in any future public service announcement.
That should be a contingency of the settlement that ended the city of Seattle's lawsuit against the SuperSonics and freed the team to move to Oklahoma City, Okla. Because that's the message the sad Sonics saga sends out. The league doesn't care one bit unless you're willing to give up your money to enable its profits.
We know the NBA isn't a philanthropic organization, no matter how many times we see pictures of players reading to kids. We understand teams must seek maximum profits or else they may be sold or cease to exist. But that doesn't mean the public has to guarantee that the team will make money.
The hypocritical Sonics owners argued in court that the team's departure would have no economic impact on Seattle. Wonder how that went over with the voters in Oklahoma City who approved a $121 million sales tax extension to pay for arena renovations because they were told it would be an economic boon to the city.
As I write this in a Washington, D.C., hotel room, just a few blocks away is an example that there's no steadfast rule that says arenas must be built with taxpayer funds. Washington Wizards owner Abe Pollin financed the $200 million to build the Verizon Center himself. In the process, he provided the impetus that turned a forgotten part of the city into a bustling area of restaurants, shops and bars.
That's an example of what a franchise can mean to a city. It can provide a community base and, in good times, unify the region.
There's a conversation starter when you see someone wearing the home team's jersey on the subway. There's a downtown parade when the team wins a championship. Even the sports economists whose numbers can't provide a fiscal justification for keeping pro teams in town say there's an incalculable psychological benefit.
I was there for the last glorious night of basketball in Seattle. The Sonics didn't even win a championship that night, all they did was win Game 5 of the NBA Finals to send the series with the Bulls back to Chicago. Fans rallied for an impromptu celebration at Pioneer Square and drove around the city honking their horns deep into the night.
Those are the types of feelings that were torn away from Seattle on Wednesday. Four decades of support from the fans were tossed aside.
(So far I have discovered only one good thing to come out of this. In the comments section on the Seattle Post-Intelligencer's Web site Wednesday night, an angry Sonics fan posted a link to a picture I've unsuccessfully tried to find on the Internet for years: the shot of Xavier McDaniel choking Wes Matthews.)
So how could this brazen pillaging happen?
The short summary is that the city and state did not pay for a new or renovated arena, so that's all the excuse the SuperSonics' owners need to hijack the franchise to their hometown in Oklahoma. The city tried to sue to force the Sonics to honor the remaining two years on their lease at KeyArena. The owners argued they would lose some $60 million if they stayed that long. So they wrote a check for $45 million (with the possibility of writing another for $30 million if certain conditions are met) and the city took it and sat down.
The team is willing to leave the SuperSonics' name, colors and history behind, as if that were some grand gesture. Owner Clay Bennett said "I was always amenable ... to reserving the name for Seattle fans." What a great guy. I'm sure the Oklahoma City fans are deeply saddened that they won't be able to look up into the rafters and see the retired jerseys of Gus Williams, Fred Brown and Jack Sikma.
The Seattle fans get to keep their memories. But that's all they have. There's no guarantee of any more games, no chance to watch the development of Kevin Durant.
Oh, there's still the matter of former owner Howard Schultz and his lawsuit, in which he claims the new ownership group that bought the team duped him by not making a good-faith effort to keep the Sonics in Seattle. Don't hold your breath for that result, Seattle.
First of all, Schultz has plenty of other things to worry about now, with the news that Starbucks will close 600 stores.

Entire article: ESPN - Sonics saga sends out a bad message - NBA
 
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There was an article when Clay Bennett first purchased the Sonics where he said that he had no intentions of moving the team to Oklahoma City.

Well, he really meant: I have no intentions of keeping the team in Seattle.

Screw this scumbag. May only bad things happen to that franchise.
 
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OH10;1198437; said:
There was an article when Clay Bennett first purchased the Sonics where he said that he had no intentions of moving the team to Oklahoma City.

Well, he really meant: I have no intentions of keeping the team in Seattle.

Screw this scumbag. May only bad things happen to that franchise.
Click to expand...

Re: When Bennett purchased the Sonics and its sister franchise in the WNBA, the Storm, for $350 million, he agreed to a stipulation that he would make a good-faith effort to keep both teams in Seattle. He has since sold the Storm to four Seattle women who will keep the team here.
E-mails among the Oklahoma City owners, made public last week, paint a different picture of their intentions. In preparation for a June 16 trial in Seattle's lawsuit, which seeks to hold the owners to the remaining two years of the team's KeyArena lease, lawyers for the city obtained several e-mails in which owners expressed an intent to move to Oklahoma City shortly after the sale.
On Aug. 2, 2006, two weeks after the sale, team co-owners Tom Ward and Aubrey McClendon e-mailed about moving the Sonics to Oklahoma City as soon as possible. The communication was after one of the original Oklahoma partners had dropped out of the ownership group.

Entire article: Sonics | Howard Schultz plans to sue Clay Bennett to get Sonics back | Seattle Times Newspaper

Yeah, apparently he bought the team with the intention of moving to Oklahoma City ASAP.
 
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No doubt it sucks....

I was not quite ready for how much it hurt when I found out today that the move was a certainty. I have been a Sonic fan for 34 years now. The first game that I went to was a 1974 game versus the Buffalo Braves. Mc Adoo was too much for Seattle that night but the basketball bug bit me and I implored my parents to take me to more games. We had season tickets from 1977-1980. I yelling myself hoarse during Game 7 of the '78 finals against the Washington Bullets. The Bullets won that night, Seattle's first NBA championship that wasn't. The Colliseum was eerily silent, 14,000+ fans quietly streamed out into the night and could not fathom that the dream season had come to such an end. The following year the Sonics got their revenge and beat the Bullets 4-1 to win the 1979 finals. My mother and I, along with tens of thousands of Sonic fans, met the team when they arrived at Boeing Field the day after winning the title. It was big times for a 13 year old....
 
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par for the course in the NBA

the NBA is a joke and has been since the mid '80s. What surprises me is the number of fans who still cling to it as some sort of legitimate sport. I understand, TSK, the bug bit me too back in 1980 as I watched the Bullets play Larry Bird's Celtics. The '80s were truly the sunset of the NBA as far as I and a lot of others are concerned. You had not just 1 anointed team & superstars....you had many. The playoffs were battles even in the early rounds.

Today, you have refs fixing games...and despite what Stern tries to say...it has been going on for 6 or 7 years at least. Watch the 2000 and 2001 Finals and tell me with a straight face that those games weren't rigged.

I can't feel too sorry for Seattle as it finally experienced what Browns fans experienced 10 years ago....and Colts and Bullets fans experienced before that. Teams move and that will never stop. But it doesn't mean that their owners are scumbags.....and that their fans aren't setting themselves up for heartbreak.

That's why college athletics has a more enduring quality to it than professional....always has and always will.
 
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espn.com

Oklahoma City franchise to unveil team name, colors in Sept. 3 ceremony

Associated Press


Updated: August 27, 2008, 6:24 PM ET

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Oklahoma City's new NBA franchise has finally set a date to announce its name and team colors.
The team said Wednesday that it would unveil the name and colors simultaneously on its Web site and at a downtown event Sept. 3.

Continued......
Click to expand...
 
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Report: Maloofs close to selling Kings to Seattle investment group

The Maloof family is nearing a deal to sell the Sacramento Kings to a group of Seattle-area investors for ?approximately $500 million,? Yahoo! Sports reported Wednesday. The group, led by Valiant Capital?s Chris Hansen and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, will reportedly eye relocation to Seattle as soon as the 2013-14 season. Back in October, it was reported that the NBA was pressuring the Maloof family to sell the Kings to the Seattle group. The franchise would replace the SuperSonics, who played in Seattle from 1967-68 until 2008, when they were relocated to Oklahoma City and renamed the Thunder.

Entire article: http://nba.si.com/2013/01/09/sacram...-ballmer-chris-hansen/?sct=hp_t2_a3&eref=sihp

Re: Forbes valued the Kings franchise at $300 million in January 2012.

Nice markup, selling for $500M.
 
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Maloofs agree on deal to sell Kings

The Maloof family that owns the Sacramento Kings has reached an agreement to sell the controlling interest in the franchise to a Seattle group intent on moving it in time for next season.

Sources told ESPN.com that NBA teams were formally notified Sunday night that the Kings have been valued at $525 million and that the Maloofs and a group led by hedge fund manager Chris Hansen have executed a purchase and sale agreement, which the NBA confirmed through a statement Monday morning.
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One source close to the process told ESPN.com's J.A. Adande that the Maloof family, as it was hoping, will retain a "small piece" of minority interest in the franchise after its expected relocation to Seattle and renaming as the SuperSonics for next season. It's believed, though, that the Maloofs will hold no decision-making power once control of the franchise is transferred.

Entire article: http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/8...owners-reach-agreement-seattle-group-buy-team
 
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