 |
View Old Forum Thread
Old Forum Index » Other Stuff » Sports Talk » NBA to evacuate personnel from Pacific Northwest
whiskybear
Obviously, you can take the pledge by the new ownership group to keep the team in Seattle with the final ounce of backwash left in Howard Schultz's latte this morning. The Sonics will be in Oklahoma City in time for the tip in 2007-08 (the NOK Hornets will be there in 06-07), which means I need to get my NBA fix early and often next year.
This is not surprising---David Stern had been strong-arming the city about Key Arena, which was renovated a decade ago but apparently isn't fit to house an NBA franchise. Voters here wouldn't have supported a new arena deal, and now they won't have to. One side effect that will be felt locally: the loss of the Sonics will cripple a lot of the educational and arts programming that operates in the Seattle Center and takes a share of the Arena revenue.
[Edited on 7-18-2006 by whiskybear]
NBA to evacuate personnel from Pacific Northwest
July 18, 2006 at 08:01PM View BBCode
[url=http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/sports/2003135221_websonicssold18.html]Sonics sold to Okla. City group[/url]; with financial troubles swirling around Paul Allen's Trail Blazers, Portland could be next, though Terry Porter would like to buy the team and keep it in town.Obviously, you can take the pledge by the new ownership group to keep the team in Seattle with the final ounce of backwash left in Howard Schultz's latte this morning. The Sonics will be in Oklahoma City in time for the tip in 2007-08 (the NOK Hornets will be there in 06-07), which means I need to get my NBA fix early and often next year.
This is not surprising---David Stern had been strong-arming the city about Key Arena, which was renovated a decade ago but apparently isn't fit to house an NBA franchise. Voters here wouldn't have supported a new arena deal, and now they won't have to. One side effect that will be felt locally: the loss of the Sonics will cripple a lot of the educational and arts programming that operates in the Seattle Center and takes a share of the Arena revenue.
[Edited on 7-18-2006 by whiskybear]
ME
July 19, 2006 at 12:38AM View BBCode
How is Oklahoma Fucking City suppose to be a better place for a basketball (or any kind of sports team outside of college football) than Seattle?
mr1313
July 19, 2006 at 12:43AM View BBCode
I agree, it would be ashame to see the Sonics leave Seattle. Oklahoma? Check out the poll on espn.com on this matter, last I checked it was 50/50. 1313
FuriousGiorge
[Edited on 7-19-2006 by FuriousGiorge]
July 19, 2006 at 02:35AM View BBCode
A move by the Sonics to Oklahoma City would be predicated on the Hornets returning to New Orleans as its permanent home, or moving somewhere else. Right now, I'd consider the most likely possibility to be for the Hornets to move permanently to Oklahoma City and the Sonics to stay in Seattle or move somewhere else. People in Seattle probably have a better feel for this than I do, but my gut instinct tells me that an agreement will ultimately be reached for a new/renovated arena and the Sonics will stay put. These things have a way of working out once the team puts forth a clear plan for relocation - voters see the writing on the wall, and usually are willing to pony up.[Edited on 7-19-2006 by FuriousGiorge]
whiskybear
A new arena deal is extremely unpopular with voters, so unless the new owners accept a lowball offer of $50 million from the City Council in existing funds---which would not have to go before a vote---for renovation, I don't expect a new deal to be reached. Voters [url=http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=3429]rejected a stadium deal for the Mariners in 1995[/url] (in the midst of what was then the team's most remarkable season), and the state Legislature had to step in to force a deal through. The Sonics will get no such love from the state.
Bennett has given the team 12 months to try to reach a deal to renovate Key Arena or locate a new venue. Incidentally, the Hornets' contract with Oklahoma City expires in 12 months. When the new owners run into the same opposition that Schultz faced from the City Council, Bennett will be able to move the team to his backyard. Don't ignore the David Stern factor, either---he wants the Hornets to return to New Orleans, and he wants the Sonics to find a different venue. That venue will likely be in Oklahoma. The Sonics' lease with Key Arena expires in 2010. It might take that long (or it might take an early buyout), but I do not expect the team to stay in Seattle.
[url=http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/sports/2003135221_websonicssold18.html]Here's an updated story[/url].
July 19, 2006 at 05:03AM View BBCode
Your gut, already a shoddy rhetorical device, seems to be ignoring a mountain of evidence to the contrary.A new arena deal is extremely unpopular with voters, so unless the new owners accept a lowball offer of $50 million from the City Council in existing funds---which would not have to go before a vote---for renovation, I don't expect a new deal to be reached. Voters [url=http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=3429]rejected a stadium deal for the Mariners in 1995[/url] (in the midst of what was then the team's most remarkable season), and the state Legislature had to step in to force a deal through. The Sonics will get no such love from the state.
Bennett has given the team 12 months to try to reach a deal to renovate Key Arena or locate a new venue. Incidentally, the Hornets' contract with Oklahoma City expires in 12 months. When the new owners run into the same opposition that Schultz faced from the City Council, Bennett will be able to move the team to his backyard. Don't ignore the David Stern factor, either---he wants the Hornets to return to New Orleans, and he wants the Sonics to find a different venue. That venue will likely be in Oklahoma. The Sonics' lease with Key Arena expires in 2010. It might take that long (or it might take an early buyout), but I do not expect the team to stay in Seattle.
[url=http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/sports/2003135221_websonicssold18.html]Here's an updated story[/url].
rkinslow19
July 19, 2006 at 05:11AM View BBCode
Other than Oklahoma City, what are other potential relocation sites? I'm not too familiar with the NBA, but this sounds like a "Vegas Baby" situation
FuriousGiorge
July 19, 2006 at 05:41AM View BBCode
Here's my biggest problem with this - I simply can't see David Stern strong-arming the city of Seattle in order to get a team to move to Oklahoma City. If we were talking about a group based in Las Vegas, like slow suggested, I would find this a much more plausible scenario. Stern wants the Sonics to have a new arena, and getting a new ownership group in who deliver a clear threat to move the team is a nice big fat piece of leverage to get the city of Seattle to capitulate. One team has already moved from the Pacific Northwest - is the NBA really going to let another franchise depart, this time one with a long history in the area? He is going to wheedle and cajole and convince every politician in a 50 mile radius to make this work. Besides, no league ever REALLY wants teams to relocate, because every time a team moves it removes another open market that the league can use to threaten teams in order to get them to build new stadiums. Like now. You're pessimistic - I always believe a deal will eventually go through until the team actually packs up and moves out.
FuriousGiorge
July 19, 2006 at 02:49PM View BBCode
Then again, maybe I'm being hopelessly naive. The situation seems much more dire than it did to me last night, with the[url=http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/basketball/278082_sonxqa19.html]Seattle PI all but giving the Sonics to Oklahoma[/url].
whiskybear
July 19, 2006 at 03:46PM View BBCode
Interesting side note: A relative of Schultz is an intern where I work. Yesterday he e-mailed to say that he broke his ankle and would be unable to fulfill his assignment. By "broke his ankle," I assume he meant "shamed by the stench of treason."
FuriousGiorge
July 19, 2006 at 04:10PM View BBCode
Just remember - it's not his fault that they're leaving. It's your fault, for not buying him a new arena.
whiskybear
July 19, 2006 at 04:13PM View BBCode
But I blew that $149 million I had lying around on lattes. Damn you, Howard Schultz!
whiskybear
Well, I'm an asshole. He showed up today with a brace around his foot and said he might have a torn ligament.
July 19, 2006 at 05:31PM View BBCode
Originally posted by whiskybear
Interesting side note: A relative of Schultz is an intern where I work. Yesterday he e-mailed to say that he broke his ankle and would be unable to fulfill his assignment. By "broke his ankle," I assume he meant "shamed by the stench of treason."
Well, I'm an asshole. He showed up today with a brace around his foot and said he might have a torn ligament.
TimSchere
[Edited on 7-19-2006 by TimSchere]
July 19, 2006 at 05:33PM View BBCode
solid joke. Who cares about his [Censored] ankle?[Edited on 7-19-2006 by TimSchere]
max_fischer
July 20, 2006 at 04:34AM View BBCode
I thought Vegas was out of the question for Stern because he's so worried about the gambling issue. It was my understanding that only MLB has been close to putting a team in LV.
FuriousGiorge
If Vegas ever really gets its act together and puts its effort into bringing in a pro franchise, it will happen. Most likely, some NBA or MLB franchise will end up moving there. Sure there'll be a lot of hand-wringing and "this will destroy the fabric of professional sports" editorials by men who got into the sportswriting business for the buffet lines, but in the end sanity will win out as people realize that the conflict of interest is mostly a figment of peoples' imaginations.
July 20, 2006 at 05:03AM View BBCode
The 2007 NBA All-Star game is in Vegas. Expect a Simmons column with lots of references to JBug, Hench, and the betting line on game 7 of the 1984 NBA Finals (sorry, couldn't resist).If Vegas ever really gets its act together and puts its effort into bringing in a pro franchise, it will happen. Most likely, some NBA or MLB franchise will end up moving there. Sure there'll be a lot of hand-wringing and "this will destroy the fabric of professional sports" editorials by men who got into the sportswriting business for the buffet lines, but in the end sanity will win out as people realize that the conflict of interest is mostly a figment of peoples' imaginations.
turkob
July 20, 2006 at 02:10PM View BBCode
The concerns about Vegas are totally bogus. With the rise of internet sportsbooks, people don't have to go to Vegas to gamble any more. I hope a team from every sport is moved to Vegas because it would just be a lot of fun. And sports is about entertainment after all.
TimSchere
July 20, 2006 at 11:24PM View BBCode
I think Vegas should be cut out of Nevada and given to the whole country...the District of Iniquity.
rkinslow19
500,000 permanent residents are plenty enough to support the team.
I do doubt, however, that your average joe visiting for a weekend will want to catch a game. Especially since the stadium would have to be downtown, as the strip's real estate is likely out of price reach
July 21, 2006 at 12:39AM View BBCode
It would be a cash cow. They could build like 1000 luxury boxes, and they'd all get bought up by the casinos.500,000 permanent residents are plenty enough to support the team.
I do doubt, however, that your average joe visiting for a weekend will want to catch a game. Especially since the stadium would have to be downtown, as the strip's real estate is likely out of price reach
Pages: 1