Say Goodbye to Sonics

[sufferingseattlesportsfan]

New member here on the Medialine forum, love reading info that pertains to sports as well as industry news. As a high school kid who grew up spending every last penny from a crappy job for 96 playoff tickets...just wanted to vent and say goodbye to NBA basketball in Seattle!

Meeting all those media ppl from around the world that year inspired me to go to college and turn myself into the small market tv sports guy I have become...what a bummer!
Just want to know how ppl in Charlotte (NBA), Cleveland & Baltimore (NFL) etc., dealt with the news that a pro sport franchise was leaving their city??!!!

BTW...congrats to OKC, just wished it didn't happen with the team I grew up rooting for!

[MOCR]

Gee, I can't imagine who might sponsor them in Oklahoma...

http://www.hollyeats.com/images/MidWest/SonicDriveIn-Sign.jpg

[Convergence_Divergence]

Especially since the Sonic HQ is only a couple of hundred yards away from the Ford Center.

I did hear they were going to keep the name and colors in Seattle, though.

[Wedge]

Seattle to OKC?

Market #14 to market #45. Yea, they may not have to directly compete with other pro franchises like the Sonics currently do, but I'd imagine OK State and OU will take away some dollars.

All you have to do is look at other recent relocations to smaller markets (Memphis and New Orleans) to see where this is headed. In 3 or 4 years when the novelty wears off, attendance will plummet and TV ratings will drop. Then all of the sudden, the current arena will become "outdated." The owner will threaten to move to Las Vegas, Tulsa, or any other town willing to throw money at them. The NBA is quickly headed down the same path as the NHL IMHO.

[sufferingseattlesportsfan]

thanks guys, I appreciate the Sonic picture in a time that frankly sucks! Can't believe I didn't mention Cleveland, as that's the plan Seattle politicians sold the public on when they took $45 mil and ran away from the fight. Hopefully a new team comes to town and takes over the history and namesake, but since the NBA is struggling to support their current crop, I won't hold my breath or hope for another struggling town to hand over THEIR team and thus continue this vicious cycle!

[Kace]

If the NBA can put another team in Seattle and add an expansion team with it, they can split into 8 Divisions like the NFL.

[Stack It]

All I can say is this is another sad display of the owner(s) of a professional team holding a city hostage. The NBA is ridiculous. Let's see, how many teams have moved recently? Vancouver to Memphis. Charlotte to New Orleans. Add Seattle to Oklahoma City. Money talks. It would be quite fitting if the Oklahoma City CLUB falls flat on its face. Why you would leave the 12th largest TV market for the 42nd beats me. You have 1/3 the population and not nearly the economy to draw from. The team will become a farm club for the major market teams. If you're Kevin Durrant, do you take that offer to stay in OKC, or the lucrative offer to play say, in Chicago, New York, or LA? Bright lights are dollar sings rule the NBA world. The league is a far cry from what it was during the days of Bird and Magic.

[markminn]

Why will it work in OKC? When the Sooners aren't playing, there is nothing else to do. In Seattle, there are tons of distractions. In OKC, they can big the big fish in a small pond.

[Stack It]

Why will it work in OKC? When the Sooners aren't playing, there is nothing else to do. In Seattle, there are tons of distractions. In OKC, they can big the big fish in a small pond.

Maybe, but once the novelty wears off we'll see. If this season's product on the court is any indication, the novelty may wear off rather quickly.

[adam & doctor drew]

I'm still trying to figure out how Charlotte got another team so soon after losing the first one.

[Kace]

Most of the Hornets fans by that point had grown tired of George Schinn. The Bobcats are plagued by bad management and an owner who appears more interested in promoting his daughter's horse jump (or whatever it's called) skills than his team.

That and there's no way for me (and probably a lot of other Bobcats) fans to watch 'em play on TV. So combine that with the bad taste ol' George left in everyone's mouths and you have apathy in Charlotte and the Carolinas. Hopefully the B-Cats can turn things positively for the upcoming season.

[The Fedora]

There's no tv contract for the Cats in the Carolinas? that's dumb...

As for the OKC NBA team that's moving our way... I was a fan of the team when X went there from WSU. Wish they could have kept the sonics names to play off all the space related industry in the state recently. There is a purty new Spaceport just to the west of OKC.

Any ideas for the new name?

[Kace]

Oklahoma City Slickers ;)

[sufferingseattlesportsfan]

Wish they could have kept the Sonics name???...real classy, just like the need for Clay to *duplicate* the trophy SEATTLE won in 1978-79 and also put up banners that he has NO ties with! Oh well, not his fault this went down, my birth city didn't step up when they had the chance, and Starbucks Schultz sold to an out of towner with no intentions of keeping the team in town. 600 jobs lost=karma! Good luck getting Durant to resign in 2 years...and free agents to come for anything less than max $$$, better become a team that trades and drafts well ala Utah to have a shot!

As for the Bobcats, as a guy who worked in that market and covered the first home game in the $260 mil uptown arena, I have to agree that the TV deal, taste of Shinn, and lackluster ownership are the primary reasons fan support has waned. The first two years I believe Bobby J put the team on his own channel, which was carried on a premium tier at Time Warner and the cable system I worked for in the South Carolina Upstate! Also, the PR decision not to deal the 5 & 13 picks a few years back (Felton & May=UNC) for #3 and CHRIS PAUL, along with getting the #2 and Emeka instead of D Howard the year before will haunt that franchise for years to come! Imagine Paul tossing ally-oops to Howard all day...fans would be in those pricey Queen City seats despite the love for college hoops!

[The Bagger]

If Sonics fans and the City of Seattle DID NOT see this coming then they are far dumber than the quote "hillbillies" they rip in OKC.

Bennett & Co. had to put up a chunk of change for the Hornets temp stay in OKC, once they saw how the team was a sucess they wanted to buy in. Shinn would not give up majority control so they sought out a team for sale and Starbucks owner Howie Schultz had a team for sale.

If you could not see the real possibility of a relocation, keep buying moco-choco lattes at 5 bills per cup. There is and was plenty of money in Seattle for a local owner to be found.

The complete failure of the city leaders to be aware of that possibilty and be ready to pitch Key Arena improvements/new arena plans (as they appear to be ready to do now) make them the laughing stocks not the Okies.

So keep your high brow commntary and piss poor crying over spilt milk whine to yourselves Seattle, you allowed it to happen. You gotta pay to play these days. The Mariners & Seahucks got new digs why not your only championship club? Hell, even Tulsa is building a new arena.

Dallas learned that lesson by missing out on the relocation of the Cowboys to a $1B stadium project.

Also, Bennett may be a more educated "bitness" man and team owner than you think. Deep pockets help but he also sat on the Spurs board when the OKC paper ownership had a controlling interest so it's not his first rodeo.

Maybe Howie should have kept the for sale sign up for only interested parties from the PacNW. Or at least wrote in a relocation clause that the city would be a party to.

He had to worry more about his expanding empire rather than his hometeam.
600 stores closing this year (most having just opened) and the loss of the Sonics... who's the bozo?