West Coast Connection Forum
Lifestyle => Sports & Entertainment => Topic started by: Now_Im_Not_Banned on July 18, 2006, 06:26:39 PM
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Sonics Sold To Oklahoma City Group
By Greg Bishop
Seattle Times staff reporter
Howard Schultz, former Sonics owner, sat side-by-side with Clayton Bennett, Sonics owner as of this morning, at a news conference to announce the sale of the Sonics and Storm this afternoon.
They were flanked by the Sonics' and Storm's respective championship trophies and joined by their repeated desires to keep both teams in Seattle. They mentioned this over and over again until it became the theme. They want to keep the Sonics and Storm in Seattle. Key word: Want.
The fine print: Only the next 12 months are guaranteed in the $350 million deal. In the interim, the new ownership group needs to do what the former ownership group could not — negotiate a better venue and lease agreement at KeyArena or another local venue.
Which adds up to what president and CEO Wally Walker called "the biggest year in the history of the Seattle SuperSonics."
"At that time," said Bennett, chairman of Dorchester Capital and the head of the Oklahoma City-based investment group, "we have an opportunity, contractually, to evaluate our position."
In a news conference this afternoon, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels called the sale "disappointing" because it ended local ownership. But Nickels said he expected the new owners would honor a KeyArena lease which called for the teams to play there through 2010, if not beyond that.
"I'm going to take them at their word that they want to stay and we'll work with them ," Nickels said. "We think they will play in the Seattle Center until 2010.
The new owners would receive the same offers as given to the ownership during many negotiating sessions, Nickels said. "We're disappointed that rather than follow through on those offers, they sold the team to an out-of-town interest," Nickels said.
The transaction is expected to close by the end of October — pending NBA approval — but the Sonics turned their ownership reins over this afternoon at the news conference that was festive in decoration (green and gold balloons) and skeptical in nature.
Schultz said he turned down higher bids, as in multiple, to buy the teams because he and the rest of The Basketball Club of Seattle believed those ownership groups were interested in moving the Sonics and Storm. He also said the owners would have accepted a lower bid from a local buyer.
Schultz also said that he believes the new ownership group, Professional Basketball Club LLC, has a better chance to succeed in negotiations with local government — "inherent issues with local and state officials," he said — than his ownership group. He called the interests of the Oklahoma City group "genuine."
When pressed at what he meant by better chance, Schultz said, "In the last two years, it has become very obvious that despite all our individual and collective efforts, we were not able to get to a solution. I honestly believe this group wants to stay in Seattle. Moving the team is not their intent."
The Oklahoma City group still wants to bring an NBA team to Oklahoma City, Bennett added, when asked to address the skepticism from the Seattle fan base. But he said that "transaction" was "unrelated" to this transaction. And he reiterated that his group made a commitment to Seattle for the next 12 months.
The New Orleans Hornets played in Oklahoma City last season, and will play there again next season. But the NBA hopes the Hornets will return to New Orleans for 2007-08.
Bennett encouraged fans in Oklahoma City to continue to support the Hornets, and added, "As it relates to the Sonics, we're very clear. We're going to go through the process. Hopefully, it will come out successful."
Walker said that the Seattle market is the only market for the Sonics and the Storm, not just the best one. But he also knows the difficulty the current ownership has had in attempting to negotiate a new lease. "It won't be easy," Walker said. "We've learned that through our own experience. Is it possible? It is possible."
Bennett said his group has a lot of groundwork to do, effective immediately. He said he wanted to first learn the history between both teams and the city of Seattle, then beginning discussions for a new arena and lease.
That will be the hang-up. In a letter to Schultz dated today, Bennett wrote: "We do not believe that KeyArena is designed to support the requirements of a viable NBA franchise, and thus achieving a modern successor venue and lease arrangement will be critical to the future success of the teams." The letter also reiterates that it is not the group's "intention to relocate."
The deal came together after Oklahoma caught the "NBA bug" watching the Hornets play last year, said Tom Price, a spokesman for Chesapeake Energy. The team relocated there after Hurricane Katrina.
"We love Seattle," Price said. "To come to Seattle more frequently would not be a bad thing. Obviously, the people of Oklahoma City really fell in love with NBA basketball. The people of Seattle have to make a decision about how important NBA basketball is to them. We're excited about owning an NBA franchise. Anybody that has been a longtime NBA fan, they know they've got a great tradition in Seattle. There's a lot of people in Oklahoma that would be excited to have this team in Oklahoma City as well."
"Here's our stance: We need to continue to support the Hornets with everything we've got," said Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett. "The Hornets' ultimate home will depend more on the city of New Orleans' ability to support the franchise. Once New Orleans can, this franchise should go back." Cornett, a former television sports broadcaster, said he first met new Sonics owner Bennett in the mid-1990s.
Bennett was an influential local businessman who had previously been on the board of directors for the Spurs when they were owned by his wife's family, the Gaylords. Bennett tried to attract an NHL franchise to Oklahoma City in the mid-1990s, said Cornett.
News of the sale followed two fruitless years of efforts by Sonics owners to reach a deal with politicians in Olympia and Seattle on a publicly-financed expansion of KeyArena.
The team wanted state lawmakers to extend hotel, car rental and restaurant taxes now dedicated to paying off the debt on Safeco Field and Qwest Field. But their proposal never received a vote in Olympia, in part because Seattle Mayor Nickels and the City Council could not agree on what to offer the team.
The Basketball Club of Seattle claimed to have lost $60 million since purchasing the team in 2001. Owners blamed their lease deal, which required the team to split luxury suite and concession revenue with the city.
Team owners also had begun talks with Bellevue and Renton about possibly building a new basketball arena, but no specific plan emerged.
Gov. Christine Gregoire and Nickels were both told of the sale this morning shortly before it was made public, their offices said.
State Sen. Margarita Prentice, one of the Sonics' biggest allies in Olympia, said she was disappointed.
"It isn't surprising, considering the hostility expressed from many elements, especially the Seattle City Council," said Prentice, a Seattle Democrat who chairs the powerful Senate Ways and Means Committee. "I don't blame the Sonics for finally pulling the plug. How many signals do you have to get?"
She said the sale would be particularly bad news if the team is moved.
"Think about the loss of jobs. The rich people who own the team will always be wealthy, but I've been concerned about the people with all those union jobs," she said. "People always lose sight of that when they're talking about player salaries and the rich owners."
But opponents of the publicly funded KeyArena expansion sought by the Sonics said the news did not change their minds. Opinion polls showed the Sonics cause to be unpopular in the city of Seattle, and an initiative campaign was already under way to block any arena subsidy for the team.
Chris van Dyk, cofounder of Citizens for More Important Things, said the group will continue to campaign for Initiative 91, which seeks to restrict tax subsidies for the Sonics at KeyArena.
"We had difficulty collecting signatures from some people because our initiative did not require the Sonics to leave town," said Van Dyk.
"We don't want them to leave. We think it's a very sad day for the city of Seattle. However it underscores that this is a private business. They can go anywhere they want in the United States."
Seattle City Council President Nick Licata said the city should focus on making sure KeyArena remains a viable part of Seattle Center — with or without the Sonics.
"If they do leave the state, the KeyArena I think has a great future ahead of it as a multipurpose entertainment facility and we need to focus on making that happen," Licata said.
The Sonics presented Bennett with a No. 1 Sonics jersey and an orange-and-white striped WNBA basketball at the news conference. Schultz also ran through the Sonics' history, expressing both pride and regret.
"While there is much to be proud of, there is also great disappointment," he said. "We were forced to face the uncomfortable reality that our group would not be successful."
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/sports/2003135221_websonicssold18.html
Too many teams moving lately...The Grizzlies, then the Hornets (twice), now the Sonics? All within the last 5 years...The NBA needs to keep its teams in place. The Oklahoma City Supersonics? I dunno, doesn't sound right...Hopefully the new owners decide to keep the team in Seattle, though they'll probably make a lot more money re-locating... :-\
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they should come to Vancouver :( at least we still could get the Trail Blazers
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they should come to Vancouver :( at least we still could get the Trail Blazers
LOL. Vancouver was like an NBA players worst nightmare...I doubt we'll ever see a team there again. Now say "thank you, Steve Francis".
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thats fucked up...maybe the NBA should put a new franchise in Green Bay..........haha JK :P :laugh:
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they should come to Vancouver :( at least we still could get the Trail Blazers
LOL. Vancouver was like an NBA players worst nightmare...I doubt we'll ever see a team there again. Now say "thank you, Steve Francis".
The probably better off in Vancouver, they are losing money in Memphis and thats as a winning team. The only reason we don't have a team anymore is because Stu Jackson is a fucken idiot, and doesn't know how to draft... Bryant Reeves, Antonio Daniels, and then drafting Steve Francis after he said he wouldl not play in Vancouver.
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they should come to Vancouver :( at least we still could get the Trail Blazers
LOL. Vancouver was like an NBA players worst nightmare...I doubt we'll ever see a team there again. Now say "thank you, Steve Francis".
The probably better off in Vancouver, they are losing money in Memphis and thats as a winning team. The only reason we don't have a team anymore is because Stu Jackson is a fucken idiot, and doesn't know how to draft... Bryant Reeves, Antonio Daniels, and then drafting Steve Francis after he said he wouldl not play in Vancouver.
LOL...Stevie "Franchise"...The good ol' Vancouver villain.
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I remember reading about the Blazers possibly moving
nothing about the Sonics...
that would suck if you lived in Seattle and really liked 'em :P
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Seattle, the Okies are playing you (http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/sportsrant/archives/119921.asp)
So Aubrey McClendon, a member of the Oklahoma-based Sonics ownership group, decided to announce to a small newspaper in Oklahoma City that, "We didn't buy the team to keep it in Seattle."
Now why would he say a thing like that? Doesn't that confirm the ownership group, headed by Clay Bennett, are liars?
Don't get sucked into a war of words with McClendon. That only gives him what he wants.
Let's be polite. Let's be Seattle. Let's teach Bennett, McClendon and company about process. Endless, endless process. (And, hopefully while bogging down the OKC effort, somebody else will be looking for an arena/ownership solution).
Let me explain.
But to do that I need your patience for a quick lesson in "Southern," which is not exactly like "cowboy," but close enough -- sort of like Spanish in Spain vs. Spanish in Mexico.
The only group in the U.S. that it is not only acceptable but socially celebrated to make fun of is white Southern men. What is less well known is that white Southern men know this, and they often exaggerate their "Southerness" because they want to be underestimated. It's sort of like the old "Saturday Night Live" skit "Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer":
"I'm just a caveman ... your world frightens and confuses me. ... But there is one thing I do know -- when a man like my client slips and falls on a sidewalk in front of a public library, then he is entitled to no less than two million in compensatory damages, and two million in punitive damages."
I'm from Atlanta but have lived in Seattle since 1999. In recent years, as I've become less Southern, I've noticed that whenever my buddies from home are trying to con me -- such as, into picking up the check -- a Southern accent suddenly appears.
And so we have Cousin Aubrey, playing the innocent, good old boy, making statements to The Journal Record of Oklahoma City. The fawning article will surely have folks in OKC who know McClendon falling out of their chairs laughing because the aw-shucks, humble pose he strikes is so far from the real man it's like ... Caveman Lawyer.
McClendon owns a massive ego (not without justification: his leadership at Chesapeake Energy has made a lot of folks wealthy) and not everyone considers him a down-to-earth everyman. There's a reason the billionaire with the deepest pockets within the ownership group has kept a low-profile ... at least until now.
Understand: This was a calculated move. McClendon wants to enrage Seattle. He wants to stoke the resentment. He wants to provoke me into reminding you, mostly liberal Seattle, that McClendon was a big contributor to "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth," the reprehensible and completely discredited group that distorted and lied about John Kerry's war record during the 2004 election.
He wants to emphasize an Oct. 31 deadline that isn't really a deadline. He wants to continue to drive a wedge between the city and the out-of-town ownership group because he knows the NBA will resist them moving the Sonics unless they can prove their position is untenable.
"The people of Seattle kind of look down their nose at us," he said, playing to his preferred audience in Oklahoma while disingenuously acting like he's been wounded by Seattle's skepticism over their intentions -- a Seattle skepticism, by the way, he just confirmed.
Duplicitous grandstanding, however, isn't limited to the Okie cowboys. Mayor Greg Nickels' recent overture to Bennett about KeyArena was pure theater. Golly Greg, where was your enlightened thinking about renovating KeyArena when Howard Schultz owned the team? And when Gov. Christine Gregoire works the issue, you can feel the calculated fecklessness of a politician who wants to play both sides of the fence.
What's the end game? People who love the Sonics need to know it's not as simple as the team bolting for the 2008-09 season if the present ownership group doesn't get everything it wants.
There are going to be plenty more chapters before this story climaxes. What McClendon has done is simply draw a line in the sand and don a black cowboy hat.
His message: It's the Okies vs. Seattle.
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the oklahoma city supersonics................gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay.
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I thought McClendon was a minority owner? But it's no secret that the OKC group was referred to as rednecks by some of the higher ups in Seattle who were vehemently opposed to selling the team. If they really want to keep the team in Seattle, that's not the way I would go about it. But yeah there have lately been reports that the new ownership would rather break even in OKC than be profitable in Seattle. And they obviously didn't purchase the team to keep it in Seattle either.
But any dumbfuck that is sucked in to thinking these guys are idiots because of their southern twang doesn't deserve to own an NBA team in the first place. All they had to do in the first place is cough up $100 Mill for a new arena and they would have never had to sell the team in the first place.
I think it'd be dope as fuck for the Sonics to go to OKC. Durant would be a GOD in OKC.
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damn i was hoping that they would have given Vegas a team.
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damn i was hoping that they would have given Vegas a team.
thats what i was thinkin
first the kings was suppose to go there but they didnt
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damn i was hoping that they would have given Vegas a team.
yeah that place deserves a team.
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they should come to Vancouver :( at least we still could get the Trail Blazers
LOL. Vancouver was like an NBA players worst nightmare...I doubt we'll ever see a team there again. Now say "thank you, Steve Francis".
The probably better off in Vancouver, they are losing money in Memphis and thats as a winning team. The only reason we don't have a team anymore is because Stu Jackson is a fucken idiot, and doesn't know how to draft... Bryant Reeves, Antonio Daniels, and then drafting Steve Francis after he said he wouldl not play in Vancouver.
LOL...Stevie "Franchise"...The good ol' Vancouver villain.
Why would he go there, they already had Bibby. Just an example of Stu Jackson not knowing his ass from a hole in the ground.
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the oklahoma city supersonics................gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay.
co-sign
now the San Diego Supersonics has a great ring to it ;D
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now the San Diego Supersonics has a great ring to it ;D
Laker fans can only hope this goes down.
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they should come to Vancouver :( at least we still could get the Trail Blazers
LOL. Vancouver was like an NBA players worst nightmare...I doubt we'll ever see a team there again. Now say "thank you, Steve Francis".
The probably better off in Vancouver, they are losing money in Memphis and thats as a winning team. The only reason we don't have a team anymore is because Stu Jackson is a fucken idiot, and doesn't know how to draft... Bryant Reeves, Antonio Daniels, and then drafting Steve Francis after he said he wouldl not play in Vancouver.
LOL...Stevie "Franchise"...The good ol' Vancouver villain.
Why would he go there, they already had Bibby. Just an example of Stu Jackson not knowing his ass from a hole in the ground.
Francis is a combo guard...
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now the San Diego Supersonics has a great ring to it ;D
Laker fans can only hope this goes down.
why would a laker fan want the supersonics in san diego? this takes away from their shareof the market.
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damn i was hoping that they would have given Vegas a team.
yeah that place deserves a team.
I don't think there will be ever a team in Vegas coz of the bets game .. especially after the referee drama
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now the San Diego Supersonics has a great ring to it ;D
Laker fans can only hope this goes down.
why would a laker fan want the supersonics in san diego? this takes away from their shareof the market.
Really? Just like the Clippers take away from the Lakers in LA.
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they should come to Vancouver :( at least we still could get the Trail Blazers
LOL. Vancouver was like an NBA players worst nightmare...I doubt we'll ever see a team there again. Now say "thank you, Steve Francis".
I wonder why, id way rather be in Bc then places like oklahoma, Portland
or another note
Bring em to MOntreal!!!!!!
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now the San Diego Supersonics has a great ring to it ;D
Laker fans can only hope this goes down.
why would a laker fan want the supersonics in san diego? this takes away from their shareof the market.
Really? Just like the Clippers take away from the Lakers in LA.
as hard as it seems to beleive, the clippers do take away a share of the market. why would you want less of a market share if you're the biggest basketball program in so. california?
i'd be like Bakersfield getting an NBA team, 95% of all basketball fans here root for the lakers, add a new franchise here and over time that number dwindles.
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they should come to Vancouver :( at least we still could get the Trail Blazers
LOL. Vancouver was like an NBA players worst nightmare...I doubt we'll ever see a team there again. Now say "thank you, Steve Francis".
I wonder why, id way rather be in Bc then places like oklahoma, Portland
or another note
Bring em to MOntreal!!!!!!
i think toronto will be the only place that ever sees an NBA team again
the only places i think that'll get another NBA team are
Las Vegas
San Diego
or another midwest team like in Kansas City or Cinncy
even those are less than likely
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now the San Diego Supersonics has a great ring to it ;D
Laker fans can only hope this goes down.
why would a laker fan want the supersonics in san diego? this takes away from their shareof the market.
Anything that detracts from BabyG's association with the Laker organization is good in my book...
1 less "Laker fan"
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now the San Diego Supersonics has a great ring to it ;D
Laker fans can only hope this goes down.
why would a laker fan want the supersonics in san diego? this takes away from their shareof the market.
Anything that detracts from BabyG's association with the Laker organization is good in my book...
1 less "Laker fan"
Lol you're a pathetic worthless sack of crap. God hates you and your parents regret you. Erase your account.
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now the San Diego Supersonics has a great ring to it ;D
Laker fans can only hope this goes down.
why would a laker fan want the supersonics in san diego? this takes away from their shareof the market.
Anything that detracts from BabyG's association with the Laker organization is good in my book...
1 less "Laker fan"
Lol you're a pathetic worthless sack of crap. God hates you and your parents regret you. Erase your account.
" :'( :'( .... I AM A LAKER FAN!"
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Fuck >:(
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the referee scandal probably killed our chances here in Vegas especially after Tim Donhue said there are 20 other refs. :'(
God i really hope we can get a pro team out here in Vegas because we only get garbage team and people out here really dont want to see that.
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the referee scandal probably killed our chances here in Vegas especially after Tim Donhue said there are 20 other refs. :'(
God i really hope we can get a pro team out here in Vegas because we only get garbage team and people out here really dont want to see that.
Yeah, I'd say Vegas is definitely fucked now. Especially since Donaghy is supposedly naming 20 other refs that have been gambling (not necessarily on their games, just at casinos and shit).
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What does it matter? You can bet on a team whether they're located in Vegas or not...LOL.
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What does it matter? You can bet on a team whether they're located in Vegas or not...LOL.
LOL, do you have any idea how many bookies live / work in Vegas compared to anywhere else in the US? All these players / coaches / refs would have all kinds of people up their asses. Plus combine all the bullshit of All-Star weekend, and trust me, Vegas is not getting a team.
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What does it matter? You can bet on a team whether they're located in Vegas or not...LOL.
LOL, do you have any idea how many bookies live / work in Vegas compared to anywhere else in the US? All these players / coaches / refs would have all kinds of people up their asses. Plus combine all the bullshit of All-Star weekend, and trust me, Vegas is not getting a team.
Vegas mayor doesn't think gambling allegations will hurt city's NBA dream (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2943833)
LAS VEGAS -- Mayor Oscar Goodman is confident allegations that an NBA referee bet on basketball games won't damage Las Vegas' bid for a team.
If anything, Goodman said it could strengthen his city's case.
"I think that there's going to be a public recognition that Las Vegas does monitor this kind of alleged activity," Goodman said Friday.
"I don't want anyone's bad fortune to cause us good fortune, but I think it will cause people to look at Las Vegas in a light perhaps differently than they do, because we do in fact regulate this kind of activity."
The FBI is investigating allegations that veteran NBA referee Tim Donaghy bet on basketball games over the past two seasons, including ones in which he officiated. The probe also involves allegations that he had connections to organized crime associates, the kind of suspicious link the mayor says is closely watched in Nevada.
Though NBA commissioner David Stern previously had said he would not put a team in Las Vegas as long as there was betting on basketball, he amended his position earlier this year. He said a decision would be left to the owners and allowed Goodman to submit a proposal to them before the Board of Governors meetings in April.
After those meetings, Stern said a committee would be formed to further review Goodman's plan, and Goodman said there since have been "light conversations" with the league.
Goodman's proposal offered no compromise on gambling, such as a plan to prohibit action on a Las Vegas team. He doesn't think it's necessary, because the Nevada Gaming Commission and Gaming Control Board would keep a close eye on it.
"We're the only regulatory agency in the world that really looks at unusual activity as far as the movement of the line and that type of conduct," Goodman said. "That's why whenever red herrings are thrown up that somehow Las Vegas is a bad place because we have sports betting, I look at it just as a reverse. I think it's a good thing that Las Vegas has the type of regulation that makes sure that bad things don't happen."
Las Vegas hosted the NBA's All-Star Game in February, the first outside of a league city, and more than 20 clubs sent teams here for summer league earlier this month. USA Basketball is holding its minicamp here this weekend, and the FIBA Americas tournament, a regional qualifier for the 2008 Olympics, comes to the campus of UNLV next month.
"The players conduct themselves like gentlemen, the community embraces them, and there's not even the slightest hint of impropriety," Goodman said.
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LOL, of course the mayor of the town is gonna say that. He'd be a complete idiot if he didn't. Everything that Vegas markets is "What happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas". Vegas may have been close just a couple months ago, but no way it happens now.
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I still think there's a good chance.
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Sonics co-owner McClendon fined $250K (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/sonics/2003849240_soni23.html)
By Percy Allen
Seattle Times staff reporter
Aubrey McClendon is paying the price for comments he made to an Oklahoma City publication.
The NBA fined Sonics minority partner Aubrey McClendon $250,000 for comments he made last week in The (Oklahoma City) Journal Record about his hopes of moving the team to Oklahoma City.
Reached Wednesday night, league spokesman Tim Frank confirmed the punitive action.
Repeated messages to the Sonics were not returned.
McClendon, chief executive of Chesapeake Energy, came under fire after he told the Journal: "We didn't buy the team to keep it in Seattle, we hoped to come here. We know it's a little more difficult financially here in Oklahoma City, but we think it's great for the community and if we could break even we'd be thrilled."
In a statement following the Aug. 13 story, Sonics and Storm majority owner Clay Bennett said McClendon was "not speaking on behalf of the ownership group."
The Oklahoma City-based ownership group has set an Oct. 31 deadline to reach an agreement on a new arena in the Seattle area. If an agreement is not in place, Bennett has said he will petition the league to move the Sonics and Storm out of the region. Oklahoma City is the likely destination.
"They've got 60 days to make some decisions they haven't been willing to make in the past year, and if they make them in a way that satisfies Clay, then the team will stay there," McClendon told the Journal. "If they don't meet the requirements he's laid out, the team will move and Clay has indicated they'll come to Oklahoma City."
The state Legislature rejected Sonics ownership's proposal for a $400 million state contribution toward a $500 million Renton arena this spring and Seattle officials have said they'll refuse an early buyout of the team's KeyArena lease, which runs through 2010.
"It is my hope we will see a breakthrough in the next 60 days that will result in securing a new arena for the Sonics and Storm in the Greater Seattle area," Bennett said last week in a statement.
Bennett, who is chairman and controlling owner, McClendon, Tom Ward and Jeffrey Records each paid $50 million as primary owners in the Professional Basketball Club, which purchased the teams last year for $350 million from the Howard Schultz-led Basketball Club of Seattle. The PBC is an Oklahoma City-based consortium, which consists of the four primary owners, four minority owners and a total of 12 investors.
According to McClendon, the group attempted to buy the New Orleans Hornets, which spent the majority of the past two seasons in Oklahoma City, but turned its attention to the Sonics when Hornets owner George Shinn declined the group's offer.
"We started to look around and at that time the Sonics were going through some ownership challenges in Seattle," McClendon told the Journal Record. "So Clay, very artfully and skillfully, put himself in the middle of those discussions and to the great amazement and surprise to everyone in Seattle, some rednecks from Oklahoma, which we've been called, made off with the team."
The Oklahoma City energy tycoon had been a silent partner before his comments last week.
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I really hope the league doesn't let them move the Sonics, Seattle is a great basketball market a lot better than OKC. Hopefully their attendence records stay pretty high throughout the next few seasons as they rebuild and they solve their arena problem.
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i don't want to see a damn team in oklahoma. they'd be better off with a team in fresno or bakersfield. lol.
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They should name the team:
Oklahoma City Bombers
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LOL
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They should name the team:
Oklahoma City Bombers
lmao
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i don't want to see a damn team in oklahoma. they'd be better off with a team in fresno or bakersfield. lol.
fresno-bag chasers,baskerfield-trailer trash??
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Fuck that keep them in Seattle
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moving a team is fucked up.
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i don't want to see a damn team in oklahoma. they'd be better off with a team in fresno or bakersfield. lol.
fresno-bag chasers,baskerfield-trailer trash??
trailer trash....??
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^^LOL@acting like you dunno what he's talking about... :laugh:
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Unless he's talking about Oildale ....no i don't know how'd that be even remotely close to describing bakersfield.
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There's no trailer trash in Baskersfield? LOL.
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Unless he's talking about Oildale ....no i don't know how'd that be even remotely close to describing bakersfield.
lol,no hate involved homie...i grew up in Cen-Cal,aka meth capitol of the world which goes hand in hand with white trash,trailer trash,tweekers etc.....
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New Seattle Arena In Washington? (http://newsok.com/article/3128467/1190091007)
By Darnell Mayberry
Staff Writer
An Indian tribe offering the Sonics a place to build a new home in Washington state unveiled a study Monday showing the proposed site is close enough to draw from the NBA team's Seattle-area fan base.
Commissioned by the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe, the study counters Sonics chairman Clay Bennett's stated concern that the site was too far from the Seattle suburbs. The 26.5-acre site the tribe is offering to donate is next to a horse racing track in Auburn, a 25-mile car ride from downtown Seattle.
The study, conducted by Washington D.C.-based Brailsford and Dunlavey, says the 18,500-seat arena would cost $452 million if construction began in 2009. But the report does not address how it would be financed, which has been the biggest problem Bennett and his co-owners have had since purchasing the NBA franchise last year.
"We're not at that point yet,” said Muckleshoot spokesman Rollin Fatland. "The next thing that has to happen is if people think this is worth moving forward with we will re-engage Brailsford & Dunlavey to do the economic study and the financing study. Until that is completed it will be premature to talk about who's going to pay for what.”
What is also unclear is how receptive NBA commissioner David Stern will be to the proposed location. The Muckleshoot Tribe owns and operates gambling establishments, including a casino on its land. Stern, who is dealing with the aftereffects of a gambling scandal involving an NBA referee, has rejected repeated overtures to locate a team in Las Vegas.
Fatland said the Muckleshoots have not attempted to involve the NBA with the proposed arena site.
From a pure location standpoint, however, the study indicated little difference between the proposed Auburn site and the Sonics' current home at KeyArena. In fact, in some cases an Auburn arena compared more favorably.
Bennett, who has maintained he would move the team to Oklahoma City if an agreement on a new arena isn't reached by Oct. 31, received a copy of the report on Saturday. A spokesman for the Sonics' ownership group said the group would have no comment on the study.
The study projects that by 2012 there would be more households within a 30- , 45- and 60-minute car ride of an Auburn arena than KeyArena. The report says KeyArena has a slight advantage in households with higher income, but Auburn has a marginally higher income for all other income percentages.
The potential Auburn arena is projected to cost almost $50 million less than the state-of-the-art multipurpose facility that Bennett proposed in Renton, another Seattle suburb. The proposed Renton project, which had an identical seating capacity as an Auburn, called for $300 million in public support. But it was never allowed to be voted on by the state legislature.
Fatland said the Muckleshoot Tribe became more serious about offering its land when no progress was being made between the Sonics and the city of Seattle and state of Washington.
Fatland said Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire was also sent the study late last week and that Bennett did respond via e-mail on Saturday morning to thank the tribe for the study.
Holly Armstrong, a spokeswoman for Gov. Gregoire, said the report was received by the governor's office on Friday, but as of late Monday Armstrong said Gregoire had not read the report.
Although Fatland repeatedly referred to the next step as being "a regional decision,” made primarily by Gov. Gregoire and three local businessmen she recently assembled to analyze arena options, Armstrong declined to weigh in on the study or place any future onus solely on the state. She added that Gregoire doesn't have any meetings scheduled with Bennett.
"It's not a deal between the Muckleshoots and the governor at this point,” Armstrong said. "This was a market analysis that was unsolicited that they submitted. (Gov. Gregoire) will certainly keep it in mind if and when a proposal comes. You have to remember, the (Oct. 31) deadline is not a state deadline. It's a deadline that was imposed by the Sonics. Everybody's not working on the same timeline.”
According to the study, Seattle-area businesses would prefer an arena in downtown Seattle, Bellevue or Renton. But the study showed that businesses would support an Auburn site if it was the only option that would keep the Sonics in the Seattle area.
They might stay after all...
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There's no trailer trash in Baskersfield? LOL.
NW bakersfield -rich area
NE bakersfield - Middleclass haven
SW bakersfield- Middleclass haven
SE bakersfield- in the process of being developed....alot of college kids
W bakersfield- mix of snoby rich people, and lucky bastards who were fortnate to live there back when housing was ALOT cheaper, and for some reason a lot of asian people
S bakersfield- negro town USA
E bakersfield- lil tiajuana
N bakersfield- where oildale is located...<---where your white trash is located (meth capitol USA, when you cross the bridge into oildale that whole 100 sq foot block has the largest concentration of drugs in america)
^ as you can see 1/8 of bakersfield is HICKISh these days.
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There's no trailer trash in Baskersfield? LOL.
NW bakersfield -rich area
NE bakersfield - Middleclass haven
SW bakersfield- Middleclass haven
SE bakersfield- in the process of being developed....alot of college kids
W bakersfield- mix of snoby rich people, and lucky bastards who were fortnate to live there back when housing was ALOT cheaper, and for some reason a lot of asian people
S bakersfield- negro town USA
E bakersfield- lil tiajuana
N bakersfield- where oildale is located...<---where your white trash is located (meth capitol USA, when you cross the bridge into oildale that whole 100 sq foot block has the largest concentration of drugs in america)
^ as you can see 1/8 of bakersfield is HICKISh these days.
Everytime I stop by Bakersfield, it makes me wanna say "Rubb-bubb-bubb-bubb-beccccaaa!"...Shit seems hick to the fullest to me. Then again, I don't live there...PeACe
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where are you stopping at?, like i said there's only one hick part of town and that's north bakersfield....in oildale which is like oldschoolto the fullest.
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Seattle files lawsuit against SuperSonics' attempt to move
By GENE JOHNSON, Associated Press Writer
September 24, 2007
SEATTLE (AP) -- Seattle city officials filed a lawsuit Monday to keep the SuperSonics from leaving town.
The lawsuit filed in King County Superior Court was a counter move to a Sonics' attempt to be released from their lease on KeyArena.
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According to the complaint, "The Sonics promised to 'play all home games ... exclusively"' at the arena at the Seattle Center through Sept. 30, 2010.
"The city, with the help of some fine lawyers, is standing up to a pro sports team," city attorney Tom Carr said at a news conference. "Too often, pro sports teams have run over local governments."
Sonics chairman Clay Bennett said Friday the club has requested an arbitration panel to rule that the NBA franchise does not have to play the final two seasons of its lease at KeyArena, arguing that the contract allows a negotiated buyout.
Such a ruling would allow the Sonics to relocate after this coming season unless the club secures a new arena in the Seattle area by Oct. 31.
Carr disputed claims by Bennett that the Sonics are losing money because of the arena lease, described by NBA commissioner David Stern as the worst for any team in the league.
"The issues with the Sonics' profitability at KeyArena have less to do with KeyArena than with the Sonics' ability to defend the high pick and roll," Carr said.
Former U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton, a lawyer who was instrumental in preventing the departure of the Seattle Seahawks under former owner Ken Behring, said at the news conference that while many disputes that could arise under the lease are subject to arbitration, the duration of the lease is clearly excluded.
The ultimate goal of the latest legal maneuver is to keep the Sonics in town permanently, whether under Bennett or a new, local owner, Gorton said
The lease makes it clear that the Sonics agreed to play all their home games in KeyArena for the duration of the agreement, and Bennett seems to have planned from the outset to move the club to Oklahoma City, Gorton said.
"They made the kind of demands that, from my perspective, were almost designed not to be met," Gorton said.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=ap-supersonics-keyarena&prov=ap&type=lgns
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^LOL