Sonics headed to OKC, money headed to Seattle

Re: UPDATE: Sonics headed to OKC, money headed to Seattle

Word on the street is "Barons" is an early favorite.

On a side note, the Oklahoman got three emails in five minutes after the announcement about NBA beat writer positions.

 

Re: UPDATE: Sonics headed to OKC, money headed to Seattle

It won't even be 15 years. The Ford Center opened way back in 2002 and the city has already had to pony up $121M for improvements to get the Sonics to consider the joint.

And given the shape of the US car industry, I wouldn't be shocked to see the Oklahoma Ford Dealers Association try to get out of the naming rights if truck sales continue to suffer.

 

Re: UPDATE: Sonics headed to OKC, money headed to Seattle

Chicken dinner.

Funny thing is, I don't think many in Seattle are lamenting losing the NBA. The NBA is a dirty whore with a bad crack habit and everybody knows it save for the rubes in OKC, it seems. The loss is 40-plus years of history and attachment to a franchise. Yeah, the NBA was part of that and cannot be removed from the equation, but the league holds no sentimental value.

For me it's that my grandma listened to Bob Blackburn call Sonics games on the radio every night until she died in 1987. I am way too jaded to truly care now, but I feel bad for the 15-year-old kids in the area who just lost a team they probably loved. The 15-year-old version of me would not have slept last night. The 35-year-old version thinks all these tools deserve each other and hopes Stern does his extortion voo doo on OKC folks as soon as the Ford Center is no longer a sweet enough deal for Bennett and friends.

Bennett, BTW, is going to have to turn this thing into the model NBA franchise in order to make this a profitable venture. As Arnold pointed out, he's in it up to his thick neck and if this honeymoon is not long and passionate, this team is going to struggle financially.

 

Re: UPDATE: Sonics headed to OKC, money headed to Seattle

How would you like that chicken cooked?

 

Re: UPDATE: Sonics headed to OKC, money headed to Seattle

Oklahoma City Outlaws I like.

Or Oklahoma City Bandits.

 

Re: UPDATE: Sonics headed to OKC, money headed to Seattle

And there go the Oklahoma fans, not willing to drop a plugged nickel on a basketball game involving Iowa State

 

Re: UPDATE: Sonics headed to OKC, money headed to Seattle

The most interesting thing about all this, to me, is the notion that OKC is now a "major league city."

Does having a sports team really make that much difference in a city's self-esteem?

 

Re: UPDATE: Sonics headed to OKC, money headed to Seattle

89ers is available.

 

Re: UPDATE: Sonics headed to OKC, money headed to Seattle

 

Re: UPDATE: Sonics headed to OKC, money headed to Seattle

I hope Clay Bennett is forced to sell the team. He makes Donald Sterling look good.

Douchenozzle.

 

Re: UPDATE: Sonics headed to OKC, money headed to Seattle

Ironically, moving the Sonics to OKC probably deflates the chances of KC to get a franchise slightly, because the TV markets will overlap to some extent.

I'll get going in a while on a post on the move as a whole, but I'll reiterate once again:

We need an act of Congress, a federal law, absolutely outlawing the use of tax-derived revenues of any sort, in any degree for the construction of playing venues for professional sports franchises, and mandating that any franchises currently playing in any such facilities must purchase them (at full market price) from the financing entity, and utterly forbidding any franchise playing in a taxpayer-financed venue from ever moving (under pain of the league being forcibly shut down by federal law).

Enough motherfucking welfare for billionaires. Put an end to it.

 

Re: UPDATE: Sonics headed to OKC, money headed to Seattle

How long til the Grizzlies move west...again?