SonicsGate

[Kermit]

awesome documentary for anyone curious how the debacle went down. heart-breaking for the fans. no one comes off a winner.

www.sonicsgate.org

[Findog]

Howard Schultz comes off as the biggest villain and douche. He bought the Sonics as some sort of hobby and then when they wouldn't build him a new arena as quickly as he would've liked, he sold the team to an out of town ownership group looking for a team to bring to OKC, when there were local bidders available.

[Kermit]

it's distusting how smarmy all the high-level players are. i feel like i need to take a bath after watching it.

[eisfeld]

:depressed

It's just disgusting what happened...

[Culburn369]

It happens all the time. It's business. It's not a game.

[Findog]

It happens all the time. It's business. It's not a game.

Franchise relocations? Not that rare. Usually it happens when a local bidder doesn't emerge, or the owner in question wants to keep his team, but the local city officials won't build him a taxpayer-funded domicile. He then takes the team elsewhere. See Bud Adams, Art Modell, Al Davis, the Irsays, etc.

It's not everyday that a guy sells a franchise to an out of town ownership group that he knows is looking to relocate a team, purely out of spite, when there were local bidders available.

[Findog]

Clay Bennett and David Stern are villains for sure, but the biggest in this whole affair was Schultz. Once Bennett had control of the team, it was over for basketball in Seattle. It was only a matter of when he could get released from the Key Arena lease.

[Kermit]

It happens all the time. It's business. It's not a game.

true. almost happened in s.a. doesn't make the seattle situation any less fucked up, business or not.

[Culburn369]

It's not everyday that a guy sells a franchise to an out of town ownership group that he knows is looking to relocate a team, purely out of spite, when there were local bidders available.

That's the business part. Big Business is dirty. Not as dirty as politics, but, just a smidge less so. What, you think they got all that money by doing good?

[Kermit]

That's the business part. Big Business is dirty. Not as dirty as politics, but, just a smidge less so. What, you think they got all that money by doing good?

there was a lot of politics too. don't kid yourself. have you seen the doc? shady. can't ever underestimate the power of a good shyster. and it wasn't his money. it was his wife's. lucky s.o.b.

and that 30 at 30 shit on the colts is coming on soon that deals with that travesty. those guys looked suicidal in the promo.

[Morg1411]

This still hurts for all of us Seattle basketball fans. Great documentary...I was wondering when it would go online.

We can delude ourselves into thinking the NBA will return to Seattle, but for most of us that dream is dead.

[JoeTait75]

Worst and most unjust move since the Browns left for Baltimore.

[JoeTait75]

and that 30 at 30 shit on the colts is coming on soon that deals with that travesty. those guys looked suicidal in the promo.

Fuck them.

[Muser]

This is one part of the American game I pray never comes over to the euro Football (Soccer) leagues. We may be fucked with everything else but at least we know oru teams will never be relocated.

[Darthkiller]

the city is the biggest villan here. everyone and their mom konws that key arenas needs to be remodelled or build a new arena(it's losing money even if it sells out ) . the city refuse to pay a cent toward their basketball team even though they just built a baseball and a football stadium.

[Findog]

That's the business part. Big Business is dirty. Not as dirty as politics, but, just a smidge less so. What, you think they got all that money by doing good?

All I'm saying is that Schultz could've sold the team to a local group. He wanted out and needed a buyer right? It's one thing if that wasn't an option, but that's not the case.

And as far as Key Arena goes, the city was definitely dragging its feet, but my feeling is that they were momentarily "tapped out" after Qwest and Safeco Field. The city and state leadership deserves blame for not responding with greater urgency, but I think they were too complacent and never thought Schultz would sell to out-of-towners. I'm just saying that something could've been worked out to keep the Sonics there if everybody had been willing to act like grownups.

[JoeTait75]

The city and its fans did it to themselves by trying to hold onto that shitty arena.

Didn't they practically rebuild that arena ten years before the move?

[Morg1411]

Yeah, but it was still too small and the team was losing money. The league has set the standard of how they'd like to see these arenas. Seattle was not willing to upgrade to the standard, and they lost out. I honestly think that the city felt since Schultz was the owner there was no need for any subsidies, but he didn't get rich by being a fool. A lot of these smaller market teams are going to have a hard time keeping up, but Seattle is not a small market, they just took it for granted that it was impossible for their team to be moved. Oh well.

Sadly, this is pretty much the case. People here had a chance to vote for dollars to be dedicated to the Key (which, have no illusions, is a royal shithole), but a) both the Seahawks and the Mariners were more successful franchises, so they got the votes for new stadiums, and b) what Lakaluva said: no one thought the team would be shipped off. The Sonics had been here for so long that the notion of them being sent away didn't seem like a real possibility.

A lot of things should have been handled differently. They weren't. Blame doesn't really matter in the end, because one way or another we don't have a team anymore, and that just kinda sucks.

[JoeTait75]

and b) what Lakaluva said: no one thought the team would be shipped off. The Sonics had been here for so long that the notion of them being sent away didn't seem like a real possibility.

I think that type of hubris on the part of politicians plays a role in a lot of these relocations. I know in the cases of Brooklyn w/the Dodgers and Cleveland w/the Browns, the cities in question simply could not believe that O'Malley and Modell would take the ultimate step. What happened was they got their bluffs called.

[Kermit]

Yeah, but it was still too small and the team was losing money. The league has set the standard of how they'd like to see these arenas. Seattle was not willing to upgrade to the standard, and they lost out. I honestly think that the city felt since Schultz was the owner there was no need for any subsidies, but he didn't get rich by being a fool. A lot of these smaller market teams are going to have a hard time keeping up, but Seattle is not a small market, they just took it for granted that it was impossible for their team to be moved. Oh well.

the funny thing about all of it is that if the pussy ass mayor wouldn't have settled, they would still be in seattle right now. and schutlz was a horrid owner. he was a fool in thinking that he could run a franchise like his business. the players didn't give two shits about a vanilla latte. the city was tapped out and the nba got there too late. they should've asked for a new arena before the nfl and mlb got in on the action. the city basically fucked this six hundred different ways and almost won against a bumbling jackass from oklahoma, only their own bumbling jackass of a mayor got in the way. hilarious. and very, very sad.

[dirk4mvp]

there was a lot of politics too. don't kid yourself. have you seen the doc? shady. can't ever underestimate the power of a good shyster. and it wasn't his money. it was his wife's. lucky s.o.b.

and that 30 at 30 shit on the colts is coming on soon that deals with that travesty. those guys looked suicidal in the promo.

It was pretty good. Lot of butthurt going on in Baltimore.

[IronMexican]

It was pretty good. Lot of butthurt going on in Baltimore.

Why would they? The Ravens won in Baltimore before the Colts got one in Indianapolis.

[dirk4mvp]

Did you watch it? Almost that entire city was emo.

[RonMexico]

30 for 30 was really good. Sad that they had to hijack another city's team in order to get a replacement of their own. Are Tagliabue and Stern not almost similar in their dismissal of the wronged city while affording expansion franchises to more terrible locations (Jacksonville for NFL and Charlotte for NBA)?

Happy to see Baltimore fans happy again, but Cleveland fans have to be killing themselves for the fact that they lost their team, which went on to win a Super Bowl 6 years later, while they are stuck trying to celebrate after a 6-3 victory vs. the Bills.

[Findog]

Did you watch it? Almost that entire city was emo.


Entirely understandable. The Colts were as synonymous with Baltimore as the Giants with New York, Cowboys with Dallas, etc. It was unthinkable that they would move.