NBA subcommittee approves Okla. City plans for Sonics

[MajorMike]

Blame Holt.



Associated Press

Updated: March 25, 2008, 9:05 PM ET
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OKLAHOMA CITY -- Three NBA owners were impressed enough with a presentation Tuesday to believe Oklahoma City should be the future home for the Seattle SuperSonics.

To make his relocation request a reality, Sonics owner Clay Bennett now needs to win over at least 13 more of his peers.

After a tour of the Ford Center and a presentation from city and state officials, NBA commissioner David Stern said Tuesday a subcommittee of three NBA owners would suggest approval of the SuperSonics' move by the rest of the league.

"We made important progress today," Bennett said. "A lot more to be done, but a very important step. I think it was a very successful day and we look forward to the next step."

Gov. Brad Henry, Oklahoma football coach Bob Stoops and numerous other representatives of the city, state and sports community came out to welcome Stern, New Jersey Nets owner Lewis Katz, Indiana Pacers owner Herb Simon and Los Angeles Lakers vice president Jeanie Buss as Oklahoma City brought out fancy cars and hard facts to woo its first major-league sports franchise.

"It was a pretty full presentation and pretty much a tour de force on behalf of Oklahoma that I'd say impressed the members of the committee greatly," Stern said.

While the relocation would mean a move to a much smaller market, Stern said he was encouraged by the amount of support from area leaders and fans, and the revenue potential the team would have in a downtown arena being remodeled with $121 million in public funds approved by voters earlier this month.

"I think Seattle is actually a terrific market. It just doesn't have an NBA-ready arena of the future that's been agreed to by all parties for many years," Stern said. "It's a very strong market that has in fact supported NBA basketball well over the years. When you come to a place like Oklahoma, you look for the single-team market as opposed to, for example, a market that has three or more professional sports leagues in it."

Katz said he was impressed that 62 percent of city voters favored taxing themselves to fund the Ford Center improvements and by the coalition of support among leadership including representatives of Tulsa that the NBA considered a part of Oklahoma City's broader market.

"This is wonderful for the league, wonderful for basketball, a strong wonderful ownership group that you have out here that can lead this thing," Katz said.

"My hope is that we'll find a settlement with Seattle that will give them the opportunity to have a replacement team. Seattle should have an NBA team, and I think David expressed that in the meetings. We all feel that way. My guess is you haven't heard the end of the Seattle story."

Katz, Simon and Buss will meet with the remaining four members of the relocation committee -- San Antonio Spurs owner Peter Holt, Miami Heat managing general partner Micky Arison, Chris Cohan of the Golden State Warriors and Ed Snider of the Philadelphia 76ers -- likely by telephone and make a formal recommendation to the rest of the league's owners.

All 30 owners will vote on the SuperSonics' relocation request during an April 18 meeting, with a majority needed for approval. The Sonics also have a federal court case scheduled for June to determine whether they can break their lease with Seattle that runs through 2010.

On Tuesday morning, City Council members in Oklahoma City approved terms of a 15-year lease with the SuperSonics that would require the team to pay the city $1.6 million annually to use the Ford Center and another $409,000 per year to be able to resell the arena's naming rights.

Former Oklahoma state Rep. Wanda Jo Stapleton voiced concerns to the council that the lease leaves the city in position to pay for any cost overruns on the Ford Center renovations and the construction of an approximately $24 million practice facility funded by the sales tax extension.

"It's in black and white there that the city will pay for the cost overruns, and there could be tens of millions of dollars in cost overruns because they've given the team owners free rein to make any changes, whatever they want, during the entire construction period," Stapleton said. "It's just a blank check, that's all it is."

City Manager Jim Couch assured Stapleton that the lease would allow the city to make any cuts necessary to keep the project within its budget. Mayor Mick Cornett said it was the city's intent to keep the renovations within whatever funds are raised by the sales tax extension.

"We have a very good history of building stuff on time and being financially responsible," Cornett said. "I understand that this is going to take a very high level of scrutiny and we accept that and look forward to once again living up to what we said we would do."

[StylisticS]

Poor Durant. Having to go from such a great city of Seattle to that. :dramaquee :(

[JackArse]

now, just to understand how stern works. you do know that he and clay have been very good friends for many years now.. right? imagine that.. another owner he has in his pocket now..

[remingtonbo2001]

Does this mean the Spurs have a chance of signing Durant in 2011?

[RonMexico]

What if Seattle got a new franchise by 2011 (since they retain the Sonics' name and Stern says it's a great market) and then signed Durant?

Would that be the first time in history that a guy was drafted by a team, the original team moved, and then he signed with the "new" team with the same name as the one that drafted him? Only other place this could have occurred in sports is if a Baltimore Ravens player signed with Cleveland shortly after Art Modell took the team. I know Jamal Lewis signed with the Browns, but I didn't think he was drafted as a Brown.

[ChuckD]

What if Seattle got a new franchise by 2011 (since they retain the Sonics' name and Stern says it's a great market) and then signed Durant?

Would that be the first time in history that a guy was drafted by a team, the original team moved, and then he signed with the "new" team with the same name as the one that drafted him? Only other place this could have occurred in sports is if a Baltimore Ravens player signed with Cleveland shortly after Art Modell took the team. I know Jamal Lewis signed with the Browns, but I didn't think he was drafted as a Brown.
Stern's already said that Seattle is NOT getting another team if they don't take care of the Sonics.

[Extra Stout]

Stern's already said that Seattle is NOT getting another team if they don't take care of the Sonics.
And you believe him?

[monosylab1k]

Poor Durant. Having to go from such a great city of Seattle to that. :dramaquee :(
I'd just demand a trade if I were him. No use playing in a POS city in the middle of nowhere.

[MajorMike]

The NBA will expand to LV and Europe before the Sonics get another team. They already know to get a team they are going to have to move a team there.

[RonMexico]

CaptMike needs to stop posting anywhere except the College Sports forum. Let's keep the stupidity locked in a single area.

[MajorMike]

Is little ronnie following me around, AGAIN? ronnie, your mom told you not to wander off too far, you can't take care of yourself and this unhealthy obsession you have with me is bordering on... gay.

I'm sorry I never responded to your private message:

11-30-2007, 08:44 AM Truce

Let's make up - I think Brutalis has brought us all back together in rooting against his stupidity.

[MajorMike]

Wow, I just took ronnie off ignore to see exactly how obsessed he is. Of his last few posts, about 30% were made directly after mine with some rude rebuttal or in direct reference.

Today, 08:13 AM
Yesterday, 01:56 PM
03-24-2008, 04:04 PM
03-24-2008, 03:55 PM
03-24-2008, 03:18 PM
03-24-2008, 02:55 PM
03-19-2008, 09:07 AM
03-17-2008, 02:42 PM
03-17-2008, 09:58 AM
03-16-2008, 04:41 PM
03-15-2008, 10:00 AM
03-15-2008, 09:56 AM
03-14-2008, 11:00 PM
03-14-2008, 01:35 PM
03-14-2008, 12:38 PM
03-14-2008, 12:37 PM
03-14-2008, 10:09 AM
03-14-2008, 08:11 AM

All that from a Suns fan on a Spurs board. He even followed me to the politics forum to try a lame jab there.

Seems like the shut-in, invalid type that can't go outside his house type. They tend to fixate.

Sorta sorry I turned off ignore, now I'm all creeped out.

[MajorMike]

I don't know, Stern has been talking about it for years now. I think Las Vegas and KC/StL and maybe Pitt, Balt and Montreal would be the next in line, but Stern def would like to go to Europe from everything I read.

[RonMexico]

I don't remember going to the Political forum, but I may have.

And yes, I am gay for you CowpokeMike.

I think 30% "rude or indirect" isn't a fair assessment, because most of them directly related to what you just posted. Otherwise, I wouldn't have written anything.

[RonMexico]

And I didn't even respond to your terrible Tyler Hatch joke.

[gtownspur]

captmike is a butthole pole surfing fag and needs to be reprimanded. Ron is just doing his job. no surprises here.

[Findog]

Captmike can stop posting his gay for Clay Bennett love. It's embarrassing and wastes bandwidth. For somebody who claims to be a Spurs fan and "doesn't care" about the NBA expanding to the land of cousin fuckers and Indian reservations on the north banks of the Red River, it seems Sonics to OKC-related posts are the only thing that will get him to show up in the NBA forum.

[MajorMike]

Ah, see, you lie so much you believe yourselves. I think Clay Bennett is a tool; however is it completely his fault he stepped into a situation where neither fans nor govt were willing to pony up to keep a team? No, even tho everyone seems to try and make it look so.

You, he's back on ignore again, but:
Today, 09:47 AM
Today, 09:46 AM
Today, 08:13 AM
Yesterday, 01:56 PM
03-24-2008, 04:04 PM
03-24-2008, 03:55 PM
03-24-2008, 03:18 PM
03-24-2008, 02:55 PM
03-19-2008, 09:07 AM
03-17-2008, 02:42 PM
03-17-2008, 09:58 AM
03-16-2008, 04:41 PM
03-15-2008, 10:00 AM
03-15-2008, 09:56 AM
03-14-2008, 11:00 PM
03-14-2008, 01:35 PM
03-14-2008, 12:38 PM
03-14-2008, 12:37 PM
03-14-2008, 10:09 AM
03-14-2008, 08:11 AM


it seems Sonics to OKC-related posts are the only thing that will get him to show up in the NBA forum.

Poor Fin. Man, ya'll really need to do a little more research before you insert your foot. That's like the 5th time in your last handful of tries that you completely swing and miss.

http://spurstalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=90381
http://spurstalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=90399
http://spurstalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=90316
http://spurstalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=90316
http://spurstalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=90343
http://spurstalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=90343

and so on. Keep trying, tho, someday you will utter something rude and outlandish and someone might be able to find some iota of truth in it.

Ya'll just don't like to listen to me because I'm the Devil's Advocate and tell you how it really is, not how you wish or perceive it to be.

[Findog]

I think Clay Bennett is a tool; however is it completely his fault he stepped into a situation where neither fans nor govt were willing to pony up to keep a team?

The govt in Washington State couldn't bend over fast enough for Howard Schultz so he sold the team to a guy looking to move it rather than local investors. Schultz and Stern are the bigger villians here, but that doesn't let Bennett off the hook for being a complete cuntnozzle. If he had just been upfront from the get go and said "Yeah, I'm taking the team to OKC just as soon as I can get out of the lease," instead of the dog and pony show he put on about "wanting to stay," it would bea tiny bit easier to respect him.

Again, they're still paying for renovations on Key Arena that took place 12 years ago. You'll change your tune if the Spurs demand $500 million in upgrades to the SBC Center five years after it opens while taxpayers are still paying off the original construction, and threaten to move if they don't get it. Get a fucking grip. There's nothing unreasonable about Seattle's position. It's like saying if they're not willing to get bent over and have a train run on them, then they must not want love and romance.

[Findog]

"Go Oklahoma City Cyclones!"



:blah :blah :blah :blah

[MajorMike]

The govt in Washington State couldn't bend over fast enough for Howard Schultz so he sold the team to a guy looking to move it rather than local investors. Schultz and Stern are the bigger villians here, but that doesn't let Bennett off the hook for being a complete cuntnozzle. If he had just been upfront from the get go and said "Yeah, I'm taking the team to OKC just as soon as I can get out of the lease," instead of the dog and pony show he put on about "wanting to stay," it would bea tiny bit easier to respect him.

Again, they're still paying for renovations on Key Arena that took place 12 years ago. You'll change your tune if the Spurs demand $500 million in upgrades to the SBC Center five years after it opens while taxpayers are still paying off the original construction, and threaten to move if they don't get it. Get a fucking grip. There's nothing unreasonable about Seattle's position. It's like saying if they're not willing to get bent over and have a train run on them, then they must not want love and romance.


Except the AT&T Ceneter (not SBC anymore) isn't a rat infested hole. Key Arena wasn't opened in 95, it was opened in 67. It was refurbished for 74 mil, which did nothing other than to fix the leaky roof, redo the locker rooms and add some restaurants. In late 2004 proposals for expanding KeyArena to nearly twice its current size to accommodate new restaurants, shops, and a practice court (the cost is to be approximately $220 million) were debated and denied.

Again... facts, buddy, facts.

[Findog]

Except the AT&T Ceneter (not SBC anymore) isn't a rat infested hole.

Neither is Key Arena. It just doesn't have the same # of luxury boxes as more modern facilities. It doesn't cost $500 million to rectify that situation, which is what Clay Bennett is asking.


Again... facts, buddy, facts

Here's a fact: Bennett can legally move the team once the disposition of the lease has been resolved and the NBA's Board of Governors approve the move. When he bought the team from Schultz, language in the sale stipulated that he make a "good-faith effort" to keep the team in Seattle by working with the state and local government. We already know from McClendon's comments that they never intended to honor this provision and in fact set about a plan for alienating the host community in order to grease the way to move the team.

Is asking the govt there for $500 million to build a new arena, way more than the cost of building Safeco and Qwest, even adjusted for inflation, a reasonable request and making a good-faith effort to keep the team in Seattle?

You can certainly fault the govt there for dragging their heels and not doing everything that they could have with Schultz, and you can certainly argue that legally there are few obstacles left for Bennett to do what he wants. But one thing you can't say is that they don't care about their team or don't care if the Sonics stay simply because they won't meet Bennett's demands, which were designed to alienate the Seattle community and make it easier for him to move the team. If you walk into a Subway sandwich shop and they're selling a turkey sandwich for $30, does that mean you're not hungry and don't want to eat? If your cable company wants to charge you a $1000 a month for DVR, does that mean you don't like to watch tv? The government there deserves some measure of blame for the situation, but they are having their team stolen from them because they refuse to acquiese to rape. I find it hard to fault them for their response to Bennett, even at the cost of losing their team.

Your assessment of the situation is stupid, and your insults and dismissal of the Seattle community and their fanbase is way off-base and misinformed.

[monosylab1k]

Except the AT&T Ceneter (not SBC anymore) isn't a rat infested hole. Key Arena wasn't opened in 95, it was opened in 67. It was refurbished for 74 mil, which did nothing other than to fix the leaky roof, redo the locker rooms and add some restaurants. In late 2004 proposals for expanding KeyArena to nearly twice its current size to accommodate new restaurants, shops, and a practice court (the cost is to be approximately $220 million) were debated and denied.

Again... facts, buddy, facts.
America, eatin' my lunch from a single bowl in my parents basement, where I'm livin'. Happy Birthday, I'm forty-three.

Don't want to waste those precious calories...chewin'. Jesus come move my jaw for me, help me get my sloppy food down my throat

[MajorMike]

Again, you distort the issue. You CANNOT lay all the blame on Bennett as you and all of Seattle is doing, which is my entire point. You want to make huge orations about why its all his fault; I am merely showing you the people are just as much or more at fault.

Anything else is simply, proven, historical, truthfully, and factually false.

[Findog]

You CANNOT lay all the blame on Bennett as you and all of Seattle is doing, which is my entire point. .

Did you read my posts? I said Schultz and Stern are more at fault, and I also noted that the municipal govt deserves blame too. They didn't take the threats of losing their team seriously enough. Once they realized that the threat was real, they stepped up their efforts to keep the Sonics. At this point, you can say it's too little, too late, but I object to this idea that they don't care about the Sonics at all simply based on their response to Bennett, or they didn't care about the Sonics because they didn't move fast enough or click their heels hard enough for Schultz.

If the exact same situation played out in San Antonio, you wouldn't be so condesencing and dismissive as you are towards Seattle.

[MajorMike]

They do care, they just thought they were more secure than they were. They were arrogant and figured they could manipulate the people and the owner into doing it their way. Now they are scrambling because they know how horribly wrong they were.

Its easy to say about San Antonio, but the situtaion could never be reversed because the Spurs are the only show in town and this city will do anything for them.

And as for 500 mil being so outlandish, look and see how much the Mav's stadium cost them in 2000.

[MajorMike]

Neither is Key Arena. It just doesn't have the same # of luxury boxes as more modern facilities. It doesn't cost $500 million to rectify that situation, which is what Clay Bennett is asking.


CNNMoney.com
NBA: KeyArena renovation not an option
March 26, 2008: 11:58 AM EST


Mar. 26, 2008 (Thomson Financial delivered by Newstex) --

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - NBA commissioner David Stern on Tuesday shot down a proposal by a group of Seattle businessmen seeking to renovate KeyArena in order to keep the SuperSonics in the city.

Stern said the NBA does not view a renovation as a solution because the site could not undergo a proper expansion.

'The reason that this journey began was because KeyArena was not an adequate arena going forward and there were a lot of recommendations made for another arena ... but the tax revenues and the various contributions weren't forthcoming,' Stern said while taking questions about an NBA relocation subcommittee's recommendation to move the SuperSonics to Oklahoma City.

'I would say that as far as we know, the footprint of Key is at present time not viewed as adequate to support what's necessary going forward.'
Stern said he believes the footprint of KeyArena is only between 300,000 and 400,000 square feet, as compared to the 580,000 square feet of Oklahoma City's Ford Center that will extend even farther during planned renovations.

A group including Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) Chief Executive Steve Ballmer has floated a proposal to buy the Sonics and pay half of a $300 million renovation plan, in the hope that the city of Seattle and state of Washington would split the remainder of the cost.

SuperSonics owner Clay Bennett has repeatedly said his team is not for sale.

'As far as I know, we have owners there that own the team and they have told us based on the present state of their record and their inability to get any assistance up to this point that the team is not for sale and the application to move has been made,' Stern said.

Bennett has also said that KeyArena in any form won't work for the Sonics or the league.

'KeyArena is not a viable NBA arena. A remodeled KeyArena is not a viable NBA arena,' Bennett said in October.

The SuperSonics' lease requires them to play in Seattle through the end of the 2009-10, although Bennett is seeking to break the agreement in federal court. Bennett said his ownership group is 'prepared to engage in the trial' and abide by the judge's ruling.

After failing to secure a new, $500 million arena he was seeking in Seattle, Bennett said the Sonics 'don't have a prayer of succeeding in KeyArena.'
'I absolutely know a team can survive and be profitable in Oklahoma City. It needs to be understood that in this market that Oklahoma City is a viable, growing market,' Bennett said in Seattle in October. ' ... It will work and it will certainly work a lot better than it is here today.'
New Jersey Nets owner Lewis Katz, Los Angeles Lakers vice president Jeanie Buss and Indiana Pacers owner Herb Simon said Tuesday that they would recommend that the NBA's relocation committee approve the SuperSonics' request to move to Oklahoma City. The NBA Board of Governors will vote April 18 on the proposal.

'There's no question in my mind that they're coming. It's just a question of when,' Katz said. 'The hope is that somebody makes the appropriate approach from Seattle, people get together, they sit down, they make a deal and everybody walks away with something good for their community.

'Hopefully, Seattle will then realize that the NBA is not walking away from it.'
Stern said he would be available to help Bennett and the city of Seattle if they were to negotiate a settlement 'but there's a lease to be honored, there's a court deciding whether that lease can be honored by a payment or has to be honored by the team being physically there.'
'I think there may or may not be discussion to have about a fair settlement for both sides, and I'm certainly in favor of helping them look for some fair resolution,' Stern said.

If the federal judge rules that the Sonics cannot buy out of the lease, the team could be facing two lame duck seasons in the Pacific Northwest -- or, as some hope, it could provide extra time to find a new solution and keep the city's first major sports franchise.

'It would be terrible. It doesn't help anybody to have a lame duck team. Nobody should be in that position,' Katz said. 'It doesn't help Seattle. It doesn't help the ownership group here in Oklahoma. It's not good for the league to have that just hang out.'

[MajorMike]

Seattle won't lose everything when Sonics split
March 26, 2008
By Ray Ratto
CBSSports.com Columnist
Tell Ray your opinion!







Clay Bennett, the bagger of carpets who is well into his spiriting of the Seattle SuperSonics to Oklahoma City, is apparently willing to leave the team names (both Seattle and SuperSonics, thoughtfully), the logos and the history behind with the defrocked city.


Clay Bennett may be taking the team, but he will be leaving the 'SuperSonics' behind. (Getty Images)
Apparently he has no use for any of them, which seems all well and good for you sentimentalists.

But he is still taking the team, which leaves with one of those awkward Cleveland Browns moments, where an expansion team claims a history it actually doesn't own, because the team that made the history was taken to Baltimore.

And the fact that he is willing to let Seattle keep the bric-a-brac while taking the furniture indicates that Seattle is going to get another team, probably as a side deal to the city letting the Sonics go without further to-do. Maybe they get New Orleans, which continues to fight the tough fight attendance-wise, or some other unfortunate team in some other unfortunate town.

But somehow, Seattle will be made whole, likely after their sense of loss overcomes their sense of shame and they throw money into a major renovation of Key Arena, or worse, Key Arena 2.0. And then they'll try to graft the history the old Sonics left behind onto the new team, probably while the transplanted team leaves its old history behind when it leaves its town.

Get it? Of course not. It's just another way of bending reality so as not to hurt people's sense of self-delusion.

Look, the Sonics are going to Oklahoma City; the city didn't cave in to Bennett's extortion, but he had the deed and David Stern had his back. That's the game in the fast lane, kids, pure and simple.

But leaving the history and the records behind as some sort of sop to people's memories is just dishonest. The memories can't be taken, so the records themselves aren't really relevant. It's a gift without meaning, an act of generosity without value. It's not quite a scam, but it comes close.

Browns fans have the old team's records, too, but their pain and suffering through the expansion team's birth and early years were made no easier by having Otto Graham in their media guide rather than Baltimore's. It was symbolism, but the new Browns were making their own history, so their glories in 2007 were their own and couldn't be negotiated away because Randy Lerner got a wild hair some day.

That is Seattle's burden now, and having Jack Sikma in the records section of a media guide that won't be published for years doesn't really help the town all that much.

Thus, having the logo is fine, and the nickname, too. But the records? Bennett should keep those, because civic brigandry aside, it is one of the things he paid for when he bought the old team, and Seattle trying to pass off the next Sonics as the extension of the old Sonics is, well, just plain dishonest. It simply isn't so.

These are the deals that fool people into thinking they got a pound of flesh out of someone who took the entire meat market. Seattle isn't getting anything of value out of this deal unless it really wants to own the name SuperSonics in perpetuity, and the truth is nobody else is going to want the name.

The new teams want a ferocious animal as the nickname, or something that ends in "zz," and a logo that more than not is predicated on a triangle rather than a circle. The name "Sonics" is already Seattle's forever, and nobody uses the green-and-gold motif for a new team any more. It's all teals and coppers and silvers and dark grays.

In short, if this deal goes through, Seattle gets the records of a team it won't have, which is worth nothing in the grander scheme. Clay Bennett got what he wanted, and what he's willing to leave behind is of no value -– if it was, he would have taken it with him.

But hey, if an empty gesture now helps the city overpay for a new team later, and then overpay again with a new or tarted-up arena, and everyone thinks it's a bargain ... well, it worked in Cleveland, right?

It just took about a decade, is all.

[balli]

This shit's so fucking stupid. I have no problem with OKC getting a team, but for fucks sake, The Sonics? Take any of a number of teams like Memphis, Charlotte, NO, The Clippers, etc. This whole deal's shadier than a fat womans shadow. Fuck David Stern.

[Findog]

CaptMike needs to stop posting anywhere except the College Sports forum. Let's keep the stupidity locked in a single area.

+1

:toast

[Findog]

Seattle with get a new Supersonics team in exchange for not putting up any more of a fight.

[GuerillaBlack]

Does the NBA really want to expand to make it uneven?

[balli]

IMO, the NBA needs to drop about 6-8 teams. Cut two playoff spots from each conference and shorten the season to about 70 games. This has been a great, great season, but only for the top 50% of the league. The rest of these teams fucking suck... and thats a gotdamned shame for the people in those cities. Unfortunately, David Stern still making money off those shit teams; enough that wants to water the league down even more by expanding. I fucking hate when the pursuit of $ compromises value and I fucking hate David Stern.