Arklax wrote:StrykerFSU wrote:Second.
KnoxVegas wrote:Third.
Oh, BS.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/attendance?year=2008Seattle- Bottom 1/3 past 5 years; not a whole lot of support...
Notice the boost in attendance while the Hornets were in OKC in 05/06 and 06/07.
They are making a move to a smaller market, where granted they are the only game in town but the ownership has already stated that they don't mind losing money. Not for a few years but ever. Now how smart is that? I do not think that municipalities should be blackmailed into new stadiums for losing sports franchises but cities find their identities through sports franchises.
Key Arena is in a great neighborhood which is really its problem. There is no room to build out (It also sucks to do TV there). I read last week that some local business men, including Microsoft's Steve Balmer, have ponied up $150 million of their own money to expand (for the second time in 15 years) Key Arena.
Your right, it is the ownerships perogative to move their teams as they wish. But what happens if the NBA OKC's franchise sucks five years from now? The Cubs and pre-2000's Red Sox were exceptions to the attendance rule. The former temporary tenants of the Ford Center, the NO/OKC Hornets are already trying to bail out of New Orleans over low attendance. David Stern has told them to stay put for now. This after moving from Charlotte for the same reason. Maybe it is not the public but the way these teams are run and their product that is the real problem.