NBA in Oklahoma City

[Tim Whitehead]

That's my point exactly: What happens when the people in Tulsa or Stillwater or Enid don't want to pay for a new Sonics stadium?? Now it might not be next year, but that day will come.

Then the owner can pack up his team and move it to El Paso or Albuquerque or St. Louis or Jacksonville or one of the dozens of other cities whose taxayers are more than happy to shell out for an arena. It's his team, and he do what he wants with it. Is it fair? Maybe not. Is it nice? Probably not, but that's the way it is. Good for the fans of OKC. Let's hope they support the team and make it a successful business and the team will stay.

[StrykerFSU]

It may be his team but isn't he legally bound to the city of Seattle by the terms of his lease? Or are those leases as binding as mortgages are going to be, that is not at all. Seems to me that you should have to abide by the terms of the legally binding agreement that you signed of your own free will.

"I signed a lease but got a better offer from another city so I want out."

"I signed a mortgage promising to pay it back but now I don't want to follow the rules stipulated in the agreement, someone bail me out!"

[Jana]

Less like a mortgage contract, more like a marriage contract. It can be broken, but it seems to take forever to get settled, emotionally painful, the lawyers get rich, and the kids (fans) get hurt.

[Arklax]

The real question is can a franchise even survive in OKC for ten years?? Yeah there were people that showed up for the Hornets games but it was the cool new thing, what happens when they play like....the Sonics? It's a self-fulfilling prophecy to say that fans won't support bad teams, OF COURSE THEY WON'T. Just like they won't support bad owners. Good luck supporting a professional sports team OKC, logic and population density says you can't

Also, for everyone blaming Seattle fans for not "stepping up" you need to realize that at the beginning of this decade they passed two separate hundred million dollar levies to pay for the brand new state of the art Safeco Field and Seahawks Stadium which are two of the nicest facilities in Pro Sports period. Is it really their fault that they would like to find a cheaper solution after they have already put the financial burden on people in Spokane, and Walla Walla, and Bellingham, and Vancouver, who are "sick of paying for everything I'll never use"??

The OKC metro area is comparable in size to Jacksonville, Memphis, Salt Lake City, Buffalo, and other towns with one or more pro sports franchises, and Green Bay would make a great suburb for OKC. Since they would be the only show in town (besides OU football), there's a much better chance for their success (in terms of profit/popularity).

I'll buy the argument that a winning team will sell tickets. That's almost assured. But if you don't have that high winning percentage as a safety net, wouldn't you want to be in a city where you will sell tickets, regardless of record?

Most importantly, it's Bennett's team to do what he wants, even if that includes suffering the consequences for breaking the lease.

[KnoxVegas]

It may be his team but isn't he legally bound to the city of Seattle by the terms of his lease?

Teams are but all leases between sports teams and municipalities have attendance, revenue and/or upgrade clauses that must be met each year or the team has a chance to opt out with stiff $$ penalties.

There is talk that the city of OKC would pay the penalty for the Seattle NBA franchise to break their lease and move. This would be done by selling bonds. Sure that would go over well at the next National Association of Mayors conference.

[Dan Wishengrad]

More evidence of the duplicity of Bennett ownership group coming to light:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/l ... sheds.html

And a question for my conservative friends here:

Why do anti-tax Republicans so consistently oppose any and all tax increases -- except for all those which might profit them personally?

Bush has consistently opposed any new taxes as both Governor and President. Yet when W. was part-owner of the Rangers he was all for raising taxes to fund construction of a new stadium for his team to play at in Arlington. Clay Bennett, another wealthy GOP donor, lobbied hard for tax increases to fund the upgrades to the arena in Oklahoma City where he intends to move the Sonics.

Isn't this hypocrisy of the basest kind?

[Sonny]

Nice. It's W's fault that the Sonics are leaving Seattle? Can't believe it took so long to get to this point in this thread.

Note: I'm 100% against all municipalities providing free/dirt cheap stadium deals to keep or attract pro teams.

[Dan Wishengrad]

The Sonics leaving Seattle has nothing to do with W., Sonny, and I never said or implied anything of the kind.

I simply asked, after posting a link to another story about Bennett's duplicity in opposition to his publicly uttered bald-faced lies, why it is that conservatives hate tax increases in general but seem to love them specifically when they might lead to personal profit. Not a fair question? Not hypocrisy? The analogy to W.'s pandering for a sales tax increase to build the Arlington Stadium is on point and on topic, I'd say...

[OklahomaLax45]

That's my point exactly: What happens when the people in Tulsa or Stillwater or Enid don't want to pay for a new Sonics stadium??

They're not really To fund the renovations on the current Ford Center to make it a state of the art stadium, the tax recently passed is only for and in Oklahoma County (county OKC is in), which was a $0.01 sales tax increase on all sales. Nothing to crazy, and majority of people I doubt will notice. Doesn't really effect us here in Norman unless we go to OKC and have to purchase something, or say out to a nice dinner in Bricktown. And even then, all sales will be 1 cent more expensive then they were before. I'm ok with that

I know that was another thing too when they were trying to pass this tax and bring the Sonics here was what it could do for OKC economically. OKC isn't really one of the top staple cities in the nation, nor the state of Oklahoma for that matter. All we really have are the Sooners, a hand full of minor league teams, that orange/black school north of us, a handful of tornadoes, and that is about it. The theory behind bringing the sonics is that not only will it bring a pro sport to Oklahoma, but also increase the economy of Oklahoma city as well as bring in various other attractions and the people to come watch. I.E. more people come to OKC to see various things, more people spend money in Oklahoma, and in turn we hopefully host more events (i.e. Big XII Basketball tournament, and NCAA Women's B-Ball Tourney) and have concerts from big name artists come through town, and truly make Oklahoma City one of the best. Long short, but a possibility

[KnoxVegas]

They voted to raise the sales tax on all sales? Was there any proposal for a sin tax or taxes on rental cars and hotels?

[TheBearcatHimself]

Interesting vote by SportsNation on ESPN regarding where the Sonics should play next season: Every state voted that they belong in Seattle except Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana.

Now Oklahoma Sonics fan obviously wants a team in his/her town. I don't know what Arkansas Sonics fan is voting for other than more daily newspaper coverage of an NBA team. I don't think the trip from Little Rock to OKC will be a daily occurence.

And most intriguingly, Louisiana Fan is voting perhaps to save his/her own Hornets, knowing that if somehow the Sonics are spared the heave ho, then Clay Bennett's burning longing for an OKC team turns squarely to New Orleans, and they do not have the population or post-Katrina organizational structure to prevent the Hornets from leaving.

[KnoxVegas]

It is audacious, almost unheard of and unlikely to succeed, yet sports and legal experts around the country said they will be watching with interest if Howard Schultz sues the new owners of the Sonics in an effort to force them to keep the basketball team in Seattle.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/basketball/359176_schultz16.html?source=mypi