The 2007 Sonics = 2008 Oklahoma City Cowboys

or 2009? 2010?

What do Kevin Durant and David Stern have in common? Neither of the two will be back in Seattle for basketball after this 2009 NBA season is over (or maybe earlier, depending on pending litigation). At least, that’s the most likely scenario right now after Stern’s press conference, in Phoenix, today, where he was quoted as saying,

“I’d love to find a way to keep the team there, because if the team moves, there’s not going to be another team there, not in any conceivable future plan that I could envision, and that would be too bad.”

Let’s recap the last couple of weeks, shall we?

On November 1st, a local group of investors, led by Dennis Haugs, offered to buy the team (which coincidentally isn’t for sale anyway),

“We want to recapture the spirit and love of basketball in Seattle by bringing the Sonics and Storm back to local ownership…This town loves the Sonics and Storm. We have a genuine appreciation of the fan base. We respect the many loyal fans and we want to build a populist movement to keep the teams here. We believe there is strong local support for the Sonics and Storm.”November 2nd, 2007: Sonics owner Clayton Bennett made this statement,

Given the clear lack of public, political, and business support for a new multi-purpose arena, plus the enactment of Initiative 91 as a City of Seattle ordinance following a public vote authorized by the Seattle City Council itself, and the significant operating losses the businesses are now incurring, we have no option but to commence the NBA relocation process.

Today we notified Commissioner Stern that we intend to relocate the Sonics to Oklahoma City if we succeed in the pending litigation with the City, or are able to negotiate an early lease termination, or at the end of the lease term.

Since then, everyone had been mum about the subject, until Stern today once again voiced his displeasure with Seattle’s Initiative 91, which prohibited Seattle from supporting sports teams with city tax dollars unless such investments yield a profit on par with a 30 year U.S. treasury bond (somewhere in between 4.5% and 5.0%).

So, what’s really going on? Honestly, I think, as many others do, that Bennett had no intentions on keeping the team in Seattle (it doesn’t help that he’s from Oklahoma City). He had already seen that there was considerable conflict between the previous owners of the Sonics and the renovation of KeyArena, so after purchasing the team, he decided to play the same angle, knowing that the city government (and ultimately the people of Seattle) wouldn’t support a new arena. This move became 100 times more effective because

1. The citizens of Seattle were already being taxed for new baseball and football facilities

2. Seattle’s basketball team, save for the 2004-2005 season has been horrible, and interest has waned.

And what of Commissioner Stern? Regardless of how bad he says he’ll feel, I think he wants/wanted the team out of Seattle as well. Stern grew tired of Seattle once the city passed initiative 91. I-91 effectively prevented any chance of Seattle getting a new arena, which means that Stern was going to miss out on generating some extra revenue (new arena = more revenue). Seattle messed with Stern’s money, and he, obviously, was not going to stand for that. Couple that with the fact that he was impressed with Oklahoma City’s support of the Hornets in the last 2 years, and the fact that Oklahoma City doesn’t have a team shows that he would have no problem with a Sonics move.

And the citizens of Seattle? well, why i don’t doubt that there are still genuine Sonics fans in Seattle, when you have a team that hasn’t played well, you have a city that passed a law that basically kills any chances of a new stadium, and you can’t even sell out your home opener when you’ve drafted Kevin Durant? I seriously have to question how serious you are about keeping your team. Sure, you can blame part of this situation on bad timing because the citizens would be more willing to pay for a new stadium if they weren’t already paying for football and baseball facilities, but, if it was a team that they really wanted? They would have never passed initiative 91.

So, in the end, what would it take to keep the Sonics in Seattle? All might be lost already, although winning would certainly help matters. Give Kevin Durant some Gatorade, a basketball, and let him go to work. Although, it may be too late. Personally? I think we might be looking at the Oklahoma City Cowboys in the near future.

UPDATE: check out the guys over at Sports Business Radio to see why, Bennett will have some hurdles to climb if the team is to move to Oklahoma

Yahoo! Sports: Stern criticizes city, state, government in SuperSonics dealings

ESPN: Seattle group sent letter to Sonics owner, hopes to meet with Bennett

Seattle Post Intelligencer: Initiative 91: Seattle rejects sports subsidies

Related

Sports Business Digest: Kevin Durant loves Gatorade

Sports Business Digest: Seattle: We don’t need the NBA, we have the MLS! 

Category: Basketball