Welcome your Oklahoma City Super Sonics

[oumartin]

Guess its a done deal.

[SOONER44EVER]

The Seattle franchise was just purchased by an Okla group. No link yet.

[royalfan5]

Will you get extra starbucks in the deal?

[KC//CRIMSON]

Guess its a done deal.

F-ing amateurs....:rolleyes:

http://www.soonerfans.com/forums/showthread.php?t=73476

[Mjcpr]

Wha???

That'd be cool. Where's BRJ? :)

[oumartin]

I own you buddy, I beat you by like 3 seconds.

[oumartin]

it actually appears all three threads were posted at 1:53 jerkwad ;)

[KC//CRIMSON]

it actually appears all three threads were posted at 1:53 jerkwad ;)

but i have links, dickweed.:D

[SOONER44EVER]

I own you buddy, I beat you by like 3 seconds.
Yeah I noticed that. I got a cramp in my typing finger midway through the sentence. :D

[oumartin]

according to ESPN its the WNBA team..

[Viking Kitten]

Wha???

That'd be cool. Where's BRJ? :)

Unloading all his Hornets s**t on E-bay? :P

[colleyvillesooner]

but i have links, dickweed.:D

Yeah, but you posted it in Sooner Basketball. General Sports Forum would technically be correct, Dickweed. :D

[oumartin]

well ESPN reported it was the WNBA team!

*ssface :D

[colleyvillesooner]

Heh

[tbl]

It never says they're moving to OKC...

[KC//CRIMSON]

Yeah, but you posted it in Sooner Basketball. General Sports Forum would technically be correct, Dickweed. :D

GSF is dead, Texan!

Oh yeah, in your face!:D

[oumartin]

Texan?

I thought this was a family board man.. thats below the belt

[KC//CRIMSON]

Unloading all his Hornets s**t on E-bay?

including face paint....

[SOONER44EVER]

I feel kinda sorry for Chris Paul. Yes, I've been to NO.:D

[colleyvillesooner]

GSF is dead, Texan!

Oh yeah, in your face!:D

Yeah, cause Sooner Basketball is hopping this time of year. ;)

[Mjcpr]

ESPN says they intend to keep both teams in the Seattle area.

:confused:

[colleyvillesooner]

Texan?

I thought this was a family board man.. thats below the belt

I know right. Even thought I was born in Oklahoma, guess I"m just a fan. :(

[oumartin]

I think he was just tryin' to hurt your feelings ;)
Texan is just uncalled for..

[Taxman71]

No need to spring for season tickets this year. Wait until the Sonics are in-town and everyone starts off with a clean slate.

[oumartin]

Its the Storm i tell ya

[Beano's Fourth Chin]

Its the Storm i tell ya

It's both.

[oumartin]

is it really?
well blow me down.

[Beano's Fourth Chin]

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&q=seattle+supersonics&btnG=Search+News

[oumartin]

u aint gotta prove it to me..
I never doubt you!

[Beano's Fourth Chin]

ESPN says they intend to keep both teams in the Seattle area.

:confused:

Stern approved the sale to an OKC group. He knows what's up. I used to hate the Sonics. It will be fun to like them.

I bet they'll be here by 2007 season.

[Taxman71]

Good thing we still have the Cox Center for the Blazers I guess.

[oumartin]

r they gonna rename them?
How does "Cowboys" sound?

[GrapevineSooner]

Texan isn't an insult.

Now if you had called him a Horn... ;)

[GrapevineSooner]

Stern approved the sale to an OKC group. He knows what's up. I used to hate the Sonics. It will be fun to like them.

I bet they'll be here by 2007 season.

They'll make a token effort to work out a deal with the City of Seattle concerning a new arena/revenue sharing.

Then they'll move.

[TheHumanAlphabet]

So will the Ford Center be renamed the Sonic Center and the Super Sonics new logo be the Sonic logo?

[oumartin]

now they are talkin' like Bennet and Shin just swap teams..
kinda like wife swap.

[Beano's Fourth Chin]

Probably stay supersonics. Doesn't seem like they change names anymore... except the Tennessee Titans. I can't think of another one that changed names.

Cleveland Browns. What did they change to when they moved?

[oumartin]

baltimore ravens!

[Mjcpr]

Probably stay supersonics. Doesn't seem like they change names anymore... except the Tennessee Titans. I can't think of another one that changed names.

Cleveland Browns. What did they change to when they moved?

The Baltimore Ravens.

[Beano's Fourth Chin]

However, Oklahoma City Supersonics is lots of syllables. 10. That would be the most in the league.

[Mjcpr]

How about the OKC Getners?

[Partial Qualifier]

r they gonna rename them?
How does "Cowboys" sound?

:les:

[85Sooner]

Good thing we still have the Cox Center for the Blazers I guess.


I like hockey there better anyway.

[bri]

Yeah, cause Sooner Basketball is hopping this time of year. ;)

Well, traditionally this is when most of our transfers take place...

[GottaHavePride]

However, Oklahoma City Supersonics is lots of syllables. 10. That would be the most in the league.

Yeah, but how much would Sonic pay them to sponsor if they don't change the name?

[colleyvillesooner]

Well, traditionally this is when most of our transfers take place...

FIRE CAPEL!!!!

[oumartin]

if it was Calvin Simpson how can we 'f' up Jeff Capel?

[OUstudent4life]

John Cable

[KaiserSooner]

Probably stay supersonics. Doesn't seem like they change names anymore... except the Tennessee Titans. I can't think of another one that changed names.

Cleveland Browns. What did they change to when they moved?

Don't forget the ex-Expos, now the Nationals.

[Pricetag]

Too bad "Yard Dawgz" is already taken.

[Ike]

Too bad "Yard Dawgz" is already taken.
but fortunately "89'ers" is once again available....

[Chuck Bao]

The Sonic Chili Cheese Dogs shortened to just the Sonic Dogs

Granted, it's still a long name for a sports team.

But if we're good, we are REALLY GOOD.

[Pricetag]

The Sonic Chili Cheese Dawgz shortened to just the Sonic Dawgz

Granted, it's still a long name for a sports team.

But if we're good, we are REALLY GOOD.
There, that's better.

[OUstudent4life]

If both the NBA and WNBA teams come here...

which would you rather attend?

WNBA, or AFL2?

[bri]

The OKC Hey, Did The Hornets Get A Bunch Of New Guys And New Uniforms?

[BigRedJed]

There are several different scenarios that could come into play here.

[bri]

Ooh...cryptic!! :D

[BigRedJed]

Here's what I am certain of: Clay Bennett is a former minority NBA owner whom David Stern thinks very highly of. He (along with Gaylord Entertainment) owned a significant share of the Spurs franchise. Ultimately the Spurs partners, wishing to keep the ownership local, bought him out.

Bennett has stated publicly that he and the OKC group want to buy a team to guarantee the NBA's future in OKC. Infer what you want from that statement and today's purchase announcement.

The Sonics have a crappy lease at Key. The owners have tried repeatedly to get Seattle to upgrade, either fixing that arena up, or building a new one. Seattle residents, not known as great sports fans, have been very nonplussed. Just this month they turned in a petition with tens of thousands of names basically asking the city and state to tell the Sonics to go **** themselves. Negotiations between Seattle and the Sonics have been very acrimonious and have broken down. During the negotiations, Seattle claimed they lose money every time the Sonics play. That statement can probably be used by the new owners to help negotiate a settlement.

Just because the lease is signed through 2010 doesn't mean it is absolutely iron-clad. I'm going to be looking at a copy of it a little later this evening. I'm not a lawyer, but it will be interesting to see where there might be an out if the new owners choose to pursue it.

The Sonics and the Storm (their WNBA counterpart) have lost around $50-60 million over the last five years, mostly due to a horrible profit-sharing deal. That evaporates if they move to OKC. As I have posted for years (look it up), one of the main reasons the NBA works in OKC is that the Ford Center is totally paid for. No debt service means cheap rent. Check it out; most of the teams in tough spots (Seattle, Portland) blame their arena deals as much as anything for their lack of solvency. You can thank MAPS for making OKC highly competitive in the sports market. Cheap (or nonexistent) rent = cheap tickets = more butts in seats.

Here's what I'm pretty sure of: Clay Bennett and George Shinn have had an ugly rift. Probably has to do with Shinn's refusal to sell a majority share of the Hornets, and Bennett's public comments regarding securing a team for OKC's future, in case the Hornets don't pan out. Shinn has made a habit of playing OKC vs. NOLA, and I think it has ****ed off local partners.

The interesting thing here, is that they have TOTALLY taken away George Shinn's bargaining power. If the Hornets leave OKC, the Sonics' new owners can almost certainly bring the new team here, right away. In fact, they could actually force him to leave OKC. Before now, he was in a very strong negotiating position, because he could say "well, I have this great deal in OKC, where I'm making a fortune. If I go back to NOLA, where I was headed towards bankruptcy even pre-Katrina, I almost certainly lose my shirt. So if you (the NBA, the City of NOLA, etc.) want to make me go back, you need to make up the difference."

His only choices now are to move back to NOLA (likely, but certainly unattractive), move to another city like Kansas City or Vegas (PR hit for the NBA and Shinn, who then look like the ultimate carpet baggers), or sell to an OKC owner group.

Wait a minute -- did I just say he could still sell to an OKC investor group? YEP. This is my own theory, and one of the few areas in this post where I don't have any corroborative info from informed parties, but I think local owners could still be making a play for the Hornets, too. It might be a longshot, but here goes my theory: by buying the Sonics, Bennett et al. have without question devalued the Hornets franchise. He no longer has the OKC card to play against New Orleans.

Furthermore, I believe this sale might cause NOLA residents to feel they are guaranteed to see the Hornets come back, which may cause ticket sales and corporate sponsorships become less of a hot button issue and fall off. If it becomes obvious through season ticket sales (or lack thereof) in NOLA, or other factors that make relocation there very unattractive, Shinn's franchise is probably still worth more at this moment than it will be for years after moving back.

So why not make a play for a franchise that is worth a lot if it stays in OKC, and a lot less if it moves? If the Hornets are retained here by local buyers, Bennett and Co. just sharpen their pencils a bit more in Seattle, get a deal that works, and own that team for a while. If they do, they're almost guaranteed a profit if they sell a more solvent team than the one they bought. They could then join the Hornets' owner group, if they're not already a part. I can't remember if NBA bylaws preclude one investor from being involved in two teams simultaneously, but an interesting thought...

It might seem a bit farfetched, but possible considering the situation. I can also tell you that there are several local investors/families sitting on fortunes in the hundreds of millions to north of a billion who are not a part of the current ownership group, and yet have made noises in the past about a willingness to own all or part of a major league sports franchise in OKC. Some of them are people close to Clay Bennett. My question is why they aren't involved in the current Sonics deal?

One thing I would almost guarantee: if the Sonics end up relocating to OKC, the Storm won't. The competition for the sports and sponsorship dollar would be too tough, and the success of OU women's hoops would probably put a damper on it too. Look for the Storm to stay in Seattle or be sold off.

The one thing I definitely AM certain of, today's sale pretty much guarantees to future of pro hoops in OKC, long term. The other thing I'm certain of, unfortunately, is that it makes the exit of CP3, David West, D. Mase, Peja (who I just recently got excited about) and Byron Scott pretty likely. I'm especially torn up about CP3. Oh well, so goes professional sports.

[Scott D]

Call me Prophetic (http://www.soonerfans.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1369985&postcount=15)

[Newbomb Turk]

you are prophetic.

[SoonerInKCMO]

His only choices now are to move back to NOLA (likely, but certainly unattractive), move to another city like Kansas City or Vegas (PR hit for the NBA and Shinn, who then look like the ultimate carpet baggers), or sell to an OKC owner group.


KCMO Mayor Kay Barnes just wet herself with excitement. With the Sprint Center being ready in time for the season after next, I wouldn't be too terribly surprised if they do indeed end up here.

[Dio]

Call me Prophetic (http://www.soonerfans.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1369985&postcount=15)

Pathetic. Oh, you said...

;)

[Scott D]

oh and Jed, I'd absolve Stern of some of the blame...Shinn on the other hand is the pure definition of Carpetbagger. I do believe that Stern did attempt to get Shinn to sell the Hornets to local ownership when he was in Charlotte at first, then when it became clear that Shinn had burned every bridge in Charlotte, he fully backed the move to New Orleans.

[BigRedJed]

Yeah, Shinn's obviously the source of a lot of the problems here.

Back on the Sonics deal, though, I had a thought: maybe the owners could keep the WNBA team and locate it in Tulsa. I know some Tulsans might think that was an insult, but I really do think it could be an interesting idea. Lots of OKC folks might make the trip up there, but it probably wouldn't affect the NBA team's sales much. Probably just as many Tulsa residents who currently come here for NBA games would continue to do so.

Tulsa would have a relatively high-profile team for its new arena (providing it gets built). I don't think Tulsa is in any danger of getting an NBA or NHL franchise anytime soon, and this could actually allow them to build a track record that might allow it in the future.

[bri]

Dude, a WNBA team?!? How could I leave all this behind now? :D

[hurricane'bone]

you know...I had a long reply typed out....but I think I'm just going to keep my mouth shut.

[Mjcpr]

<sigh>

Tulsa's arena is being built....I keep reading the if's. It is well on the way and its financing is secure.

[Mjcpr]

See...

http://vision2025.info/camera.php?camera=arenacamera

[BigRedJed]

It's beautiful.

[BigRedJed]

Not much work going on though. Must be a funding issue.

[BigRedJed]

Wait a minute. It's 11:30 at night. Maybe that has something to do with it.

[BigRedJed]

Nope. I'm still betting on funding issue.

[BigRedJed]

By the way, I looked at the Sonics' lease with Key Arena over dinner on Tuesday night. It's incredibly bad. Seattle obviously doesn't give a **** about keeping them, or they would at least change the lease. David Stern has called it the worst in the NBA, and now I see why.