Why do they want out?

Let me just say, from a bias stand-point, that Seattle is a great city and do have a great fan base for that city.  The bottom line to this whole moving/not moving comes down to the previous owner of Seattle losing money on the team and then the city not passing the vote to help pay for the team/up-grades.  PERIOD!  I understand that this does not change the fans point of view of how much they like the team and want them to stay - but it is strickly a business move - from one owner to another owner now.  The new owner believes enough in Oklahoma that he thinks it will work and even generate money.  Something that alot of people outside of Oklahoma does not know is that Oklahoma has one of, if not the best, sports talk radio in the country.  Oklahoma City is a HUGE sports related city, but the problem has been, it's only been about 1 thing - OU football.  Ever since the Hornets came to town, that perspective has changed and is continuing to change.  Again, not exactly what the fans from Seattle want to hear, but would you want to hold on to something that was cause you to lose money??? 

One good thing that I've been hearing about is the fact that I believe that seattle will retain the rights to the "Sonics" and OKC will need to come up with a new name.  Just what I have been hearing . . . 

Simply_texan, you are absolutely correct.

According to a co-owner - this was the intention all the way - to aquire the team and move it to Oklahoma City. Shame on them!

Here is what has happened. 2 owners ago Key arena was rebuilt but the owner at the time did not want the possibility of the NHL coming in and taking some of his supporters so they rebuilt the arena with fewer seat then they should have. This was less than 10 years ago. New owner comes in and buys the team but says the newly rebuilt arena is not big enough and there is not enough luxury boxes so he loses money. Sells it to the current scumbag...I mean owner who has no intentions of staying in Seattle.

First thing he does is moves the team from the sport radio station it was on to a left wing station called the Truth. Seattle is a very liberal city so in general the fans would not have liked this. They got rid of Kevin Calabro who is a hall of fame annoucer and now in this last year traded away Ray Allen who the fans love.

He is crying because he wants a new stadium but we are still paying for the rebuild of the last stadium. This really is a text book example of a team owner holding the city hostage. He cares nothing about Seattle or the history of the sonics who have been supported well in the city.

Sorry but OKC you can have the Sonics. I don't recognized them anymore anyway.

Why does the ownership of the Seattle SuperSonics want out of Seattle?  Do they have a fairly decent fan base out there who supports the team?

You need to pay more attention. An Oklahoma guy owns the team. And if you did pay attention to the NBA. You would know that when New Orleans played there. It was almost a sell out at every game.

OKC will support the team. There is no doubt about that. Just ask the Hornets. OKC took them in and tried to keep them actually. But the N.O. owners wanted to take it back to N.O. I guess they like having only 7k people show up at their games. They might have more now that they are winning.

I think it is funny how all of these so called Seattle fans come out when they are about to lose their team. Where were all of you at the games?

And Seattle is gonna be able to keep the name "Super Sonics"

Im sure OKC doesnt want to look like Utah. OKC Super Sonics just doesnt work. Hopefully they dont use something stupid or cliche. Like the arena football team they use to have, OKC Wranglers.

It has to do with a few main factors :

1) they play in an arena that is old, and doesn't have a whole lot of money-making amenities (restauraunts, etc...) that can offset operations costs

2) Seattle city and county council members aren't being very helpful in providing public funding, or help with a more profitable arena (see the Orlando Magic situation for how huge of an effect this can have)

3) The owner is from Oklahoma, and as he saw with the New Orleans Hornets experiment, sees that Oklahoma City has potential to be a popular market.

I know it sucks for the fans, but Seattle should learn from this and elect leaders that will be more helpful next time as a city to prevent issues like this from happening with there next team (should they eventually get a franchise again for the NBA)

In all honestly, it sounds like the Sonics fans need to take it up with the Seattle city council or their state officials.  Clay Bennett laid out the guidelines as to what it would take to keep the Sonics in Seattle.  The proposal was shot down.  OKC is willing to give them what they want . . . period.

I completely understand the Sonics fans being upset about the team leaving.  However, you really need to place the blame where it belongs.

Am I going to deny that Bennett and Co. had always hoped to bring an NBA team to OKC?  No.  However, the opportunity was given to Seattle and the city failed the fans.

PEACE!!

The reason Seattle fans are very frustrated with Clay Bennett, is one of many, is that he wants us to build a $500 million arena without even letting any elected officials know about the amount that he and his cohorts are willing to pay.  I would guess that it is little to no money.  Too bad that they were so stupid and overpaid for the franchise, but the way things are now, you will not be able to get any free agents willing to play in OKC or Seattle until it is moved.  There will be constant drafting of players that are being developed, but not much better than a college team, so I think that OKC will lose interest within a couple years too.  The coach does not seem to be getting to his players and they only play hard on a few select games after getting rid of the veteran players and putting too much weight on Durant & Green. 

I agree that the state and local officials are idiots and have not helped in the situation.  But when it is an out-of-state person who can control the media from their own hometown and spin things however they want, how can we trust them?  There are local owners who would take over the renovation of Key Arena who are Costco, Microsoft presidents that could help with promotion of the NBA, but of course they are told that the team is not for sale.  Wouldn't our officials be irresponsible just giving a blank check to just anyone?  Kind of like selling your soul to the devil and not knowing the final cost.

Clay and his co-owners have just stripped the team and helped out Sam Presti's other buddies to help them win and bring further apathy from Seattle and then complain that we are not supporting them.  I watch some games on TV, but I just can't justify spending any money on such an inconsistent product.    I used to get a partial season ticket and have been a fan of the Sonics since 1968, the 2nd year of their existence, so it is very frustrating that David Stern has taken the part of a usurper and not tried to work things out with the state.  David Stern is just getting out of touch and expecting palaces and having to rebuild every 10-15 years. 

Seattle had thier chance to keep the team.

The move out of Seattle was in the works way before Clay bought the team.

When the Hornets were here in OKC the arena was rocking nightly, just ask some of the teams that came to play in OKC. 

All of the Hornets players wanted to stay here as well as Byron Scott.

The Hornets owner who likes to talk out of both sides of his mouth played both sides of the fence but if you had a truth serum I bet he would have wanted to stay in OKC as well.

I think OKC will sell out just about every game for the first 3-5 seasons win or lose.  If they start winning the place will be sold out virtually every game.

DFW POKE,

OBVIOUSLY YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOUR TALKING ABOUT.

How dare you challenge the Seattle fans and how we feel about our Sonics.  At least 70% of the seats are filled at all times in Seattle, maybe not now, now that we know they are abandoning us.  But we made it to the 2nd round of the playoffs three years ago, we were a good team for a long time in the 90s and would have had a championship (2nd one) if not for a man named Michael Jordan.  We were the only team ever to beat Jordans Bulls two games in a row in the finals, and I remember being a 12 year old kid, going to the arena watching the game on the big screen that took place in Chicago, yet the arena was still sold out.

Dont even think to put the blame of the teams movement on the fan base, its clear as day why the team is moving and what clay bennets intentions were all along.  If this is some way of relieving yourself of the guilt of taking one of the best Citys in Americas team, then your a complete moron who needs to find some better excuses...and dont bother with the new arena bit, if you have ever been to Key Arena you would know it beats out 50% of the NBAs other arenas.

OKC sold out because they have never had a team before, wait a few years when your team absolutely sucks and then see how loyal of a fan base YOU have.  I hope the best for Durant and Green, I think they are great players, your arrogance makes me think twice about ever stepping foot in OK.

PEACE and have fun with a sub par team