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Playhouse

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  1. It depends on the team. In the case of Baltimore, not really. These aren't handshake agreements. They are legally negotiated contract terms. From a corporate standpoint, Baltimore Ravens LP, the corporate entity that is the team, was founded in 1996 and fully incorporated in July 1997. It acquired all of the assets -- team members (and more importantly, contracts), coaching staff, operational executives and staff, etc. -- of the corporate organization that was the Cleveland Browns and moved them to Baltimore. A new corporate entity called Cleveland Browns Football Co LLC was formed in 1998 and it acquired all of this history, stats, records, awards, and colors of the previous Browns team. Whether you accept them or not, the NBA, the New Orleans Pelicans, and the Charlotte Hornets have legally transferred histories, stats, et al., between the two teams. The 2002 New Orleans Hornets are officially recognized as the expansion team instead of the 2004 Charlotte Bobcats. As for the Sonics and the Thunder, the legal agreement, as part of the settlement to allow the team out of their then lease at KeyArena, is that the team name, colors, logos, etc., would be transferred free of cost to a new Sonics team upon request. The trophies, banners, jerseys, etc. were left in Seattle and will also be given to the new team free of cost. The Thunder are free to use them and make copies for display, if they want. The settlement put a 5-year clock on the history, records, stats, etc. that ended in 2013, so that will likely have to be negotiated again. During that 5-year period, the agreement was that the teams would share the history. At the very least, that will likely continue. But given that the Thunder themselves identify their establishing date as 2008 and rarely reference the Sonics history, including the '79 championship, it's largely thought that the Thunder will give up the Sonics history.
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