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A rant about the Seattle SuperSonics


Luingus221

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I get it.  Seattle had a team they loved that was stolen from them by Oklahoma City.  If Hurricane Katrina never happened (not just in this sense but for the sake of people's lives,) then Oklahoma City wouldn't become a viable option for basketball and the SuperSonics probably would have never moved.  Heck, if the Hornets-at-the-time (it's really weird situation when try to talk about the two teams from a historical perspective) played somewhere else, then there's a chance they still wouldn't have moved.  But, the past is the past and we can't change it.

 

However, at this point, it's certain that you're gonna get your team back.  Every time someone brings up NBA expansion, just about everyone says Seattle.  But now, since KeyArena is getting renovations, not just for an NHL setup, but also for the basketball setup, the Sonics will be coming back in the near future.  The renovations are expected to be finished in 2020, so the earliest they can begin play is the 2020-21 season.  But, the expansion bid hasn't been placed yet, due to the fact that the higher-ups of Seattle are more concerned about hockey and the NHL than basketball and the NBA.

 

Because of these things, people need to stop putting Seattle on their expansion lists.  At this point, it's certain they're coming back, and the fans wishes have pretty much been granted.

 

Thank you for looking at my somewhat of a rant.  Please comment your feeling or your thoughts about the Seattle situation.

 

(mods sorry for posting this in the wrong thread.  please move this thread to sports in general.  also please don't hurt me.)

GOOD GRIEF I HAVEN'T BEEN HERE IN A LONG TIME

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Nothing is certain anymore when it comes to sports teams staying or setting up shop in certain cities. The biggest issue the NBA has is that they want Seattle to build a new stadium rather than simply renovate Key Arena. Most cities are now seeing that handing over the check book to pro sports teams and letting them keep all the gate receipts because they are the reason people are coming to town doesn't get them anything out of the deal. The other issue is, who comes in with them? Most leagues like even numbers when placing teams in the league to make it easy for scheduling, the NHL is the first of the big four in a long time to buck this trend, the MLS has done this several times as well. 

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Agreed nothing is certain.  Seattle to the NBA in 2018 is no different than what LA was to the NFL prior to the Rams relocation or what Tampa Bay was to baseball in the 90s,

 

Existing franchises will always seek out the relocation threat to boost their leverage on their current venue/city.

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My NBA expansion list: Buddy, you know I gotta go with Seattle at number one. They were a great NBA city, they're renovating Key Arena, they're a growing huge tech market, and the league moved their team to OKC for dumb reasons. Gun to my head my expansion list has Seattle at the top and you know what I'd name them? The Supersonics. 

 

Here's a concept: https://www.behance.net/gallery/54865065/Seattle-Supersonics-Concept

 

 

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49 minutes ago, MJWalker45 said:

Nothing is certain anymore when it comes to sports teams staying or setting up shop in certain cities. The biggest issue the NBA has is that they want Seattle to build a new stadium rather than simply renovate Key Arena. Most cities are now seeing that handing over the check book to pro sports teams and letting them keep all the gate receipts because they are the reason people are coming to town doesn't get them anything out of the deal. The other issue is, who comes in with them? Most leagues like even numbers when placing teams in the league to make it easy for scheduling, the NHL is the first of the big four in a long time to buck this trend, the MLS has done this several times as well. 

This is why certainty is rare.  As AstroBull points out, LA went a long time without a team.  It probably served the NFL's bilking of public funds as a threat more than it served them as a marked to place a team.

 

Seattle seems like a good NBA market.  It's become a huge area with a lot of money and I think they embrace their NBA history. That said, right now, leagues want you to play ball and issues like the bold potentially could derail things.

 

We're sort of entering an uncertain time in arena building.  Public budgets are tight, public funding is becoming less popular, and sports themselves are becoming less popular.  Thus far, the teams and leagues have pretty much been able to get what they want but I won't be blown away if public bodies start turning them down soon.

Disclaimer: If this comment is about an NBA uniform from 2017-2018 or later, do not constitute a lack of acknowledgement of the corporate logo to mean anything other than "the corporate logo is terrible and makes the uniform significantly worse."

 

BADGERS TWINS VIKINGS TIMBERWOLVES WILD

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You could have said the same thing about the NHL and Quebec City and five years ago.

 

People act like the Sonics move was akin to the Browns leaving Cleveland. No. Seattle was one of the most forgettable franchises in the NBA, and fan interest was lukewarm at best. Until they were threatened with losing the thing they took for granted, of course.

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7 minutes ago, who do you think said:

You could have said the same thing about the NHL and Quebec City and five years ago.

Quebec City is still on that list, just more of a true relocation threat if the right situation arises.  Expansion to Quebec is likely not an option.

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It’s certain? It was certain a few years ago that the Kings were coming to town.  It was certain that a team with 41 years of history wouldn’t get ripped from the city.  It was certain in ’95 that former NBA commissioner David Stern called the newly-renovated Key Arena a “beautiful building.”  The only certainty in this story is that Seattle’s first professional sports franchise, easily one of the most exciting tickets in town at the time, was taken away from its fanbase.  And there was nothing fans could do about it.

 

It’s been just over ten years since they played their last game here, and the whole situation still pisses me off.

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"I secretly hope people like that hydroplane into a wall." - Dennis "Big Sexy" Ittner

POTD - 7/3/14

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2 hours ago, Luingus221 said:

the higher-ups of Seattle are more concerned about hockey and the NHL than basketball and the NBA

 

1 hour ago, MJWalker45 said:

The biggest issue the NBA has is that they want Seattle to build a new stadium rather than simply renovate Key Arena

 

Both of these statements are false.

 

EDIT: The first one is half true, I guess. It should have the words "for now" appended though.

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1 minute ago, TaylorMade said:

 

 

Both of these statements are false.

I've heard multiple statements that the NBA would want Seattle in a new stadium over a renovated Key Arena. If this is incorrect I'm good with that but I hadn't heard differently. 

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Just now, MJWalker45 said:

I've heard multiple statements that the NBA would want Seattle in a new stadium over a renovated Key Arena. If this is incorrect I'm good with that but I hadn't heard differently. 

 

That was before OVG came along. Tim Leiweke has said multiple times that they are doing everything at KeyArena in lockstep with Adam Silver and the NBA. 

 

“I don't do anything without the approval, direction, input or blessing of commissioners Adam Silver and Gary Bettman.” 

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The Sonics are not coming back. Unless you've heard that Ok City is moving. The NBA may be coming back, and they may name the team "SuperSonics" but the original team is in Ok City and from what I've heard, they're not moving back. (Sorry, pet peeve of mine, like people who claim the Browns history includes Jim Brown and Brian Sipe, though the team they played for is now the Baltimore Ravens)

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1 hour ago, McCarthy said:

My NBA expansion list: Buddy, you know I gotta go with Seattle at number one. They were a great NBA city, they're renovating Key Arena, they're a growing huge tech market, and the league moved their team to OKC for dumb reasons. Gun to my head my expansion list has Seattle at the top and you know what I'd name them? The Supersonics. 

 

Here's a concept: https://www.behance.net/gallery/54865065/Seattle-Supersonics-Concept

 

 

 

Did Stugotz kidnap McCarthy? 

 

 

 

Also, something a lot of people don’t really take into account, is just how much the city of Seattle has changed since the original Sonics have moved. In terms of development, it might as well be another planet today. Seattle was, sort of in the grand scheme of things when it comes to population and desire to live in a certain area, relatively unknown back then. Just in the last five years it’s become one of the most expensive cities in the west coast, if not the entire country. Hard to not want to capitalize on that one. 

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On 11/19/2012 at 7:23 PM, oldschoolvikings said:
She’s still half convinced “Chris Creamer” is a porn site.)
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I don't doubt that Seattle has experienced a great deal of growth in recent years, but characterizing it as a backwater as recently as 2008 doesn't feel accurate. I know there was a time when Seattle was written off the way Detroit is now, but that was almost 50 years ago.

 

Anyway, the Supersonics never ever ever should have moved, the Hornets should have remained in Oklahoma City and Stern should have protected the market for Basketball Reasons.

♫ oh yeah, board goes on, long after the thrill of postin' is gone ♫

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No, I’m not trying to say it was “backwater” or anything. After all it’s still a huge metro area. It’s just that Seattle went from being pretty “out there” in terms of how it was viewed (I think it’s actually the major metro market that’s furthest from any other other major in the country) to being more “hip” and kind of the “in” place. 

 

Major companies like Microsoft, Amazon, and REI have helped that, too, but still.

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On 11/19/2012 at 7:23 PM, oldschoolvikings said:
She’s still half convinced “Chris Creamer” is a porn site.)
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1 hour ago, the admiral said:

Anyway, the Supersonics never ever ever should have moved,

 

Correct.

 

1 hour ago, the admiral said:

 the Hornets should have remained in Oklahoma City

 

Nope.

 

 

It is what it is.

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Seattle will have an NBA team again but people have to be extremely patient and in this day in age it's pretty much impossible. Nobody can really pinpoint when but just to throw a number out there, I would say 10 years from now (2028) an NBA team will be playing in Seattle wether it be expansion or relocation.

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The problem with the NBA right now is that there are very few teams in markets that have arena/market situations that are at the point where relocation is necessary.

 

The most likely scenario, despite all the public statements to the contrary, would be if the Clippers' Inglewood arena gets torpedoed by MSG's lawsuit and Ballmer decides to move the team home, especially with the current rebuilt in the post Paul/Blake era and with the Lakers on an upswing.

 

The Pelicans may be another possibility with the post-Katrina market size and the remaining to be seen fallout from Benson's death.

 

A third, less likely scenario would possibly be Phoenix if the replacement to Talking Stick doesn't get figured out and if the on-court product continues to flounder.

 

Sacramento has a new arena.  Milwaukee's about to open a new arena.  Scratch off those two.

 

So, if you go the expansion route, who else goes in to even out the schedule?  Las Vegas (they have a WNBA team now)?  Kansas City/Louisville (with direct NCAA competition)? St. Louis (with an aging arena in a town that lost two NFL teams)?  Tampa?  Pittsburgh?  San Diego (with no arena in sight)?  

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On 4/17/2018 at 5:08 PM, LMU said:

 

 

So, if you go the expansion route, who else goes in to even out the schedule?  Las Vegas (they have a WNBA team now)?  Kansas City/Louisville (with direct NCAA competition)? St. Louis (with an aging arena in a town that lost two NFL teams)?  Tampa?  Pittsburgh?  San Diego (with no arena in sight)?  

 

Tampa's a hard nope.  Even if Orlando wasn't in our backyard, Tampa isn't a 4-sport town and basketball isn't popular here.

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