NBA to Take Over Hornets?

[mania]

Except... Seattle hasn't really "supported" an NBA team since the 90s. Were never worst in the NBA-bad, but still, a team that finishes 23rd-25th in the attendance standings most years (and this was before the OKC move) isn't exactly a team screaming out for a second chance. In 2004-2005, they won the division... and managed to climb all the way to 21st.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

Except... Seattle hasn't really "supported" an NBA team since the 90s. Were never worst in the NBA-bad, but still, a team that finishes 23rd-25th in the attendance standings most years (and this was before the OKC move) isn't exactly a team screaming out for a second chance. In 2004-2005, they won the division... and managed to climb all the way to 21st.

Not trying to be a market apologist here, but I wonder if attendance figures are a function of arena size or percentage of seats filled, or what.

I thought that Key Arena was the smallest arena when it had a team, but I could be wrong.

It's a good question though. Any new team gets an attendance bump. Would Seattle support a loser? I don't know.

[Camden Crazy]

Give the Sonics back or GTFO, NBA.

[The_Admiral]

They should never have been in the position to need a second chance anyway. As you may have seen from the reports trickling out, Shinn was trying like hell--with the support of fellow owners--to cut and run on New Orleans, only to be forced from above into staying put. Had Stern had the common sense to let Shinn stay in Oklahoma City or sell to people who would keep the Hornets in Oklahoma City, we wouldn't be talking about Seattle as a failed market, which nobody of intelligence had been doing in the first place.

Key Arena was the smallest building in the league, if I'm not mistaken, and doing a ranking of NBA attendance is kind of useless and disingenuous anyway because of the way it stratifies. Basically, the way it works out is that you have the Pistons and Bulls trading first and second in a class of their own. Then you have the Lakers, Spurs, Cavaliers with LeBron, so forth. Then you have pretty much everyone else, and then you have, like, the Hornets and Nets. The Supersonics had middling to good attendance, just like almost everybody. Not a failure.

[The_Admiral]

So looking at Seattle's "worst at best" 2005 attendance, they averaged 16,475, which put them at 21st overall, but their 96.5% capacity put them at 7th overall, which is highly respectable. A lot of that is a function of Key Arena being small. When the Bulls average 20,204 and are still reporting 93% capacity, what are you going to do? But having an arena that "only" seats 17,000ish isn't the worst thing in the world, anyway, as it keeps supply low and--in conjunction with a team that isn't being engineered to fail so as to facilitate a move to Hooterville--demand high. The notion that every city in America can, should, and must have an arena that seats 19,500 for hockey and over 20,000 for basketball has been a highly deleterious one, especially considering that it's taxpayers who most often foot the bills. Irony of ironies, the Palace of Auburn Hills and United Center, which sort of wrote the book on the modern indoor sports facility, were privately financed.

[Jimmy!]

Would Seattle support a loser? I don't know.

Their last year in Seattle (a 20-62 season) they were averaging over 13,000 a game (78% capacity). Not bad for an ownership group that did a lot of work to set this team up to fail.

Would Seattle support a loser? I think fans in this city would come out in droves to see any NBA team come here.

[MadmanLA]

So looking at Seattle's "worst at best" 2005 attendance, they averaged 16,475, which put them at 21st overall, but their 96.5% capacity put them at 7th overall, which is highly respectable. A lot of that is a function of Key Arena being small. When the Bulls average 20,204 and are still reporting 93% capacity, what are you going to do? But having an arena that "only" seats 17,000ish isn't the worst thing in the world, anyway, as it keeps supply low and--in conjunction with a team that isn't being engineered to fail so as to facilitate a move to Hooterville--demand high. The notion that every city in America can, should, and must have an arena that seats 19,500 for hockey and over 20,000 for basketball has been a highly deleterious one, especially considering that it's taxpayers who most often foot the bills. Irony of ironies, the Palace of Auburn Hills and United Center, which sort of wrote the book on the modern indoor sports facility, were privately financed.

Key Arena's basketball seating capacity is 17,072, which through a lot of its life as NBA facility, puts them right behind ARCO Arena in Sacramento (17,317) in seating capacity. During the brief period that the Sonics played at the Kingdome, they were among (if not an outright #1) in league attendance, averaging 20,000 fans, and this is when NBA popularity was at an all-time low.

As far as the Hornets, I've always believed that they should stayed in Oklahoma City in the first place...the support and infrastructure was there. I don't know if it would have prevented the Sonics from leaving Seattle, but it probably would have made it more unlikely for Bennett and his cronies to buy them. It's just a matter of when the Hornets will leave New Orleans, not if.

[The_Admiral]

As far as the Hornets, I've always believed that they should stayed in Oklahoma City in the first place...the support and infrastructure was there.

Yeah, you and everyone else and EVEN THE GUY THAT OWNED THE HORNETS

You pressed me to sell the team . . . You even told me that owners were asking you, "What's wrong with George - why doesn't he sell his team?" . . . We need to immediately begin laying the foundation for what I believe will be great relationships in Oklahoma City . . . I believe there are several options that we have, none of which involve returning to New Orleans.

And yeah, Crewcut Clay wouldn't have been trying to buy the Supersonics with Aubrey McClendon's (now erstwhile) money if he had become a minority partner in the Oklahoma City Hornets (and hadn't Bennett and McClendon already been "underwriters" of the OKC seasons as the "Pioneer Partners" or something?) or bought them from Shinn outright.

[DustDevil61]

Well, we have this now:

New Orleans Attorney Interested in Minority Stake of Hornets

Mind you, it's only a 10% share, but could it have some sway in a majority ownership change?

[The_Admiral]

Who has the other $270 million?

[Ez Street]

The President of Sporting Kansas City has already stated that at this time they are not interested in pursuing an NBA franchise.

That's too bad, we could have ended up with this.....

LULZ.

[rebelx]

It'll be extremely interesting to see how all of this unfolds.

As so many others on here have stated, the team should have stayed in OKC, PR issues be damned. Seriously, did the NBA really believe that a team that had only been in New Orleans for three seasons meant that much to the city's residents (who had already rejected the Jazz in the late '70's) and that somehow, the team would be some beacon of hope for the city that the Saints weren't? I mean, come on! Sometimes political correctness can be excessive, and it certainly was in that case.

If the Hornets do end up going to Seattle, it will obviously be the end of the franchise as we know it. Rest assured, the citizens of Seattle will settle for nothing less than the Sonics; there's a damn good reason they struck the deal to keep that franchise history and colors. And frankly, if I'm faced with a choice between the Hornets and the Sonics, I'll take the Sonics and their much richer legacy any day of the week. That doesn't mean I wouldn't miss the Hornets. I've liked their logos and colors (which, although they've changed, aren't all THAT different from before) since kidhood, and even though they've never managed to reach a conference finals, they've had some very good players and competitive seasons over the years. They certainly don't have the moribund track record that a team like, say, the Clippers do. All things considered, I would prefer that a team like the Grizzlies move to Seattle and become the new Sonics. The Griz really have no legacy to speak of at the present time, and who would really miss them all that much? (I'll probably discuss this more in another topic I'm planning.)

If they move to a place like KC, they'll almost certainly keep the name. I could get used to the Kansas City Hornets. I really get the feeling the team would do pretty well there, considering how ardently the city has supported the sh**ty-ass Royals these last couple decades, as well as stuck with the Chiefs through thick and thin (and there's been a lot of thin, or at least mediocrity, since the early '90's, really).

[IceCap]

The President of Sporting Kansas City has already stated that at this time they are not interested in pursuing an NBA franchise.

That's too bad, we could have ended up with this.....

LULZ.

That MIGHT have made the whole Wizards rebrand worth it

[dfwabel]

Well, we have this now:

New Orleans Attorney Interested in Minority Stake of Hornets

Mind you, it's only a 10% share, but could it have some sway in a majority ownership change?

Well, the State of Louisiana is out in terms of a subsidy.

[Mac the Knife]

I don't know much about what cities would be good markets for the NBA, or other sports. But I always wondered why Pittsburgh doesn't have an NBA team. Are they too overly football/hockey crazed?

After searching, I found an article. It states

the Pistons could move to Pittsburgh because Pittsburgh is just about done with its state-of-the-art $321 million Consol Energy Center.

Don't mean to change the subject, but is there any truth to this?

Does this hint that there could be an NBA team in Pittsburgh?

If so, why not be the Pittsburgh Hornets, and adopt the common black and yellow theme?

Pittsburgh doesn't have basketball because the market can't support all four major sports. The Penguins have gone bankrupt twice, the Steelers are beloved, and even as bad as they are, the Pirates aren't gonna sweat a pro basketball team coming to town all that much.

[rebelx]

So Gov. Jindahl and Mayor Landrieu met the other day, as most of you probably heard. They say they want to help the Hornets stay in N.O. Wonder if they're really serious about providing subsidies or not. The state already did this for the Saints, but sports fans in the city were more interested in them both pre- and post-Katrina, anyway. Are the Hornets really worth it for the state and city?

[dfwabel]

So Gov. Jindahl and Mayor Landrieu met the other day, as most of you probably heard. They say they want to help the Hornets stay in N.O. Wonder if they're really serious about providing subsidies or not. The state already did this for the Saints, but sports fans in the city were more interested in them both pre- and post-Katrina, anyway. Are the Hornets really worth it for the state and city?

Louisiana, like some other states, has a budget shortfall which needs to be resolved. In their case it is $1.6B.

Though Jindal said he has no plans to take funds from higher education and health care to help the Hornets, he said the state is willing to be creative to help make the team more financially viable.

"We asked 'Are they looking for something in the short-term or long?' and that's something they have not decided yet, '' Jindal said. "There are other challenges facing the league. They got some labor uncertainty and the outcome of those negotiations can certainly impact what happens here in Louisiana.''

Also, there is a portion of their cable audience cannot see any games. Either they are not carried by local cable in relation to where they live, or they do not have NBA league pass.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

From our local online newspaper:

McGinn: Seattle 'open to talking to anyone' about NBA team

Mayor Mike McGinn, an avid pickup basketball player himself, says the city would "love to talk" to any parties interested in bringing an NBA team back to Seattle.

There's speculation that the troubled New Orleans Hornets, which was just purchased by the league, could soon be on the move. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer recently sold about $1.4 billion in stock and is thought by many to be interested in buying an NBA franchise to move back to the Seattle area.

Jet City has been without a team since new owners moved the the Sonics to Oklahoma City in 2008.

"We've sat down, internally, to review what happened last time when the team left...We weren't just looking at what happened previously, but what we think we could do moving forward, what are our range of options," McGinn told reporters during a press briefing Monday. "We're open to talking to anyone in the private sector that's looking at (bringing a team to Seattle). If there's a real proposal out there to bring them here, we'd love to talk."

But McGinn noted that at this point there's nothing tangible to work toward.

"Primarily, it's just speculation in the press. So, we're preparing ourselves if that preparation turns into something real...Nobody's approached us to say, 'What can you guys do?'...We'd put any option on the table if someone came to talk to us. But we do have to look at, how much, and what's the return to us."

This is kind of good news for Seattle basketball fans, except that current mayor Mike McGinn is a buffoon and isn't liked by anyone outside of his increasingly narrow base (due to issues that go well beyond basketball...). He doesn't have a plan here, but it's nice to hear that he's kinda, sorta thinking about being in position to go after a team, should one become available.

[Mings]

So Gov. Jindahl and Mayor Landrieu met the other day, as most of you probably heard. They say they want to help the Hornets stay in N.O. Wonder if they're really serious about providing subsidies or not. The state already did this for the Saints, but sports fans in the city were more interested in them both pre- and post-Katrina, anyway. Are the Hornets really worth it for the state and city?

Louisiana, like some other states, has a budget shortfall which needs to be resolved. In their case it is $1.6B.

Though Jindal said he has no plans to take funds from higher education and health care to help the Hornets, he said the state is willing to be creative to help make the team more financially viable.

"We asked 'Are they looking for something in the short-term or long?' and that's something they have not decided yet, '' Jindal said. "There are other challenges facing the league. They got some labor uncertainty and the outcome of those negotiations can certainly impact what happens here in Louisiana.''

Also, there is a portion of their cable audience cannot see any games. Either they are not carried by local cable in relation to where they live, or they do not have NBA league pass.

Yeah Jindal is a dirty liar. The first thing that gets cut in this state is higher education. Second thing is healthcare. Plus it always takes a special session to balance the budget down here.

As far as the cable thing, I'm not sure about that. All of the systems here broadcast CST which covers the majority of Hornets games.

[The_Admiral]

I heard there was one cable system north of Lake Pontchartrain that was holding out on Cox (snort).