Oct 09 2008
Thunder Rolls into Oklahoma City
I don’t follow exhibition games. I wait for the regular season to begin. For instance, I’m paying attention to football and baseball while basketball and hockey go through their training camps.
However, I noticed the Oklahoma City Thunder played its first NBA exhibition game the other night. The Thunder had been the Seattle SuperSonics since 1967. After a protracted legal battle, the city of Seattle negotiated an agreement that let team owner Clay Bennett move the franchise in June rather than spend two more seasons in Seattle.
Bennett wanted to relocate the team to his hometown and NBA Commissioner David Stern helped ensure the deal was done. The NBA Board of Governors–comprised of one owner or representative per team–voted, 28-2, in favor of the move. Twenty-three votes–3/4 of the body–were needed. Most team owners wouldn’t ever consider moving to Seattle or anywhere else. However, they’ll probably want something eventually and opposing the powerful commissioner would make their future requests more difficult.
Mark Cuban, Dallas Mavericks owner and association gadfly, voted no. He’d vote against the sunrise if he thought Stern had something to do with it.
Paul Allen, Portland Trail Blazers owner, cast the other dissenting vote. He’s angry that–six years after the Vancouver Grizzlies moved to Memphis–the only other team for 1,000 miles has left. There are the Oakland-based Golden State Warriors to the south, the Utah Jazz in Salt Lake City and the Minnesota Timberwolves to the east. Allen was correct when he said every road trip would be long and difficult for his team.
SuperSonic fans were angry that “their” team was leaving town. As I’ve explained previously regarding similar situations, the squad wasn’t theirs any more than Boeing, Starbucks or the Pike Street Market is theirs just because they frequent those establishments. Another team, perhaps the Timberwolves, the Kings or the Grizzlies, will eventually move to Seattle. The market is too large.
However, Seattle will be forced to build a state-of-the-art arena first. The original Seattle Coliseum–now called KeyArena–was build in 1961 ahead of the World’s Fair the city hosted that year. The arena has undergone a couple of renovations but Bennett wanted a new building, especially considering the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks and MLB’s Seattle Mariners each got a new taxpayer-funded stadium this decade.
Residents had enough of their money going to rich owners and players so they passed an initiative that makes public funding of another such project all-but-impossible. I don’t blame Seattle for not wanting to pay for new stadiums. I live in southern California, home of no NFL teams since 1994. The same mindset works here so, again, I understand their thought process.
It’s just Seattle leaders and residents must realize the price of the NBA is a free palace for millionaire athletes and a billionaire owner. Seattle will either pay or not play.
