Wow- Supersonics leaving Seattle.
 

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3471503

Done deal.

I hate this kind of stuff. It doesn't seem right that fans of a team can wake up one morning and have their team be packed up and gone.

Sorry, Seattle. I can't imagine OKC is a better place to play than Seattle.

Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue is the nation's 15th largest metro area with 3.3 million people, while greater Oklahoma City ranks 44th with 1.2 million people.

What gives?

I wonder if the promise of a brand new arena has something to do with it.

They've been gone for a long time. This was just about the buyout of the last two years on the lease. They weren't going to stay regardless of the outcome of the trial. We didn't want the Oklahoma Prarie Scooners here. We just wanted their money and to keep the logo, etc. Had the judge specifically enforced the settlement, there would still have been a settlement like this. It was a show trial.

As I understand it, the team didn't have any fans left. My bro-in-law lives out there, and he and Seattle have both repeated their utter disdain for the team.

Honestly, I don't think they'll find much success in Oklahoma past the first season, but they do have the advantage here of being the only show in town.

Attendance was getting pretty poor in Seattle, and Oklahoma provided pretty good attendance when the Hornets were here for two years while they rebuilt from Katrina. I think it's just a money thing.

What soured the fan base on the Sonics? The losing, the arena fight, or both? When I was there in the early to mid 90's, the Sonics were huge.

Probably the losing, and that piece of shit owner from Oklahoma and David Stern. I think getting shaken down for huge sums to build football and baseball stadiums hurt too. Also, George Karl had a way of sucking all the fun out of it even when they were winning.

That's too bad. I remember some great Jazz/Sonics battles back in the day.

I don't get the Oklahoma City move either. There are plenty of other cities that could support an NBA team...but why the push for Oklahoma City?