Sonics moving out

[BarbaraGordon]

Originally Posted by TripletDaddy

Now that we have all that out of the way, I think it is a mistake for the Sonics to leave Seattle. They will regret it.

Absolutely. They can hang out here if they want, and even play a few games, but unless they wear crimson, no one will care.

[TripletDaddy]

Originally Posted by BarbaraGordon

Absolutely. They can hang out here if they want, and even play a few games, but unless they wear crimson, no one will care.

Wow, I didn't even think about the OU factor. I was only playing off the small-market issue.

The Sonics are dead.

[JohnnyLingo]

Originally Posted by surfah33

I'm with DDD here. I think it's silly to suggest that an owner of a company should pay for all of the facilities in which they house their business. The fact of the matter is that taxpayers subsidize all types of businesses. Schools, hospitals, etc. I think a truer statement would be that taxes should not be used to fund something purely for entertainment value like a sports team.

I think it's unfortunate that Seattlites feel as they do. It will be regrettable, much like the Los Angelinos feel about losing a football franchise.

What are you talking about? You use schools and hospitals as examples of business? Yeah, they are exactly the same as McDonald's or Walmart.

[SeattleUte]

Originally Posted by TripletDaddy

So, just to be clear, you are ok with this?

OUTA HERE SONICS!!!!!!!!!!! OUUUT!!! GET THE HELL OUT NOW!!!

I've always been more of a college basketball fan but truth is the NBA is such a POS compared to the NFL or MLB anyway. LA doesn't have all three, why should we need it all?

[Surfah]

Originally Posted by JohnnyLingo

What are you talking about? You use schools and hospitals as examples of business? Yeah, they are exactly the same as McDonald's or Walmart.

You're an idiot. There are businesses all over the country who set up shop where they did because cities enticed them to with all kinds of benefits including subsidies from taxpayers or other tax breaks.

[TripletDaddy]

Originally Posted by SeattleUte

OUTA HERE SONICS!!!!!!!!!!! OUUUT!!! GET THE HELL OUT NOW!!!

I've always been more of a college basketball fan but truth is the NBA is such a POS compared to the NFL or MLB anyway. LA doesn't have all three, why should we need it all?

You do realize that if the Sonics leave, so do the Storm? No more WNBA for you.

[JohnnyLingo]

Originally Posted by surfah33

You're an idiot. There are businesses all over the country who set up shop where they did because cities enticed them to with all kinds of benefits including subsidies from taxpayers or other tax breaks.

I'm still hesitant to equate schools and hospitals with Barnes and Noble. Call me an idiot if you want, but I believe schools and hospitals serve an important function in society and are very different from your average business.

Has anyone read this? A collection of e-mails from Seattle residents who are pissed about the whole situation. Some of the more interesting points:

While the city of Seattle is not blameless in this situation, Bennett, McClendon and their cronies are a pack of lying thieves who never, ever intended to honor their contract to make an effort to stay in the Seattle area. Funny how they demand a $500 million arena from Seattle but not from OKC, where a $92 million Ford Center is somehow a better option than a $100 million, 13-year-old KeyArena with a $200 million remodel.

Clay Bennett's proposed arena was $500 million. Put into perspective, Seattle has built both a baseball stadium with a retractable roof and an football stadium engineered for incredible acoustical advantages for MUCH cheaper. Football and baseball have a larger field of play and seat more than twice as many fans as basketball does (assuming it was Clay's intention to field a team good enough to fill an arena). Why so much more expensive? Obviously it was his intention to create an unfeasible goal (this isn't even getting into the proposed location 15 miles south of the city and the nearly non-existent time frame). Being wildly unreasonable allowed Bennett to get the "no" he wanted from the city.

For some reason there are people out there who think that the people of Seattle aren't doing enough for their team. Can you please tell everyone that if we have to put up a new arena, then that means we have set a precedent that an NBA team needs a new arena every 13 years? This makes no sense. Why doesn't David Stern or the general public realize this?

Just over a year ago, I went to visit Seattle with my sister, who was looking at the University of Washington. The hotel we stayed at was a block from the KeyArena, and the first night we were there just happened to be Iverson's second game as a Nugget, and I talked my sister into going to the game last minute, because (a) I had never seen Iverson play in person, and (b) I wanted to see if basketball was truly dead in Seattle.


When we went over to the Arena, there was a line so long it stretched halfway to the Space Needle. This was basically at game time and we soon found out the game sold out. Lucky for us, we were able to find tickets anyway for a soldout game. Even if it was Iverson, turning away hundreds and maybe thousands of potential ticket buyers is like nothing I've ever seen attending Bucks games in Milwaukee. We went to our seats, which happened to be in the last row, and it didn't even seem like we had bad seats. And even though the Sonics sucked last season, the fans were completely behind their team the whole game. It was a great time. And it didn't stop there. Normally, my sister could care less about the NBA. After spending a week in Seattle, she was a Sonics fan. Hell, I almost was. I hate the NBA for this. The Sonics need to stay in Seattle. Period.

Obviously these e-mails only portray one side of the issue, but it sure sounds to me like they're getting screwed.

[TripletDaddy]

Originally Posted by JohnnyLingo

Obviously these e-mails only portray one side of the issue, but it sure sounds to me like they're getting screwed.

So they are getting screwed because they don't want to pay the asking price for something? As a consumer, we get screwed because some non-essentials and luxury items are really expensive? This isnt food and shelter we are talking about it. It is entertainment. Many of the fiscal conservatives on this board are starting to sound like socialists all of a sudden.

If it costs too much, don't buy it. If you want to keep your team, pony up your dough. If not, then you are getting exactly what you are paying for.

The precedent has already been set.....the public generally helps pay for arenas. To claim that owners and teams will start building new arenas every 13 years is nonsense.

Also, why it is not feasible to raise $500MM?

[Detroitdad]

Originally Posted by SeattleUte

OUTA HERE SONICS!!!!!!!!!!! OUUUT!!! GET THE HELL OUT NOW!!!

I've always been more of a college basketball fan but truth is the NBA is such a POS compared to the NFL or MLB anyway. LA doesn't have all three, why should we need it all?

The pain that you are feeling is easy to see from your posts.

[hyrum]

Originally Posted by TripletDaddy

You do realize that if the Sonics leave, so do the Storm? No more WNBA for you.

Not true. FWIW, the Storm was split off.
http://sports.espn.go.com/wnba/news/story?id=3185867

That's right, Seattle will likely lose the Sonics, but will keep the Storm. Doubly cursed.