http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2017083844_arena24m.html

I hope they get a team honestly.

Whew, I'm the first to comment. Let me post something controversial before this discussion takes off. :LolLolLol

This is not good for Seattle to have if this ever succeed. If, by whatsoever unfortunate circumstance, that Seattle do somehow (and extremely mysteriously) get another NBA team, this can only be good for one thing...and only one. More like for whom...the location, specifically. As soon Seattle fail miserably on their faces with legs over their backs, the rescued team will relocate to Oklahoma. Yes, this is the ever-oh-so-famous state once took now-known-as-OKC Thunder from Seattle. Which city? Tulsa, of course. Neat, eh?

We'll have to think of a name....something matching to OKC Thunder. Tulsa Bolts? Tulsa Quakers?

Is there a state with two NBA teams?

Thunder, the team being relocated here is in no small part due to the ownership group being entirely Oklahoma based bought the team like one year before it was moved. If Seattle does get a new arena their market is more financially viable than half of the current NBA teams. I disagree with the article in it is unlikely to see the Hornets moving as that would be a embarrassment to the NBA for abandoning it after a major disaster and the league chose to take over operations and keep the team their rather than work a deal with parties in other cities with interest in a team. The more likely candidates for moving seem to be Charlotte Bobcats, Sacramento Kings, Minnesota Timberwolves and depending on if having a deep playoff run helps attendance Memphis Grizzlies.

Thunder doesn't see my comments so will someone tell him that yes, there are a few states with 2 NBA teams and Californa and Texas even have 3 teams.

And Snowman, I think the best bet for a team relocating to Seattle would be the Sacramento Kings.

Thunder doesn't see my comments so will someone tell him that yes, there are a few states with 2 NBA teams and Californa and Texas even have 3 teams.

And Snowman, I think the best bet for a team relocating to Seattle would be the Sacramento Kings.

With them almost leaving last year a definite possibility, in several cases an ownership change would be likely preceding a move so it just depends if a local or Seattle group makes a better offer and if the owner(s) is(are) willing to be known for losing the team.

If their market is better than ours, they shouldn't have a problem in the first place. Yes, I know everything about our team. Just saying, Seattle has a huge potential to fail again and someone in Oklahoma can bring it to Tulsa.

Seattle is a much better sports market than OKC, hence why they had 3 teams for the longest time. The reason the Sonics started to falter was largely because they began to stink and largely because the city had just funded major public projects for their other pro-sports teams, leaving the citizens burned out on subsidizing them. If the arena got built back then, the Thunder wouldn't exist today.

When they were sold to Bennett and Co, it became the final nail in the coffin.

And multiple states have more than one NBA team. California has 4 (Lakers, Clippers, Warriors and, for now, Kings). Texas has 3 (Mavs, Rockets, Spurs). Florida has 2 (Heat, Magic). New York is going to get two shortly with the Knicks being there and the Nets moving to Brooklyn.

Seattle is a much better sports market than OKC, hence why they had 3 teams for the longest time. The reason the Sonics started to falter was largely because they began to stink and largely because the city had just funded major public projects for their other pro-sports teams, leaving the citizens burned out on subsidizing them. If the arena got built back then, the Thunder wouldn't exist today.

When they were sold to Bennett and Co, it became the final nail in the coffin.

And multiple states have more than one NBA team. California has 4 (Lakers, Clippers, Warriors and, for now, Kings). Texas has 3 (Mavs, Rockets, Spurs). Florida has 2 (Heat, Magic). New York is going to get two shortly with the Knicks being there and the Nets moving to Brooklyn.

I totally forgot about the Warriors and that's odd because I like them. LOL

To be fair, I think everyone forgets that the Warriors exist.

I never knew of a Warriors team. They must've sucked big time. lol

To be fair, I think everyone forgets that the Warriors exist.

Point taken. LOL

Thunder doesn't see my comments so will someone tell him that yes, there are a few states with 2 NBA teams and Californa and Texas even have 3 teams.

And Snowman, I think the best bet for a team relocating to Seattle would be the Sacramento Kings.

Actually, the New Orleans Hornets are the prime target, since they are owned by the NBA. Sacramento is owned by the Maloof brothers and their interest has been in the Anaheim area as far as relocation is concerned.

Actually, the New Orleans Hornets are the prime target, since they are owned by the NBA. Sacramento is owned by the Maloof brothers and their interest has been in the Anaheim area as far as relocation is concerned.

I meant of the teams Snowman named off. I haven't really listened to the New Orleans situation lately so I really don't know where they stand as of now but I'll take your word for it.

The Warriors had two NBA championships in the 70's, and a representative on the Dream Team in Chris Mullin, but they've been a team that is explosive one year, and then collapses for a while after that. They last made a pretty good playoff run in 2007, but they're a team constantly in the other California teams' shadow.

I meant of the teams Snowman named off. I haven't really listened to the New Orleans situation lately so I really don't know where they stand as of now but I'll take your word for it.

I'm not sure what will happen out there, in some circles, there is talk of contraction down to 28 teams.

I'm not sure what will happen out there, in some circles, there is talk of contraction down to 28 teams.

I guess we're just going to have to wait and see. I mean if they did go down to 28 which teams would go?

With most teams being at least 300 million then that is a lot of money for the NBA to blow since any owner would try to sell before just dissolved so the NBA would likely have to acquire them. It seems like they have also been considering having teams in Europe or Asia, which if they were willing to just shut them down then they might give a go to test the other markets before contraction.

Not only do several other states have multiple teams, CITIES have multiple teams, New York, LA and the Bay area.

Not only do several other states have multiple teams, CITIES have multiple teams, New York, LA and the Bay area.

Bay area ?


Or are you counting the Kings in here ?

Not only do several other states have multiple teams, CITIES have multiple teams, New York, LA and the Bay area.

I had actually just thought about that a few minutes ago how LA has 2 teams and NYC is about to have 2 as well. The LA area would have had 3 teams if the Kings would have wound up relocating to Anaheim last year.

Scary to hear that the Kings may be moving from Sacramento, wasn't that long ago that they were the perfect small market team. Sure hope that isn't what the future holds for us and the Thunder.

I think arena issues are at the root of the Kings problems, they had been trying to get a new one in the downtown area that wasn't out in a field off the highway....or at least that is what it was when I was out there seven years ago.

The Maloof's also have also had many other interests including Vegas casinos, not sure if they still have those.

Their was rumors that the Maloof's other businesses were having problems so were not putting as much back in the team for the last few years.

Their was rumors that the Maloof's other businesses were having problems so were not putting as much back in the team for the last few years.
That is what I was thinking, I had heard they were in the development business in Vegas, we all know how that has struggled. I thought at one time I read they were putting the Kings up for sale but never heard anything past that.

Arena issues are pretty much always at the core of teams moving in this day and age. Citizens stop wanting to subsidize the team (economically speaking, a pro sports team tends to be a financial burden on a city a lot of the time), and owners respond by either moving a team directly (Art Modell and the Cleveland Browns/Baltimore Ravens), or selling to someone else who moves them (OKC Thunder).

That is what I was thinking, I had heard they were in the development business in Vegas, we all know how that has struggled. I thought at one time I read they were putting the Kings up for sale but never heard anything past that.

The last I heard they owned the Palms Hotel and Casino.

The last I heard they owned the Palms Hotel and Casino.

I think they branched out into commercial real estate outside of the casino development business, I just remember some articles from the Las Vegas and Sacramento papers around the time of the crash talking about some cash flow problems they were having. I think that is where they ran into some problems, like many other developers did. I think they would hold onto to their casino businesses until the last possible minute since that has been their core business. It's just sometimes that "last minute" has a way of coming down on people.

Unfortunately for Seattle they are getting momentum at a bad time. With Sacramento's new arena and New Orleans new arena lease that puts the most likely teams being thrown around as Milwaukee, Charlotte, Atlanta and Memphis. With the new CBA also came tripling of revenue shared between teams dramatically helping small markets, so the need for any team to move is reduced, some estimates place most teams revenue as less than 40% from their local market now.

Milwaukee has the easiest lease deal to get out of but the owner is local and has a history of turning down people wanting to move the team.
Charlotte has a prohibitive lease to move and the owner seems unlikely to move or sell.
Atlanta has a prohibitive lease and the ownership group though was considering selling the team recently was only going to sell it to a group pledging to keep the team there.
Memphis has an owner that moved the team once but the lease is prohibitive to relocate through 2021.

Kansas City completed a roughly 300 million dollar arena in 2007 and has been trying to get an NBA or NHL team with no success so far.

The fans are going to boo the Thunder, book it!

The fans are going to boo the Thunder, book it!

After they steal someone elses team they would be a bunch of hypocrites!

After they steal someone elses team they would be a bunch of hypocrites!

And watch, Its going to be a national televised game such as ABC or TNT on NBA Sunday, those games are usually the big big ones

And watch, Its going to be a national televised game such as ABC or TNT on NBA Sunday, those games are usually the big big ones

Is this supposed to make sense?

Is this supposed to make sense?

He is probably talking about how they show a couple fans in Sonics gear at thunder games with signs, it seems to happen most often at Portland or LA games.

Just my theory lol.

I'm glad Seattle may get a team. I hope they do.
They they can quit crying about OKC "stealing" the Sonics.

Then, the city can fail to support the new team, and another city can "steal" that team, and then the whiny residents of Seattle will have a new target.

:)

Just my theory lol.

I just wanted you to clarify it. I didn't, and still don't, understand what you were saying...

I just wanted you to clarify it. I didn't, and still don't, understand what you were saying...

I took it as the national network will pick up the first OKC @ Seattle game just to show how the city reacts to having their "stolen" team back.

I took it as the national network will pick up the first OKC @ Seattle game just to show how the city reacts to having their "stolen" team back.

The odds are pretty low we would be playing them them early enough in the schedule to be the initial reaction to getting them back and I doubt the first match up will be a nationally televised game. There is a good chance that whatever team they get will need massive retooling and so will not be a quality game. Most people in the country do not have that much interest in local rivalries, so unless both teams are excellent at the same time there will not be that much a national draw.

Stern indicated that it would be unwise for Seattle to build an arena with the certainty of having an immediate NBA tenant, because that's not likely to happen.

"It's a chicken and egg," the commissioner said. "We don't have any plans to expand and we're working arduously with Sacramento and New Orleans both to keep the teams that are there. So you can't predict. Although we're always encouraging of first-class, world-class buildings, I think it would be better if they sort of scoped them out in a way that demonstrated that they could make money or not lose money without an NBA team because you just can't predict or project."

seattle has a great chance to get an NHL team if they build an arena

seattle has a great chance to get an NHL team if they build an arena

I think Quebec is first in the docket, Seattle would be next.

Absolutely the last thing the NHL needs to do is expand.

I would like to see Seattle back, they had a great fanbase, I remember the great days of Gary Payton while he was with Seattle, he was fun to watch!

Absolutely the last thing the NHL needs to do is expand.

They would be relocating an existing NHL team as well, I think Phoenix is the ones that they said was the most likely.

Yeah, but after the NHL commissioner virtually campaigned for Phoenix to be the new jewel in the NHL's crown (include a lot of sarcasm in that when you read it) he'll be very hard-pressed to let the Coyotes move out of there just to save his pride.

Yeah, but after the NHL commissioner virtually campaigned for Phoenix to be the new jewel in the NHL's crown (include a lot of sarcasm in that when you read it) he'll be very hard-pressed to let the Coyotes move out of there just to save his pride.

The Phoenix Coyotes went bankrupt and the NHL was threatening to move the team last year. Most sports leagues if an owner wants to go to a city without a franchise and does not impede another owner's market gets a pretty quick rubber stamp of approval. The most likely reason I would see the Coyotes not going to Seattle is there is already parties considering buying it and moving it to Canada.

The NHL was NEVER threatening to move the team. The NHL basically owns the team right now and has basically found one reason after another to void any deal that involves them moving out of Phoenix. Meanwhile, the NHL is losing money on a major scale on the team and only the city of Glendale is managing to ameliorate the fiscal hemorraging. It's a losing deal all around. Does the team need to move to a more receptive market? Yes! Will Bettman ever let that happen? Time alone will tell. Maybe when Glendale tires of funding it, they'll move.

The NHL was NEVER threatening to move the team. The NHL basically owns the team right now and has basically found one reason after another to void any deal that involves them moving out of Phoenix. Meanwhile, the NHL is losing money on a major scale on the team and only the city of Glendale is managing to ameliorate the fiscal hemorraging. It's a losing deal all around. Does the team need to move to a more receptive market? Yes! Will Bettman ever let that happen? Time alone will tell. Maybe when Glendale tires of funding it, they'll move.

Latest I saw from SI was that if the team isn't sold to a local owner in the next 2-3 months, they are probably on their way out. Quebec is the best guess as they just approved a new arena and are renovating their old one to serve as a temporary home.

Are the people in Seattle licking their lips now?

http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattlesports/2012/04/13/nba-commissioner-sacramento-arena-deal-not-going-to-happen/

Are the people in Seattle licking their lips now?

http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattlesports/2012/04/13/nba-commissioner-sacramento-arena-deal-not-going-to-happen/

Seems doubtful. If the Kings will move because they can't secure a new arena in Sacramento, Seattle isn't exactly a step in the other direction.

Seems doubtful. If the Kings will move because they can't secure a new arena in Sacramento, Seattle isn't exactly a step in the other direction.

If you read what I said, I wasn't saying it was the most likely move. I was asking about how the people in Seattle were feeling about this.

If you read what I said, I wasn't saying it was the most likely move. I was asking about how the people in Seattle were feeling about this.

https://twitter.com/#!/search/realtime/Sonicsgate