SandRidge to move downtown.

[Doug Loudenback]

betts, I'm with you on this one. It's not very classy to rub it in their faces, it may come back to haunt us. On the other hand, seattle fans DID HAVE SOMETHING to do with it, not nothing like you mentioned. If more of the fans truly wanted the team, they could have petitioned their lawmakers more, voted for an arena, helped push better attendance even when the team was doing poorly, etc. There is plenty the common folk of Seattle could do and still can do to save the team. It's just obvious the majority of them don't really care. If they did, the lawmakers would support a new arena. The lawmakers aren't going to risk their political necks for something that isn't popular with the citizens (i.e. "fans").

I read easy180's post and thread and it didn't strike me at all that easy180 was "rubbing it in their faces." Easy180's "tenor" was not argumentative, I don't think. While it may be predictable that ANY okie's comments in that place will not be well received, it was, I think, fair enough for easy180 to pass along what he did, even it it might be pointless to do so.

Another way to assess might be that, if the roles were reversed, would I be interested in what's going on in the "suitor" city? I think that I would be.

[Easy180]

Doug...Check out the article on today's PI Sonics page

Freakin hilarious...I think I may have been the inspiration!!!

Now after seeing this one I did take a little shot at those who said it was a BS story

Sonics minority owner purchases Okla. City tower
By GREG JOHNS
P-I REPORTER

If Clay Bennett moves the Sonics to Oklahoma City, he might not have to look far to find business offices after minority partner Tom Ward's purchase of a prominent 30-story tower within a half-mile of the Ford Center basketball arena.

But several Oklahoma City sources strongly denied the notion that Thursday's blockbuster business move portends an arrangement to provide offices for the Sonics, should Bennett relocate his team in the coming years.

"There's absolutely no connection at all," Bennett spokesman Dan Mahoney said Friday. "It's a totally separate deal."

Ward, one of Bennett's primary partners with the Sonics, purchased the Kerr-McGee Tower in downtown Oklahoma City for his SandRidge Energy firm. SandRidge also bought several buildings surrounding the tower, as well as three downtown parking lots, in a complex deal involving two other major Oklahoma companies.

The $22.3 million transaction was big news in Oklahoma City, where the tower has been vacant the past year. The Daily Oklahoman had five stories on the sale in its Friday edition, with a brief mention midway through one that Ward also was a partner in the Sonics' Oklahoma City-based ownership group that was threatening to leave Seattle.

"Could the team's corporate offices find a home at the Kerr-McGee Tower?" the story asked, without providing further analysis.

Tom Anderson, special projects manager for Oklahoma City, downplayed that potential link and noted there is considerable office space in the city's downtown business district that already would be suitable for a basketball team.

"In my estimation, it would be pretty far-fetched," Anderson said. "There are a lot of other places a team office could go."

Anderson said when the New Orleans Hornets called Oklahoma City home the past two seasons, they rented space in the Oklahoma Tower, the same building that houses Bennett's offices.

That tower -- previously owned by Bennett, though sold before the Hornets' arrival -- also is within close proximity to Ford Center, as Oklahoma City's downtown corridor is a relatively compact area compared to Seattle.

Thus Anderson said the Kerr-McGee sale to a Sonics minority owner shouldn't raise red flags, even though the SandRidge company currently employs only about 1,600 people, hardly enough to fill a 30-story office structure.

"I think the intent is to fill the building with people from the energy sector," Anderson said. "We don't have a fire sale going on for Class A office space downtown, but we won't have a problem finding someone the kind of space the Hornets needed if we get a major-league tenant here in the next few years."

According to Alison Oshel of Oklahoma City's Chamber of Commerce, the city's downtown vacancy rate is 14.9 percent for Class A office space and 16 percent for Class B-rated structures.

Thursday's transaction also involved Chesapeake Energy Corp., owned by Aubrey McClendon, another Sonics minority partner. Chesapeake acquired the Kerr-McGee Tower as part of a larger deal with Anadarko Petroleum Corp., then sold the building to Ward's firm.

"Our company is growing very rapidly," Ward told the Daily Oklahoman, "and the Kent-McGee Tower is an ideal location for our corporate headquarters."

P-I reporter Greg Johns can be reached at 206-448-8314 or gregjohns@seattlepi.com.
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[Doug Loudenback]

Yeah, easy180, I'd read that article earlier today (at hornetsreport.com ). At the least, reports like that and others give us something to read during the interim ... which is presently TODAY until ... November 1, 2007. I pick that date because it's the day after October 31, the "drop dead" date.

And, so, I say, "Remember, remember, the 1st of November," (a play on the line in V for Vendetta).

[JOHNINSOKC]

What gets me is the fact that the Seattle fans somehow relate this to the team moving. When I read this story Friday morning, I didn't see any connection of this sale to a move of the Sonics to OKC. I think the fans in Seattle are on edge and maybe feel a bit insecure, especially when it comes to their ignorance of the Oklahoma City region.

[metro]

I'm sorry metro...Can you point out a post of mine on there that is rubbing it in their face?...Majority on there believe they are gone anyway...Just discuss when and what Bennett's intentions are...Never taunted anyone on there...Hard to since we could easily get nada...Never say anything that could blow up in my face

The headline of the forum points out the potential move to OKC...Not sure why people perceive it to be rubbing it in their face when some Okies defend their city and try to get across the point an NBA team can be successful here

The story directly involves OKC or I wouldn't be in their bidness...Again

Just sports folks

Actually Easy180, I won't point out one of your posts, because I didn't call you out, etc. I was making a general statement. If you took offense, maybe that's something to do with your conscience, not me as it was not directed at you.

[Easy180]

Actually Easy180, I won't point out one of your posts, because I didn't call you out, etc. I was making a general statement. If you took offense, maybe that's something to do with your conscience, not me as it was not directed at you.

Oh ok metro...You only quoted the post that referred directly to me

I just took offense to it, because I am widely considered the classiest person on OKCTalk

[Oh GAWD the Smell!]

I just took offense to it, because I am widely considered the classiest person on OKCTalk

Only because you wait until the car stops before spitting your tobacco wad out, you crazy Okie.

[metro]

Oh ok metro...You only quoted the post that referred directly to me

I just took offense to it, because I am widely considered the classiest person on OKCTalk

Actually, I was commenting on betts post, hence me using his name for reference in my post. I was agreeing with most of what he said, and then told about what I disagreed with.