There are no Sonics. Do you mean an expansion franchise?
I don't know for certain, but it sure seems that expansion franchises always plop down right where the NBA wants them. So I'm guessing that if the NBA wants an expansion franchise in Seattle, the Hansen/Ballmer group will own it as basically the only game in town. I don't see the NBA saying, "Hey, free-for-all on an expansion team, who wants it?" and somebody from Louisville "stealing" it from Seattle. I just don't think it works that way.
Well there are no Sonics but if a team was to go back to Seattle, they would call it the sonics because the mayor of Seattle says you have to use the Sonics name if you want to have pro basketball in seattle. Now Hansen said if he couldnt get an arena in Seattle done, he would consider to move it to A suburb called Bellevue but the Seattle City officials said that the Supersonics would not be used. The other thing is that i was reading was that 75% of season ticket holders to the Sonics actually came from Bellevue, so they thought that building an arena there would be good. But the Hansen group couldnt make it right considering many of the proposed lands they wanted the arena on had multiple owners and some wanted to sell and some didnt. The ones who wanted to sell drove up the price just to drive up the price.
To me, I dont know why our capital city would have to lose their franchise if they have done everything they could do to comply with the NBA. I actually could go out on a limb and blame Stern for allowing the Maloofs to be owners and putting us through all this. I blame the Maloofs for not asking for more equity partners. Letting their egos get in the way!
I have changed my stands on Hansen. I would like to have the Sonics to come back to Seattle but I now want new ownership. Maybe it is because I believe every west coast city should have an NBA franchise like they do on the East Coast but I am praying for the failure of Chris Hansen group to purchase a NBA franchise. I feel that they are like those guys who are giants that like to swash. Reminds of the Bible Goliath vs David. I believe as God who controls the earth that they wont get a franchise. Give that someone who cares (like the new ownership group does in Sacramento gets the team.) I was looking at a youtube site about a business guy ( let me find it here)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVeRYiJQuEo how one part of the city is crumbling that the Sonics were gone. Why not build the arena at Seattle Center where people who have businesses established already can still go and hire people?To me, Hansen wants it by the baseball stadium.The Mariners are against it. The Port of Seattle region is against it ( maybe Trueblood knows better than I do) This whole thing stinks to high heaven! Like he is forcing his will on people who dont want it there. Why doesnt he build it where the people want it to be built? Ok enough about those guys!
The only obvious choice is Sacramento stays where it is and another and I mean another group get an expansion or get another ter team. I was reading and the teams that are available so far now are
1) Charlotte
2) Milwaukee
3) Atlanta
4) Indiana