Sonics and Storm Sold

[floydian]

Source: Sonics, Storm sold to Oklahoma City group

SEATTLE -- A group from Oklahoma City has agreed to buy the Seattle SuperSonics and the Seattle Storm, a source with the Sonics said Tuesday.

The team scheduled a 3 p.m. press conference to announce the sale officially, and the source indicated the new ownership group plans to keep the Sonics and Storm in the Seattle region.

The Basketball Club of Seattle -- owners of the NBA Sonics and WNBA Storm -- would not officially comment until the press conference.

According to a report in The Seattle Times, the group is led by businessman Clay Bennett, who was previously on the San Antonio Spurs' board of directors and also helped attract the New Orleans Hornets to Oklahoma City after Hurricane Katrina.

In February, majority owner Howard Schultz threatened to move or sell the city's oldest major league professional sports franchise, saying the team has lost about $60 million in the past five years and blaming a revenue-sharing lease at KeyArena with the city of Seattle that lasts until 2010.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.


http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2522944


I wonder if they will also move to OK....should be interesting

 

[DocHolliday]

Well they say they are going to keep them in Seattle. But, don't they have some arean issues up there. I bet if those didn't get resolve it would be off to OK they go.

 

[x 213 x]

I think the Sonics leased the arena until 2010.

Im pretty sure after the lease is over they will be moved to OKC, which is pretty sad if you are a die hard Sonic fan

Can't imagine how they feel about this

 

[Kings113]

Wow.

*flies over to the Real GM sonics board*

 

[kennadog]

I think the Sonics leased the arena until 2010.

Im pretty sure after the lease is over they will be moved to OKC, which is pretty sad if you are a die hard Sonic fan

Can't imagine how they feel about this

I'm hoping I never get to find out how they might feel.

 

[NoBonus]

More...Sonics' future in Seattle in doubt after sale
Mike Kahn / Special to FOXSports.com Posted: 11 minutes ago

The Seattle SuperSonics will announce the majority of the team has been sold to a group of investors from Oklahoma City, according to an influential NBA source who spoke with members of the existing ownership group.The announcement is set for a press conference Tuesday at 6 p.m. ET.

Neither side would confirm the sale, however, those sources from within the Basketball Club of Seattle said it is a $350 million agreement with the group from Oklahoma City. And although the announcement will say the new owners will try to make a go of it in Seattle, they could move the team to Oklahoma City as soon as the 2007-08 season. Even though the lease at KeyArena runs through 2010, the city has claimed it loses money every time the Sonics play — so some sort of buyout could be made in the near future.

Sonics vice president of communications Karen Bryant confirmed there will be a press conference Tuesday, but would not elaborate on the details.The Sonics, the flagship professional franchise in Seattle dating back to 1967, have been losing tens of millions of dollars since present majority owner Starbucks chairman Howard Schultz purchased the team from The Ackerley Group in 2001, due in part to an unpalatable lease with the city of Seattle. Led by president and minority owner Wally Walker, they have been trying desperately to get the city and state to approve renovations to the 17,072-seat KeyArena, which had a $70 million facelift in 1995 and was renamed in lieu of the dilapidated old Seattle Center Coliseum.

But after NBA commissioner David Stern joined Schultz and Walker at a special session of the state legislature in Olympia last winter in an attempt to get support from the state of Washington, the wheels began to turn. Rumblings from groups in San Jose and Orange County came into the picture. The general consensus was the Sonics would stay, but eventually move to the east side of Lake Washington in affluent Bellevue, where the majority of the season ticket base resides anyway. Stern also said at an All-Star game news conference that the league would allow the Sonics to relocate if the team was not given the money it requested.

Nonetheless, the Sonics have had resistance from all sides in search of financial help, and the bloated ownership group — which has more than 60 investors — has been answering cash calls of late.

Meanwhile, Oklahoma City sold out 35 games last season while providing the New Orleans Hornets with a de facto home in the wake of Hurricane Katrina's destruction in the Big Easy. The NBA had already announced the 2008 NBA All-Star game would be played in New Orleans, and has encouraged owner George Shinn to make every attempt to make a go of it in New Orleans despite a struggle with sponsorship and attendance even before the devastation of Katrina.

That success explains why Stern may have brokered the deal between the group from Oklahoma City, essentially delivering the Sonics as a payback for being the cordial and successful host. Especially since the city of Seattle and the state of Washington have showed no indication they would like to help the Sonics financially.

The Sonics won the NBA title in 1979 and lost in the NBA Finals in 1996. But they have been in the playoffs just twice since Schultz bought the team after he promised they would win a title within five years. The Starbucks corporate office is located south of downtown Seattle.

Veteran NBA writer Mike Kahn is a frequent contributor to FOXSports.com. FOXSports.com

 

[Sac.Kings]

Sucks for Sonic fans if the team ends up moving someplace else after the lease is over.

 

[floydian]

So will they still sell Starbucks Coffee in KeyArena?

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

EDIT - belay my last.

 

[NoBonus]

I think this is a great move if they get shipped to Oklahoma City... but please, do it ASAP... This move will also change the divisions of the NBA... Oklahoma City could be moved to the Southwest division... San Antonio could be moved to the Pacific Division and Sacramento could be moved to the Northwest division!

 

[Kings113]

Man, Kings would kill in the NW divsion.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

I think this is a great move if they get shipped to Oklahoma City... but please, do it ASAP... This move will also change the divisions of the NBA... Oklahoma City could be moved to the Southwest division... San Antonio could be moved to the Pacific Division and Sacramento could be moved to the Northwest division!

Why would San Antonio, of all teams, be moved to the Pacific Division?

If Minnesota can be considered "Northwest," then Oklahoma City certainly could.

 

[NoBonus]

Why would San Antonio, of all teams, be moved to the Pacific Division?

If Minnesota can be considered "Northwest," then Oklahoma City certainly could.

Oklahoma City might as well be in Texas. I just picked San Antonio because it was the furtherest west of any of the southwest teams or Ok City.

 

[DocHolliday]

I think the Sonics leased the arena until 2010.

Im pretty sure after the lease is over they will be moved to OKC, which is pretty sad if you are a die hard Sonic fan

Can't imagine how they feel about this

You can't imagine how they Sonics fan feel?? I don't know about you, but I can. Since we're in jeopardy of losing our team. At least they have a football and baseball team there. The Kings are all we have for major sports.

 

[NoBonus]

You can't imagine how they Sonics fan feel?? I don't know about you, but I can. Since we're in jeopardy of losing our team. At least they have a football and baseball team there. The Kings are all we have for major sports.

I think this should be a wake up call for all of us...

 

[ultraman206]

this sucks

 

[Big Cuz 15]

if the kings move, i'm sure something will happen some PO'd die hard fans doing something foolish...

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Is the city of Seattle as resistant to a new arena as the city of Sacramento appears to be?

I don't like to see franchises move any more than I like to see franchise players move, but I also have a different outlook than most: I did not become a fan for reasons having to do with geography, and I'm not as concerned by where the team actually is. In the end, as long as they get moved to a location where both teams will be well-supported by fans, it's not the worst thing.

 

[bibbinator]

Seattle doesn't have the same attachment to the Sonics as Sacramento does to the Kings. Just to illustrate, my Dad gets his season tix, in the front row of the second level of Key Arena for $12 a game.

I wouldn't compare the situations between Sac and Seattle too deeply.

 

[Rome]

Still sucks for Seattle fans that sticked to their team the whole time. I would be devastated if I were a Sonics fan.

 

[Kings113]

 

[venom_7]

I think this is a great move if they get shipped to Oklahoma City... but please, do it ASAP... This move will also change the divisions of the NBA... Oklahoma City could be moved to the Southwest division... San Antonio could be moved to the Pacific Division and Sacramento could be moved to the Northwest division!

I want something like that to happen too. The Kings would murder the Northwest. I wouldn't mind seeing Portland 4 times a year consistantly.