Seattle SuperSonics Thread

I heard an explanation on a reason why people think the vote was so hands down and it makes sense. Not sure if mentioned in here yet, but according to NBC Sports, a theory is that the owners don't want to set a precedent that ownership groups needing to fund new arenas in order to remain in their city, do not end up putting up their own money in order to finance it. What they like about the Kings proposal is that it involves a larger amount coming from taxpayers. NBA owners, as greedy as it sounds, want the arenas to be funded by municipalities rather than their own pockets. Makes sense. It's unfortunate, but coming from Stern and the NBA...Makes sense.
 
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I heard an explanation on a reason why people think the vote was so hands down and it makes sense. Not sure if mentioned in here yet, but according to NBC Sports, a theory is that the owners down't want to set a precedent that ownership groups needing to fund new arenas in order to remain in their city, do not end up putting up their own money in order to finance it. What they like about the Kings proposal is that it involves a larger amount coming from taxpayers. NBA owners, as greedy as it sounds, want the arenas to be funded by municipalities rather than their own pockets. Makes sense. It's unfortunate, but coming from Stern and the NBA...Makes sense.
Not trying to hate on you........ but Jesus H Christ, I have been saying this since day 1...........

think of the small market team owners who aren't making huge profits, they can't afford arenas on their own. Hell, the Maloofs can't afford one even with an arena deal that has the NBA loaning them money and Sacramento paying their fair share

And the reason why Sacramento's subsidy>Seattle's is because 

A) Sacramento is offering about $50 mil more of pure city subsidy in parking rev out of the general fund.

B) Seattle's subsidy is a loan, guaranteed and backed by Hansen/Ballmer..... making it not a true subsidy or public-private partnership. And I believe something like 40% of the return is based on numbers with and NHL team.
 
It makes a lot of sense. If owners paid for the arenas themselves then every city major pro sports teams will demand the same that same thing. Eventually owning a sports team becomes a complete loss and owners would be forced to sell. When owners sell the new incoming owners takeover whatever debt is owed. I don't know how many billionaires out there that would take on hundreds of millions of dollars of debt.
 
Yeah, well...I only have a casual interest in this and not nearly as studious on the topic as you and dmbrhs are. Mainly, it's been selective hearing here in Seattle. Rather, selective reporting, so the spin blurs the perception. There was so much good with the Seattle offer that no one looked at the opposite end of the spectrum in what good for the NBA owners could come from the Kings' proposal.
 
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I disagree with the part where he says Seattle didnt do anything to keep them there on both parts. Balmer did come late but what city would seriously spend $600 million on a brand new arena in kent? Especially since we had just renovated key arena right before that.
 
I disagree with the part where he says Seattle didnt do anything to keep them there on both parts. Balmer did come late but what city would seriously spend $600 million on a brand new arena in kent? Especially since we had just renovated key arena right before that.

The NBA set it up so nothing Seattle did would have satisfied them. That's the fallacy in his argument that Seattle didn't do enough.
 
^ I don't know the finer-details, but that was always my impression of the situation... that Clay set unrealistic/unreasonable demands, which eventually resulted in "Oh well, guess I'll have to move..."
 
^ I don't know the finer-details, but that was always my impression of the situation... that Clay set unrealistic/unreasonable demands, which eventually resulted in "Oh well, guess I'll have to move..."

This.
Plus it's funny Kevin Johnson calls Seattle out for poaching when sacremento poached the team from Kansas City in the first place
 
^ I don't know the finer-details, but that was always my impression of the situation... that Clay set unrealistic/unreasonable demands, which eventually resulted in "Oh well, guess I'll have to move..."

This.
Plus it's funny Kevin Johnson calls Seattle out for poaching when sacremento poached the team from Kansas City in the first place
 
^ I don't know the finer-details, but that was always my impression of the situation... that Clay set unrealistic/unreasonable demands, which eventually resulted in "Oh well, guess I'll have to move..."
This.
Plus it's funny Kevin Johnson calls Seattle out for poaching when sacremento poached the team from Kansas City in the first place
KC had little support for the Royals/Kings for many years before they were moved. This situation is completely different, especially since KC has expressed little interest in regaining an NBA time the Kings left 28 years ago. It's tough to make the same argument for Sacramento since the city has 2 of the longest sellout streaks in NBA history, and has only had a handful of playoff worthy teams.
 
‏@ChrisDaniels5

BREAKING: The $625 million dollar pricetag for #NBAKings would put franchise on par with Miami Heat, as 6th most valuable in NBA per Forbes.

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EDIT ~
http://www.sonicsarena.com/news/the-latest-on-bringing-the-nba-back-to-seattle

In an effort to further demonstrate the extent of our commitment to bring basketball back to Seattle, we have elected to voluntarily increase our proposed purchase price for the Sacramento Kings NBA Franchise by $75 million — from an enterprise value of $550 million to $625 million. In conjunction with our revised offer, we have also guaranteed to the NBA that the Franchise would be a revenue sharing payer in all years in Seattle.

We would also like to take the opportunity to again point out just how far ahead our Arena project is:
  • The ownership group has acquired 100% of the property necessary to construct the Arena.
  • We have 100% of our private financing for the Arena committed and in place.
  • After being approved by the City and County Councils the Arena MOU/legislation was signed into law by the Seattle Mayor and King County Executive on October 16, 2012. The referendum period expired 30 days later.
  • We engaged our Arena architects two years ago and have completed our detailed design schematics and costing.
  • We have filed for our Master Use Permit and are well underway with the Environmental Review Process, which we expect to conclude late this year.
While we appreciate that this is a very difficult decision for the league and owners, we hope it is understood that we really believe the time is now to bring the NBA back to Seattle, and that it is paramount that we do everything we can to put Seattle’s best foot forward in this process.

— Chris Hansen
 
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 This will definitely help their chances of getting a team soon.

Hopefully if (most likely when) the Kings stay, Sonics fans won't be too mad at the NBA and still welcome the Sonics truly coming back by way of expansion. 
 
Expansion isn't going to happen anytime soon, though. Which is why the Hansen group is desperately doing whatever it can at the last second to change minds.
 
Expansion isn't going to happen anytime soon, though. Which is why the Hansen group is desperately doing whatever it can at the last second to change minds.
2016 is 3 years away, Arison said as much

Has the NBA even responded to the Hansen's first increase?? This reeks of Maloofism going this rogue and off the grid 
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 (but with substantially more money) 
 
Even with the new TV contracts up for negotiations, it's still hard to believe that there will be expansion when you would need at least another team to pair along with the Seattle team to make things square. Where is there another market for a team to not only exist but to thrive in order to justify it's existence? Not to mention discussions about a serious change concerning division alignments (though this isn't as big a problem as it probably was for the NFL in the early 2000s, since divisions mean squat in the NBA).
 
If anything, this is Hansen telling the league that it doesn't matter how much it costs, he wants a team. It'll turn heads of the owners that are consistently losing money.
 
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