NBA returning to Seattle?

[Blitzer88]

Imma just drop on out of this seeing as its become a pity party.

Sure, because it would be a pity for the HBN, the city and fan base to have to go through this process just to left out in the cold again. Additionally, you too can't tell me that you aren't at least somewhat concerned by the fact that Stern seems to be doing everything in his power to prevent Seattle from getting a team right? And don't try and convince me that he isn't because it is pretty clear that he is. Its hard to be positive 24/7 when all you hear is about how its 50/50 or Sac is gaining momentum as well as so many things seemingly beginning to be stacked against you or things be dragged out for God knows what reason.

OK...now back to watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III the Movie to bring me back to happy times.

 

[RealDeal]

@ Blitzer

Look at it this way. How rich is our group? ? How did they get that rich?? Ok now think about this....

Why would our group give 30mill cash down plus go and buy all the land that they did, if they did not know something. Plus how much all the fees for court and lawyers. these guys are businessmen here to make money not lose it. they have been working on this for a long time we don't know what they had work out prior to going public for all we know this is all been done since the beginning. plus if you remember a few months before all this became public Stern himself said he would do anything in his power to get a team back in Seattle before he retires. just think of all the stuff he had said when we lost the Sonics he blew smoke up everybody's butt everyday. stern just needs to make it look like he is giving them a chance. the group we have here in Seattle is way too strong with way too much money to just walk away from these men are here to win not lose.

 

[chris98251]

We rally at the wealth of the Seattle group, you have to really look at Sacramento as well, they may not have the consolidated wealth of Balmer and Hansen, but they are filthy rich as well, they are businessmen, they are in to make money. They are also where the team is and no matter what unless you have a tow truck and hi jack the team nobody is driving the Kings out of Sacramento without the keys. Stern is the voice of the people that have the Keys.

Stern is in a win win situation right now, if he gets the approval for the Hansen group he brought basketball back to Seattle, if he pushes for the Kings to stay in California he saved basketball in Sacramento, either way he can push the blame game on the board of governers and stand up and be the good guy now.

 

[RealDeal]

We rally at the wealth of the Seattle group, you have to really look at Sacramento as well, they may not have the consolidated wealth of Balmer and Hansen, but they are filthy rich as well, they are businessmen, they are in to make money. They are also where the team is and no matter what unless you have a tow truck and hi jack the team nobody is driving the Kings out of Sacramento without the keys. Stern is the voice of the people that have the Keys.

Stern is in a win win situation right now, if he gets the approval for the Hansen group he brought basketball back to Seattle, if he pushes for the Kings to stay in California he saved basketball in Sacramento, either way he can push the blame game on the board of governers and stand up and be the good guy now.

they may be in it for money too but they haven't put as much money into it as Seattle Seattle would not have done that if it didn't know something yes Stern is the voice but you have to trust Hansen. we also have something the Sacramento does not we have a signed agreement with 30 million cash down land purchased and ready. I will agree with you on stern will look good no matter what way this goes.

 

[Blitzer88]

We rally at the wealth of the Seattle group, you have to really look at Sacramento as well, they may not have the consolidated wealth of Balmer and Hansen, but they are filthy rich as well, they are businessmen, they are in to make money. They are also where the team is and no matter what unless you have a tow truck and hi jack the team nobody is driving the Kings out of Sacramento without the keys. Stern is the voice of the people that have the Keys.

Stern is in a win win situation right now, if he gets the approval for the Hansen group he brought basketball back to Seattle, if he pushes for the Kings to stay in California he saved basketball in Sacramento, either way he can push the blame game on the board of governers and stand up and be the good guy now.

they may be in it for money too but they haven't put as much money into it as Seattle Seattle would not have done that if it didn't know something yes Stern is the voice but you have to trust Hansen. we also have something the Sacramento does not we have a signed agreement with 30 million cash down land purchased and ready. I will agree with you on stern will look good no matter what way this goes.

Same could be said for the Sac group, maybe they are continuing what they are doing because they know something is going on in the background that favors them.

 

[drdiags]

Looks like Nickels and Brewer were re-hashing some of the same ideas on how KJ and Sactown are slightly different in their minds from the bail job Schultz, Nickels and others did back in 2008

First, there was no opportunity for Nickels to put together a local ownership group to combat Howard Schultz's decision in July 2006 to sell the Sonics to Bennett. Three months later, the NBA Board of Governors gave unanimous approval to that sale. There wasn't a debate like this Sacramento/Seattle fight because relocation wasn't on the table. Bennett had promised to give the region 12 months to work out an arena deal before he considered moving the team.

If you feel like reading more from Nickels, here you go:

http://seattletimes.com/html/jerrybrewer/2020826794_brewer21.html

 

[pinksheets]

Slight correction: The people with the keys to the Kings are the Maloofs. They own the team. They could Al Davis the team to whatever city they wanted if need be. The NBA is an association, there is no owner of the NBA, it's a cartel of owners that runs against antitrust law quite often. If the NBA wants to assert that they actually have the keys, it's a big gamble on whether or not the Maloofs would like to challenge that notion (they'd win in court, more likely than not).

 

[pinksheets]

A relocation vote should come down to:
Would you rather own an NBA franchise in Seattle or Sacramento?

That’s the question the NBA owners will be answering FOR another owner.

How would they vote if it were for their own team?

I don’t think there’d be a single ‘no’ vote if that were the criteria. Seattle is the easy choice. Even Ranadive and Mastrov would jump at the chance to own this team in Seattle as opposed to Sacramento.

 

[SonicHawk]

A relocation vote should come down to:
Would you rather own an NBA franchise in Seattle or Sacramento?

That’s the question the NBA owners will be answering FOR another owner.

How would they vote if it were for their own team?

I don’t think there’d be a single ‘no’ vote if that were the criteria. Seattle is the easy choice. Even Ranadive and Mastrov would jump at the chance to own this team in Seattle as opposed to Sacramento.

This is an extremely complicated vote.

Pro-Seattle:
A sturdy ownership group that has all it's ducks in a row.
Top 15 market (remember that new upcoming TV deal)
Would pay into profit sharing instead of receiving.
Built-in fanbase
New arena is very far along and ready to break ground almost immediately
Already have a purchase agreement

Pro-Sacramento:
Political and fan support
Good ownership group
Probably able to build arena almost as quickly
Team already is in Sacramento

Honestly, I would hate to be the NBA making this decision. The only win-win is immediate expansion for Seattle while Sacramento stays and that's incredibly unlikely.

Stern has given Sacramento every opportunity to keep the team and I think Sacramento almost has done enough, but it's not without alienating Seattle.

 

[pinksheets]

I'd take away being able to build the arena almost as quickly from that list. All indications are we are talking about years of separation between the two arenas.

I'd just say it's only that complicated if you consolidate all of the numerous factors where Seattle beats Sacramento in economics (which would be all of them) into "top 15 market". There is no spending power in Sacramento, the residents are jobless in a way not proportionate to other markets and have little spending power. There's very little money in Sacramento and their argument of "support" relies heavily on attendance, which is no longer a strong revenue stream in comparison to others, for the NBA.

This is not a complicated decision when it comes to money, it's only complicated if NBA owners want to declare that all hosting cities are entitled to a hometown discount before any sale or relocation of a team. The NBA, just like every other major professional sport league, would want nothing to do with Sacramento fi they were not already there. It's an absolutely awful market to be in.

Sacramento has put up a respectable last minute effort, but unfortunately, Seattle has won in every objective measure. The only hope Sacramento has is David Stern being able to pull for them politically. They've lost in terms of market, ownership group, size of bid, etc. Which isn't surprising, because there is just no god damn money in Sacramento.

 

[SonicHawk]

Keeping the team in Sacramento would be 99% public relations. Sacramento is not equal to Seattle in every other respect... well I would say that -at-arena- fan support maybe equal, but even that is a minor benefit.

I've heard a lot of arguments that the NBA's bread and butter is smaller markets. That's the biggest joke I've ever heard. The only reason OKC is worthwhile is because they were a new franchise AND once the new car smell wore off, title contenders. The cornerstones of the league are the BIG markets. NY, Chicago, LA, Philly, Dallas, Boston...

The only justification for keeping the team in Sacramento is that the NBA set lofty goals as far as arenas and ownership, which KJ and Sacramento surprisingly (or at least very closely) met, and they don't want to look like assholes.

Seattle is better for the NBA. To be clear, this has absolutely nothing to do with fan support by Sacramento, which has been solid.

 

[pinksheets]

Has it? Sacramento has ditched its team under bad ownership more so than Seattle did towards the end. I have no idea what the measurements for solid fan support are, but I'm not sure Sacramento meets any of them. Limited ticket sales that are blamed on bad ownership but happen to be correlated nicely with the drop off in the local economy and little to no retail spending power bu the populus.

The NBA can either make money or donate it at this point. Sacramento is a charity case for any professional sports league that wants to reside there. Which is why there, so far, is only one even remotely considering it (the one that made the mistake of being there decades ago).

 

[grizbob]

So, in other words, stay tuned :180670: Jiminy Crickets, 70 pages... had no idea there was this much interest in the Sonics in .net land :shock:

 

[Throwdown]

So, in other words, stay tuned :180670: Jiminy Crickets, 70 pages... had no idea there was this much interest in the Sonics in .net land :shock:

I love the Sonics more than I do the Seahawks

Basketball is the greatest sport in the WORLD!!! Damn Soccer and Cricket, and whatever else they play in the world.

 

[grizbob]

So, in other words, stay tuned :180670: Jiminy Crickets, 70 pages... had no idea there was this much interest in the Sonics in .net land :shock:

I love the Sonics more than I do the Seahawks

Basketball is the greatest sport in the WORLD!!! Damn Soccer and Cricket, and whatever else they play in the world.

Not much of a basketball fan personally, but... I did get hooked on the Sonics in the 90s :thirishdrinkers:

 

[Lords of Scythia]

Get a girlfriend lol

Imma choke half my Facebook friends for acting like bitches

Imma choke a certain .Net friend for actually being a bitch.

Hey what Roland does on the board has nothing to do with me

I will Wayne Brady yo ass!

What about Marcia Brady and all? At's what I'm talkin about. She partied on acid and ****ed guys.

 

[Lords of Scythia]

@ Blitzer

Look at it this way. How rich is our group? ? How did they get that rich?? Ok now think about this....

Why would our group give 30mill cash down plus go and buy all the land that they did, if they did not know something. Plus how much all the fees for court and lawyers. these guys are businessmen here to make money not lose it. they have been working on this for a long time we don't know what they had work out prior to going public for all we know this is all been done since the beginning. plus if you remember a few months before all this became public Stern himself said he would do anything in his power to get a team back in Seattle before he retires. just think of all the stuff he had said when we lost the Sonics he blew smoke up everybody's butt everyday. stern just needs to make it look like he is giving them a chance. the group we have here in Seattle is way too strong with way too much money to just walk away from these men are here to win not lose.

I'm not so sure they're all that smart. If they end up with the team, they're going to massively overpay for a cash-hemmoraging charity case franchise that nobody goes to see, that will never be remotely worth what they paid for it.

 

[grizbob]

@ Blitzer

Look at it this way. How rich is our group? ? How did they get that rich?? Ok now think about this....

Why would our group give 30mill cash down plus go and buy all the land that they did, if they did not know something. Plus how much all the fees for court and lawyers. these guys are businessmen here to make money not lose it. they have been working on this for a long time we don't know what they had work out prior to going public for all we know this is all been done since the beginning. plus if you remember a few months before all this became public Stern himself said he would do anything in his power to get a team back in Seattle before he retires. just think of all the stuff he had said when we lost the Sonics he blew smoke up everybody's butt everyday. stern just needs to make it look like he is giving them a chance. the group we have here in Seattle is way too strong with way too much money to just walk away from these men are here to win not lose.

I'm not so sure they're all that smart. If they end up with the team, they're going to massively overpay for a cash-hemmoraging charity case franchise that nobody goes to see, that will never be remotely worth what they paid for it.

With all due respect Lords, why aint you rich?? :stirthepot:

My luck is Lords will turn out to be Paul Allen incognito :shock:

 

[Lords of Scythia]

A relocation vote should come down to:
Would you rather own an NBA franchise in Seattle or Sacramento?

That’s the question the NBA owners will be answering FOR another owner.

How would they vote if it were for their own team?

I don’t think there’d be a single ‘no’ vote if that were the criteria. Seattle is the easy choice. Even Ranadive and Mastrov would jump at the chance to own this team in Seattle as opposed to Sacramento.

This is an extremely complicated vote.

Pro-Seattle:
A sturdy ownership group that has all it's ducks in a row.
Top 15 market (remember that new upcoming TV deal)
Would pay into profit sharing instead of receiving.
Built-in fanbase
New arena is very far along and ready to break ground almost immediately
Already have a purchase agreement

Pro-Sacramento:
Political and fan support
Good ownership group
Probably able to build arena almost as quickly
Team already is in Sacramento

Honestly, I would hate to be the NBA making this decision. The only win-win is immediate expansion for Seattle while Sacramento stays and that's incredibly unlikely.

Stern has given Sacramento every opportunity to keep the team and I think Sacramento almost has done enough, but it's not without alienating Seattle.

It's my understanding the Sac arena group doesn't even own all the necessary property, and does not have city approval. Their arena deal is years behind ours.

 

[Lords of Scythia]

@ Blitzer

Look at it this way. How rich is our group? ? How did they get that rich?? Ok now think about this....

Why would our group give 30mill cash down plus go and buy all the land that they did, if they did not know something. Plus how much all the fees for court and lawyers. these guys are businessmen here to make money not lose it. they have been working on this for a long time we don't know what they had work out prior to going public for all we know this is all been done since the beginning. plus if you remember a few months before all this became public Stern himself said he would do anything in his power to get a team back in Seattle before he retires. just think of all the stuff he had said when we lost the Sonics he blew smoke up everybody's butt everyday. stern just needs to make it look like he is giving them a chance. the group we have here in Seattle is way too strong with way too much money to just walk away from these men are here to win not lose.

I'm not so sure they're all that smart. If they end up with the team, they're going to massively overpay for a cash-hemmoraging charity case franchise that nobody goes to see, that will never be remotely worth what they paid for it.

With all due respect Lords, why aint you rich?? :stirthepot:

My luck is Lords will turn out to be Paul Allen incognito :shock:

Ha ha. I wish. I'll have a barbeque on the slave farm and you're all invited.