Former Sonics owner suing to undo sale

yes he has. i'd like to know why.

 

I can think of at least two reasons: If I'm not mistaken Bennett helped the NBA when it was in a bad situation post-Katrina with getting the Hornets set up in OKC. Also, I think Stern likes sending the message to cities that this is what happens if you don't give in to our demands and build us new arenas.

 

As always, to help extort multi-hundred million-dollar arenas out of local taxpayers, which then, in effect, are given to the franchises for free.

Lesson 1: OKC built a new arena. Seattle refused. Seattle, you lose your team.

Lesson 2, coming a few years down the line: Seattle builds a new arena, gets new team.

 

Hell, we're starting to see some scary stuff in baseball should Tampa Bay get a new stadium. Team might just be in its teens by the time that new stadium would open at the current site of Al Lang Field. I understand that Tropicana Field pre-dates the Rays, but only by what, five years? This whole new arena deal could get messy.

 

you really think it's that simple of a process to shit on a base of, what, fans of 30 years?

 

Stern is pretty much saying, "If you don't give us what we want, we'll take our teams some place where we can sucker taxpayers out of their money."

 

I thought the Trop predated the Rays by at least a decade, if not more. That place seemed hideously outdated from Day 1 of the Devilled Eggs existence. And God damn Trampa Bay for officially changing their name. I lost one of my favorite insult names as a result.

 

Only problem with that premise is that by the time all the lawyers come and go and this has dragged out in courts for some time, if Seattle does lose the Sonics, I'm not sure the people there would openly welcome the NBA back. It might be Sonics or bust, given how ugly this seems from a distance.

I would peg Kansas City (Sprint Arena) for a team -- the Grizzlies, perhaps? -- before I would Seattle again.

 

I recall that the Trop was built at a time to entice the Giants to leave SF which was going to occur until Peter Magowan stepped up and got some investors to buy the Giants in the early 90's as I recall, probably 1992 or 3 just before Bonds came.

 

The SF Giants almost broke up The National League's Best Rivalry in 1992, to move to St. Petersburg. Then they got new ownership, signed Bonds, choked away a pennant race, and built a new stadium a few years later.

 

The Trop was nearly home to the Mariners as well, until their 1995 miracle got them a new ballpark.

 

touche.