City Sues Sonics to keep them through 2010

[GB-Hack]

Honestly, isn't this going to make the owners want to leave more than trying to get them to stay of their own accord?

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3034400

Injury aside, it looks like we can forget the Oden-Durant Pacific northwest rivalry.

 

[JackyJackBN]

Aw shucks, just when I was going to use this news to bump my Muckleshoot thread... ;)

 

[Armchair_QB]

Shouldn't they be suing them to leave?

 

[JackyJackBN]

Shouldn't they be suing them to leave?

Well, City Council President Nick Licata said that NBA teams have 'no significant social or economic value'--words to that effect--and if you agree, of course they should go.

I believe pro sports teams are amenities, useful if they can be afforded. Both sides are busily poisoning the water in this case.

Slade Gorton was effective in keeping the Mariners in Seattle, but he had more clout at that time. It will be interested to see how this plays out.

 

[MacDaddy]

Slade Gorton was effective in keeping the Mariners in Seattle, but he had more clout at that time. It will be interested to see how this plays out.

And the Seahawks. He's going for the hat trick.

 

[black dude with pompano]

In 1995, after Modell announced he was moving to Baltimore, the city of Cleveland sued the Browns to enforce the stadium lease and was prepared to make the Browns play for three seasons as a lame-duck team.

Ultimately, that turned into a very effective bargaining chip with the NFL, and the city dropped the suit when the league promised another team.

This is a slightly different scenario because the NBA probably won't be coming back to Seattle once (not if) the Sonics leave for OKC. But if I were a Seattle resident, I would want to pursue this suit out of spite alone.

The Sonics are gone, whether it's now or several years down the road. Kowtowing to the Oklahoma owners isn't going to change anything.

 

[Starman]

Honestly, isn't this going to make the owners want to leave more than trying to get them to stay of their own accord?

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3034400

Injury aside, it looks like we can forget the Oden-Durant Pacific northwest rivalry.

Yeah, well, ****, expecting that major league sports franchise owners should have to live up to legally-binding contracts, that's a pretty radical position to take.

 

[JackyJackBN]

Honestly, isn't this going to make the owners want to leave more than trying to get them to stay of their own accord?

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3034400

Injury aside, it looks like we can forget the Oden-Durant Pacific northwest rivalry.

Yeah, well, ****, expecting that major league sports franchise owners should have to live up to legally-binding contracts, that's a pretty radical position to take.

You bring up an interesting point, "legally-binding contracts". It's in the hands of the lawyers now; they're arguing over what's legally binding.

I'm guessing that more times than not, when a team has sought to buy out a lease, it has done so successfully. (Someone who knows, please shed light on that.) Now we're going to find out how well/securely the City of Seattle wrote that lease, and how many "ambiguities" they may have left in.

As for the ****, there may be some of that in the lease too.

 

[GB-Hack]

Honestly, isn't this going to make the owners want to leave more than trying to get them to stay of their own accord?

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3034400

Injury aside, it looks like we can forget the Oden-Durant Pacific northwest rivalry.

Yeah, well, ****, expecting that major league sports franchise owners should have to live up to legally-binding contracts, that's a pretty radical position to take.

But if all you're trying to do is keep them there for another three seasons before they leave, what's the point.

If you want them to stay, don't bring a lawsuit, negotiate a new deal.

 

[JackyJackBN]

They aren't really dancing until they bring the lawyers in.

Now the decision-making process is actually underway.

 

[black dude with pompano]

Honestly, isn't this going to make the owners want to leave more than trying to get them to stay of their own accord?

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3034400

Injury aside, it looks like we can forget the Oden-Durant Pacific northwest rivalry.

Yeah, well, ****, expecting that major league sports franchise owners should have to live up to legally-binding contracts, that's a pretty radical position to take.

But if all you're trying to do is keep them there for another three seasons before they leave, what's the point.

If you want them to stay, don't bring a lawsuit, negotiate a new deal.

I think the point is to f*** them over as much as humanly possible before they do leave. This is over, GB. The Sonics are going to OKC. It's just a matter of when.

 

[GB-Hack]

And that disappoints me.

Now, that being the case, does the league realign? OKC being in the Northwest division is going to be funky. The trouble is, I don't see a way to do it with the way the Western Conference is now.

 

[Football_Bat]

I don't see any way to do it. But with Denver and Utah in the Northwest Division already, it won't be a geographical stretch (Oklahoma touches Colorado in the panhandle.)

Besides, Minnesota is already in the Northwest Division. That was geographically correct back in 1803, maybe.

I assume when the NBA expands to 32 teams, it will subdivide into eight 4-team divisions like the NFL, and that's where the big realignment will take place.

 

[statrat]

Now the fans jump on the lawsuit bandwagon as well:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003915562_sonicslawsuit01m.html

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

Boston Globe reports that New Orleans Hornets must average about 15K for all home games through next February or they will be allowed to move -- maybe to Oklahoma City!!

http://www.boston.com/sports/basketball/celtics/extras/celtics_blog/2008/01/no_fans_must_sa.html

 

[statrat]

Boston Globe reports that New Orleans Hornets must average about 15K for all home games through next February or they will be allowed to move -- maybe to Oklahoma City!!

http://www.boston.com/sports/basketball/celtics/extras/celtics_blog/2008/01/no_fans_must_sa.html

This is getting stupid. NBA needs to make its team sign mandatory 20 year leases when they move. If the Hornets move, OKC (or possibly to Seattle if the Sonics get there first) it will be what, their third home in the last 15 years? Grizzlies are already rumored to want out of Memphis, and they've been there less than 10 years. If an owner wants out of their original location because it's not working, fine, but then they should have a 20 year waiting period before the team can relocate again.

 

[Lester Bangs]

Having watched it happen to the Mariners (multiple times) and the Seahawks, I guess I don't really expect this thing to go through if for no other reason than that it is still damn hard to move a team. That, and despite all the tough talk from Stern, he wants to pull a team from Seattle and move it to Oklahoma City as much as he wants Isiah Thomas dating his daughter.

Vancouver to Memphis made sense. Charlotte to New Orleans was, in many ways, lateral. But you're going to leave the second (third?) biggest market on the west coast to move to Oklahoma City? Stern is playing the game right now, talking tough, but when push comes to shove a move to OKC is bad for the league and he knows it.

 

[JackyJackBN]

Anyone see any significance in the fact that the Storm (WNBA) has just been bought out by four local women investors and has pledged to stay?

I think this gives the local and state (read governor) politicos extra cushion with much of the local electorate if they decide to take a hard stand on the Sonics and let 'em go. Won't help Key Arena much, however.

 

[MacDaddy]

Anyone see any significance in the fact that the Storm (WNBA) has just been bought out by four local women investors and has pledged to stay?

I think this gives the local and state (read governor) politicos extra cushion with much of the local electorate if they decide to take a hard stand on the Sonics and let 'em go. Won't help Key Arena much, however.

I think it gives Clay Bennett $10 million for something he didn't want anyway.

 

[Lester Bangs]

Anyone see any significance in the fact that the Storm (WNBA) has just been bought out by four local women investors and has pledged to stay?

I think this gives the local and state (read governor) politicos extra cushion with much of the local electorate if they decide to take a hard stand on the Sonics and let 'em go. Won't help Key Arena much, however.

I think it gives Clay Bennett $10 million for something he didn't want anyway.

Well said, my friend. It's called stocking up the cellar for the long winter to come. He fully intends to wait this thing out and this just gives him more cash with which to offset the losses the city is trying to pile on him in an attempt to get him to sell.