Oldmangrouch

The NBA owners voted today to allow Clay Bennett to steal the Sonics and move them out of Seattle.

Cuban and Allen were the only owners to stand up to Stern/Bennett and vote no. A hearty pat-on-the-back to both of them!

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RipCity9

The owners voted 27-2 in favor of relocating the Sonics to OKC. Good for allen.

NBA owners approve Sonics move, pending litigation
Associated Press

Updated: April 18, 2008, 3:48 PM ET

NEW YORK -- NBA owners approved the Seattle SuperSonics' move to Oklahoma City for the 2008-09 season Friday, pending the resolution of litigation between the team and the city of Seattle.

The Sonics could begin playing in owner Clay Bennett's hometown as early as next season if they can get out of the remaining two years of their lease at KeyArena.

Owners voted 28-2 in favor of the move, with Dallas and Portland voting against. Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has previously expressed concerns about the market size, and commissioner David Stern said the Trail Blazers, owned by Paul Allen, didn't say why they voted the way they did.

Stern said although owners understand the move from a larger market to a much smaller one, they "focused on the likelihood of success in Oklahoma City."

Seattle has filed suit trying to force the Sonics to remain in the city until the lease expires in 2010, while Bennett wants to buy out the remainder. The city already has rejected Bennett's $26 million to settle the lease dispute. A trial is set to begin in federal court June 16.

The city's hope is to keep the Sonics in town for what would appear to be two lame duck seasons, to buy time for a group led by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to find an arena solution and eventually purchase the team from Bennett to keep them in town.

Ballmer's group already has proposed paying for half of a $300 million expansion of KeyArena, with the other half coming from the city and from county tax revenues.

"We know the longer they are in the Seattle, the better the chance they will stay," Mayor Greg Nickels said Thursday of the Sonics.

"I think if we had a group the caliber of one led by Steve Ballmer and we had an arena pot with $300 million available in it, the NBA would have a hard time abandoning a city that's always had pro basketball -- at least for the last 41 years," he said.

"I think the Ballmer group stepping forward was a game-changer for us," Nickels said.

Bennett is also facing a class-action lawsuit brought by season-ticket holders who say they were duped into buying tickets under the premise the Sonics wouldn't leave.

And this week former team owner Howard Schultz announced plans to sue to get the team back, saying Bennett did not make a good-faith effort to secure a new arena deal as he promised when he bought the team in 2006.

"It really doesn't feel like it's over here yet," Sonics forward Nick Collison, who owns a home up the hill from KeyArena, said before the vote was taken. "There's still a lot of things to do."

Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press

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Dan

I suspect, while I'm happy he voted against it, it had as much to do with that he might have not liked it happening, as it does with the fact he doesn't want to piss on the Seahawks fan base.

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blazermaniaisback

Ding Ding Ding!!!!

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Jp

"All great change in America begins at the dinner table."

Ronald Reagan



Portland Trail Blazers - SF Giants - Denver Broncos - OSU Beavers

Stepping Razor

And perhaps, less cynically, that he is a lifelong Seattle native, he loves his hometown (something that some of us Blazer fans have chafed about at times), and that he doesn't like seeing Seattle get **** on.

SR

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chairman

Exactly. The other owners only cared about protecting their rights as owners. To protect their right to do anything they #$%^ing care to with their team since they own it. And in most instances in life I would agree with that philosophy. Just not when it comes to 40 year old sports franchises. Good for Paul and Mark. Can you imagine if Paul moved the Blazers last year because attendance was down and because he didn't like his arena deal. Would that have been right? Would the Portland fans really deserve that? Portland has never voted to build a professional arena and never will. Do they ever in New York City?
San Francisco

mediocre man

The only two owners that voted against the move were Mark Cuban and Paul Allen


Cuban because OKC is close enough to Dallas that it might take fans away, and PA I imagine voted no because of a solid marketing ploy.

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Former Blazer Alaa Abdelnaby on being a student athlete at Duke. "The only way I could get 5 A's at Duke was to spell my name"


I'm Mediocre Man, and I approve this message.

mediocre man

Uhoh, merge mine or delete it. I didn't see this thread.

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Former Blazer Alaa Abdelnaby on being a student athlete at Duke. "The only way I could get 5 A's at Duke was to spell my name"


I'm Mediocre Man, and I approve this message.

MrJayremmie

Good for them two.

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Jerryd Bayless

BlayZa

pretty sure this is on the forum 3x already...

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