Billionaire owner Clay Bennett has taken the first steps in petitioning the NBA to move the Sonics from Seattle to Oklahoma City. The team has three years on their lease left at decrepit KeyArena, but have an opt-out clause they can exercise after this season with penalty. Civic support for a publicly funded new arena has failed to gain any traction in the state legislature, despite whole-hearted support from the ownership group in Oklahoma City. Meanwhile, a state-of-the-art new arena waits in the booming downtown district of OKC. The eager fans from Oklahoma proved they could support an NBA franchise during the past two seasons as they hosted the New Orleans-Oklahoma City Hornets (NOOCH! for those in the know), due to the disaster of Hurricane Katrina.
While it is difficult to see the Sonics leave Seattle after 40 years, it is the right of the owners to move teams, especially when they can no longer remain financially viable in their present situation. The time for protest has past. It should have been conducted when the sale was being discussed, especially to OKC businessmen when had previously stated that it was their intention to bring the team to Oklahoma.
Sadly and ironically, the city that is perhaps least financialy able to support an NBA franchise is the New Orleans Hornets, who have already shown as much in five years. That would be the most natural fit, but now post-Katrina, everyone has shown a moral obligation to commit to rebuilding the Crescent City.
Here's a much better read on the issue, from Henry Abbott formerly of TrueHoop, now ESPN.
Thoughts? Is this a done deal?
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