ESPN Poll on Sonics
ESPN’s Emmy Award winning show Outside the Lines today ended with the poll question, “Should the NBA allow the Sonics to move to Oklahoma City?” I thought, no way there’s more than five percent in favor of the NBA moving the Sonics to OKC. So I waited until the end of the show to find out the results.
Turns out, more than 57 percent of those polled voted yes, saying the NBA should allow the move. Talk about a shocker. I didn’t see the total number of votes below the results. I don’t think OTL showed how many had voted. But it was definitely interesting to see that large a percentage being in favor of the move.
I searched for the link to the OTL poll and couldn’t find it. I’m curious to see if SportsCenter will air the poll tonight. I doubt it, however. The Sportsnation poll currently on both ESPN.com’s home page and its NBA home page had a question about which recent NBA trade will have the biggest impact on the playoffs.
-DM-
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Comments
is that a link phillip?
phillip your strugglin. your a lonely,pathetic,probably obese,okie drone. go away. this is now a seattle site!
DM, you sadly couldn’t be more inept at reading polls. As you state, the question asks “Should the nba ALLOW the Sonics to move to OKC?” That is a far cry from asking whether or not people are “in favor of the move”. Get some critical thinking skills.
I’m glad you thought it was “interesting” to see “that large a percentage” being “in favor of the move”. If you had the internet research abilities of your boy Phillip you would see that this impressive margin you cite is now a somewhat less impressive 0%.
I find it more interesting that your definition of success is anything over “five percent”. Way to set the bar. I guess you’re pretty aware by now that public opinion is not on your side, and these emails are only making matters worse. I’m sure you think your pseudo-objectivity absolves you from blame in this farce, but really you’re just covering for an amoral theif and fawning David Stern sycophant. Even Donut Eyes has seen the light. This is not how you earn national respect.
Actually the funny thing was that the OKC crowd had already padded the vote before the times and sc.com found out about it. The thing is that these “polls” are normally hijacked by people who write scripts to load up the results. It was so insignificant that the SOS group didn’t even send out a notice of it.
DM did say he expected the poll to be about 5% in favor of moving the Sonics, so he was actually surprised by the results as most who recognize there is broad opposition to the relocation. It’s true that he did not quote the poll question accurately and might have read into the results differently if he understood what it was asking. Don’t get on him too much for the mistake. Although he’s on the staff of the Oklahoman to cover the NBA, this specific forum does not receive the same scrutiny from editors and such to ensure journalistic standards of accuracy.
DM, just out of curiousity, how did you vote? I voted no (NBA should not allow Sonics to move) .
I don’t have a problem with him on this. It is just that any web poll that lets you vote unlimited times is worthless. Even if it came back 100% in favor of the Sonics staying I wouldn’t cite it as meaning anything.
What is telling is things like the Time “10 questions” site where 1300+ people posted questions nearly all of them critical of David Stern and his bungling of the Sonics situation.
“Way to set the bar. I guess you’re pretty aware by now that public opinion is not on your side,”
Public opinion rarely sides with the new city in relo situations regardless of the circumstances…Have there been classier moves?…Definitely, but having public opinion on your side is hardly newsworthy and has very little impact
Public opinion, and the ESPN poll was overwhelmingly in favor of the Hornets staying in OKC. Journalists and television commentators wrote articles and gave opinions on sports shows saying the Hornets should stay in OKC. You can see how that worked out for us.
Of course public opinion is going to say the Sonics shouldn’t leave. I didn’t think the Colts should leave Baltimore, the Browns should leave Cleveland either. I didn’t think the Sonics should leave Seattle, until I saw how disinterested in building an arena they were in Seattle, and how everyone up there thinks sports owners should be building their own arenas. That’s a city holding it’s hand out, if you ask me. The owner is supposed to spend hundreds of millions for the team, lose money or make very little every year AND pay for an arena? All so private citizens can watch basketball? Sounds like entitlement to me. I don’t blame Stern for being sick of Seattle after I’ve watched the behavior up there for two years. I’d be running far, far away myself.
Jill,
You really have no idea what’s been going on in Seattle. We build arenas in Seattle all the time. We built one for the Sonics less than 12 years before the Okies promised they had no intention of buying the Sonics to move to OKC. We built 2 more facilities (the best in each of their respective leagues in fact) several years back. As the lease is running out on the Key, it’s time to build another state of the art facility for the Sonics. It’s going to happen, first we just need to shake the self-proclaimed “dumb okie” out of the trees and kick him back to his hole. In the meantime, let’s just enjoy this opportunity for two communities to get to know each other before the issue is settled and we only have awkward silence between us. Seattle has been through this many times, trust me when I tell that it is only now just beginning and that we’re in for a fun ride.
Hey Jill,
You’re obviously misled (and that’s not your fault). We won’t build an arena for Bennett because his only proposal was one that was fully paid for by the taxpayers where he would be the only one getting the arena revenue (read my other post on the blog about Bennett’s e-mails for more info).
We have several proposal that the Sonics could have considered if they really were intent on trying to stay in Seattle, all of which were better than a renovated Ford Center. Among others there was the Muckleshoots’ proposal, Steve Ballmers proposal for a renovated KeyArena, Fred Browns $1 billion Emerald City Center, and many other proposals to renovate KeyArena. Many of these were offered before it was “too late.”
Muckleshoots free land only proposal was a joke…Ballmers proposal was shot down by the state legislature and had him as the owner..Thinking that wouldn’t be very attractive to the CURRENT owner…Should you really list a billion dollar pipe dream that has no funding and no location?
I would feel much worse about this situation if your city or state leaders had offered up anything worthwhile that was shot down by Bennett and Stern…Majority of the blame needs to be thrown Olympia’s way instead of OKC
jill, the ford center will need to be replaced very soon. as i understand it is only six years old, and only had a brief NBA tennant. now you the taxpayer, have been asked to put in another 100+ plus million dollars. you people have done this in the hopes of stealing a storied and beloved franchise, from a city who has supported them for 41 years, also from a city who are just 13 years removed from remodeling their arena into a “model for the rest of the NBA”, those are the words of your pal mr. stern. in short, we know this game. we have been through it on much bigger levels(MLB and NFL). we do not feel entitled! you people have gotten in way over your heads. if the supes move? i can hardly wait to see the fallout when bennett aks for a brand new facility, in less than ten years. and i can laugh when i hear all of the okc , saying whats wrong with the ford center.
RJ, Ballmer’s offer was not shot down by the legislature. They haven’t even had the opportunity to consider it. Is this the kind of information you guys are getting in OKC? If so, no wonder Jill is so misguided.
Seattle is used to building WORLD CLASS stadiums. We have two of them. Sonics could have one as well had they gone about requesting it with respect and properly requesting it which they did not do. Bennett has been nothing but condescending to the fans of the Sonics, the city of Seattle and the State of Washington. It only has led to tremendous loathing.
Regarding that ESPN poll, it is a joke. It is far from scientific. It could have been more effective if people could only vote one time. Any chance any of you know about auto-bots?
It’s very odd reading the post’s from Seattle.
The central theme is the denial of where we’re at and whats about to happen with the Sonics. It’s interesting to see how this takes the different posters off into different fantasys that result in the Sonics staying in Seattle.
Acceptance is a big step to take and by addressing some of the things written in the last few posts, I hope to help some of the posters come to terms with this.
SEATTLE Sonics Says:
“As the lease is running out on the Key, it’s time to build another state of the art facility for the Sonics. It’s going to happen, first we just need to shake the self-proclaimed “dumb okie” out of the trees and kick him back to his hole.”
Seattle has waited to long to come to that conclusion with the current team. The name can be retained as part of a buyout agreement, however. Clay Bennett has consistently said the team is not for sale and there is no reason to believe that will change.
SEATTLE Sonics Says:
“Seattle has been through this many times, trust me when I tell that it is only now just beginning and that we’re in for a fun ride.”
This time is different, this time it’s just too late.. The NBA BOG will meet in the next week and approve the request for the Sonics to relocate the team to OKC, shortly thereafter the Sonics will sign a 15 year lease with OKC beginning in 2010 or upon the successful resolution of the lease. This will end any hope of the current team remaining in Seattle beyond 2010. The end.
Sam, you were consistent in that you were wrong about every single thing you said. ( and that’s not your fault.)
joey Says:
“jill, the ford center will need to be replaced very soon.”
We are signing a 15 year lease on the Ford Center and it would be very foolish of us to believe that it will be satisfactory beyond that. We will have to have a plan and an agreement with the team for them to stay beyond that. Seattle doesn’t and they’re losing their team because of that.
Guess Who Says:
“RJ, Ballmer’s offer was not shot down by the legislature. They haven’t even had the opportunity to consider it. Is this the kind of information you guys are getting in OKC? If so, no wonder Jill is so misguided.”
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/sonics/2004341257_sonibargaining11.html
“But hey, all of that talk about KeyArena is moot. After all, our politicians and business leaders haven’t been able to get a funding plan together.
There’s that little matter of public fury over subsidizing billionaire NBA owners.
Optimists might say Ballmer and Nickels filled the glass three-quarters full on the latest push for a $300 million KeyArena expansion. Ballmer offered to pay $150 million and the city would kick in $75 million.
It’s just that Gov. Christine Gregoire and the Legislature want to appoint a task force to study whether to top the glass off with the final $75 million.
A task force. That’s just how things are done around here.
So what is Seattle left to bargain with? That KeyArena lease that is supposed to run through September 2010.
While these sort of lease fights are usually resolved with a settlement, Seattle looks determined to make this one nasty and protracted, if the e-mails dredged up in the city’s lawsuit are any indication.
And if the city wins? The Sonics could be forced to stay for two more dismal seasons. Then they’d leave anyway, and maybe Seattle could cut a deal for another NBA team.
Still, this lawsuit thing would buy an extra two years.
That just might be just long enough for a task force to recommend something.
“This time is different, this time it’s just too late..”
It’s too late? It wasn’t “too late” when the Seahawks were holding practices in Los Angeles. It wasn’t “too late” when the Mariners were selling season tickets in Tampa Bay. What makes you think it’s “too late” for the Sonics who aren’t close to doing either of those?
“Sam, you were consistent in that you were wrong about every single thing you said. ( and that’s not your fault.)”
If it was, then why don’t you explain why it’s wrong and destroy my credibility on this board. Then you won’t have to listen to me.
“And if the city wins? The Sonics could be forced to stay for two more dismal seasons. Then they’d leave anyway, and maybe Seattle could cut a deal for another NBA team.”
That’s true, but what the OKC newspapers apparently aren’t telling you is that Howard Schultz can sue Bennett and force him to sell the Sonics because of Bennett’s violation of the contract he signed.
And don’t think that Schultz won’t. If he wants to save his business (Starbucks) in the northwest, then he would be more dim-witted than Bennett to not sue.
“RJ, Ballmer’s offer was not shot down by the legislature. They haven’t even had the opportunity to consider it”
Your own publications described that way Guess Who
*Nickels had pledged $75 million from the city through lease payments and admissions taxes on KeyArena.
But the state Legislature declined to authorize an additional $75 million that would have been raised through taxes on restaurant meals and car rentals in King County. Nickels said his staff was unable to come up with an alternative way to raise that money without the state’s help.*
Didn’t have time to consider it?
*Though the idea didn’t become public until two weeks before the 2008 legislative session adjourned March 13, Griffin and city leaders say elected leaders knew details of the plan much earlier — in time to authorize $75 million in local taxes for the plan had they been so inclined.
In March, top lawmakers and Gov. Chris Gregoire said the deal was the best they’d seen in three years, but the offer simply came too late to act on this year.
From the investment group’s perspective, that was a misrepresentation.
In a March 7 e-mail to Gregoire’s legislative liaison, Griffin expressed exasperation with the way the issue had been framed in public comments.
“I want you and the Governor to have the timeline,” Griffin wrote. “As you can see from the attachment, the mayor started working with Olympia in December. We met with the Speaker over a month ago. We tried to do it quietly, so people wouldn’t feel pushed into a corner. For trying to be gentle and work respectfully with Olympia, it seems unfair to now be told that we came in at the last minute. You and the Governor should know the timeline.”
The timeline indicates Gregoire, Speaker of the House Frank Chopp, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels and King County Executive Ron Sims met in December to discuss a basic framework of the proposal.*
“That’s true, but what the OKC newspapers apparently aren’t telling you is that Howard Schultz can sue Bennett and force him to sell the Sonics because of Bennett’s violation of the contract he signed.”
He stuck to his one year deadline and made a proposal endorsed by a senior Senator in your legislature…Thinking emails to his buddies wouldn’t be enough to make a case
He never stuck to his one-year deadline. The earliest e-mails that have been released were dated 3 months before the deadline. He still had 3 months to make a “good-faith effort” and instead spent that time talking with his buddies about how excited he was that the Sonics were going to end up in OKC.
I’ve also heard from someone that works closely with Save Our Sonics that they are e-mails that date back to 10 days after the PBC purchased the Sonics where Bennett was discussing how they were going to move the Sonics from Seattle to OKC. How was he sticking to his deadline.
The emails were a publicity stunt to embarrass the owners and to undermine the BOG vote and their seriousness as been greatly exaggerated.
It might swing a vote or two but I doubt it. The BOG vote is a certainty.
As far as the good faith effort is concerned, the Chairwoman of the House Ways and Means would be called to testify in court. This is what she had to say about it the past December…….
“I know for a fact that he wanted to stay,” Prentice said about Bennett. “He spent a lot of time and money trying to make it work here. And the real tragedy is we had the votes in both houses.”
“Seattle has painted itself in a corner because it’s impossible now,” Prentice said. “They are desperate, trying to figure out a way to make it work, and it doesn’t work.
“Too may people have engaged in wishful thinking, hoping that the fairy godmother is going to arrive, and there’s no such person out there.”
“They are about as close to (being gone) as I have experienced,” Prentice said. “It’s a shame. A lot of people are going to be disappointed. It’s a disgrace to lose a team for no good reason.”
The Bog will approve the move and the Sonics will sign a 15 year lease agreement with OKC beginning in 2010 or upon the successful resolution of the lease.
The key then will be for the Ballmer group to get the state to play ball and complete the Key remodel proposal so that Slade has something to bargain for in buyout negotiations. There can’t be a solution that ends with the NBA in Seattle without an arena agreement with a local ownership group.
Both sides will want to have this worked out before the trial starts because lawyers like sure things and both sides stand a chance of losing if it goes to trial.
You can call it a publicity stunt if you like. But it’s that publicity stunt that will get Bennett sued by Schultz.
And just because Prentice felt like Bennett was making a good-faith effort, doesn’t mean that he actually was. One’s opinion of someone else will never hold up in court versus actual evidence. Not to mention that there are e-mails out there that are dated back to 10 days after Bennett purchased the Sonics where he was discussing how to get the Sonics in OKC as soon as possible.
The only way that this could possibly get worked out before the trial date is if Bennett agrees to sell the team, which according to you isn’t very likely. The city of Seattle would not have gone through the trouble of gathering this evidence against Bennett if they were going to eventually allow Bennett to buyout the rest of the KeyArena lease.
“How was he sticking to his deadline.”
He gave the city and state the year to come up with something and they didn’t…If your politicians wouldn’t have played hardball with Stern and Schultz a few years back we wouldn’t be having this conversation
I guess he lied to Prentice much better than to everyone else. Either that, or she’s pretty freakin gullible.
I just want to pass on my appreciation to the 16,000 + fans that packed KeyArena tonight and rocked. You can argue on this forum or any other about Seattle not stepping up to save the Sonics and I will call BS on you. It was like a playoff game and the best part was at the end when the Mavs fouled and the whole arena chanted “Save Our Sonics”. Gary Payton was also in the house and said it would be a “disaster” if the Sonics left and he believes it will work out. Curious to know what he was in town for although he and Durant have the same agent. Don’t know where things will go from here but the NBA can’t igonre the noise that Seattle is making and the hard “HONEST” work that is going on to save this team!!!
“Stern said it’s too late at this point to seek other owners who would keep the Sonics in the city where they’ve played the past 41 years.
“I think it’s fair to say that extraordinary efforts were made to seek ownership interests when Howard sold the team, including from people who became involved in the effort — the recently unsuccessful effort — to get the state to extend the sales tax for the purposes of retiring the arena debt,” Stern said.
“It happened already. There was no one who was interested in buying the team, including the very people who stepped forward at the last minute.”
“Despite the release of e-mails that SuperSonics owner Clay Bennett exchanged last year with partners about moving the team to Oklahoma City, NBA commissioner David Stern says he is convinced Bennett made a good-faith effort to keep the team in Seattle.”
Wow! You folks in Oklahoma are a lot more liberal than us Washingtonians. McClendon didn’t want the Seattle Storm in OKC because, “OKC doesn’t want those types of women in their city”, but nobody seems up in arms about the Stern/ Bennett love affair. Remember OKC it’s better to be a giver than a taker.
Fellas! No One wants to move to your lame-ass red neck State and Town!! I work for the team and am from Seattle, and none of the Sonics players want to move to Oklahoma City! Oklahoma City? Are you serious? Sorry! Go find your own team and try to replicate our great history with you own team! Tell Clay and his lying thieving-ass red neck homies to sell teh team back to our Seattle guys and to buy the Grizzlies!
Durant doesn’t want to leave Seattle.
Durant and his agent won’t go public with this, but Durant won’t re-sign after his rookie contract expires if the team moves to OKC.
Just FYI
“Durant and his agent won’t go public with this, but Durant won’t re-sign after his rookie contract expires if the team moves to OKC.
Just FYI”
Oh well then cancel the whole deal
Won’t be any tears shed over losing a Longhorn if he does
“I work for the team and am from Seattle, and none of the Sonics players want to move to Oklahoma City!”
Looking at the current roster I hope you are right
Apparently I should have been more clear — Durant won’t play in Oklahoma City past his rookie contract.
When players say they don’t want to leave Seattle, it’s a diplomatic way of saying they sure as **** don’t want to play in OKC.
Basketball is “big” enough to be played in both Seattle and OKC. The reason we went down this path is because Stern and Bennett both knew that the NBA would never get away with awarding an expansion franchise to OKC (over Las Vegas and others). The ONLY way to get a team to OKC is to do what those t wo did.
Anyway, I have two questions for you Oklahomians……..
How did it make you feel towards Clay when it went public that he lied, not only Seattle (which I’m sure you could care less about) but to Stern (his great friend) as well?
And….
If Clay will lie to Stern, do you think he will lie to you?
phillip my friend,
here is a lil poll that you may or may not have seen. it was sent thru my shipper’s alliance from freight forwarder’s thru-out the U.S.. how many people think mick c. got okie city into a fight that is way over okie city’s head?? 89%, with, the majority stating that didnt any U.S. cities learn anything about the cities of L.A. and Tampa Bay losing that same fight. phillip, do you know how embarressing it is to have to refund the $$ for the prepaid season-ticcket holders, ask the city of Tampa Bay!!! SEE YA’LL IN JUNE!!
MIKE U.
I agree there’s no way Durant resigns if the team is playing in Oklahoma City.
I’ve vacationed in Seattle several times and it’s one of my favorite cities on the planet. It ranks up there with Paris, Miami, New York, New Orleans as far as culture, history, and beauty. The restaurants are to die for (and what else would you expect with such a melting pot of cultures?), the sound is as beautiful as any area in America, and the city is clean, safe, and urban.
It would be very difficult to be a young 20-something NBA athlete living in a condo in Seattle to then be uprooted and forced to move to Oklahoma City. Are you kidding me? No Sonics player would be happy with that.
Bennett is on crack if he thinks he’ll have any chance of luring coveted free agents to OKC.
Better check the poll numbers again. Over 70% say they should stay in Seattle. You have to wait until the west coast sees the show!
Here’s a link to the online poll…..
http://sports.espn.go.com/chat/sportsnation/index
What’s funny about it, is that the link has posted on the Seattle Times message board and Sonicscentral.com all day and with them trying to pad the vote, it’s still running 50/50 with over 8500 votes cast.