Stern archives
I was doing some research for something else I was working on and came across an interesting story in the Memphis Commercial Appeal. The article is from Nov. 2, 2001, the day after the Memphis Grizzlies played their first game in the city after relocating from Vancouver.
NBA Commissioner David Stern was on hand and had this to say:
“We love to be where we’re wanted…It means a lot to the NBA to be in a place that renews us. It helps not only us but the team in the sense of renewal.”
After reading that statement, I couldn’t help but think of the current situation the Sonics are in. You’ll have to draw your own conclusions.
Also of note from the article was this tidbit: The Grizzlies had sold roughly 9,500 season tickets as of that opening-night. Stern said that figure was well within the league’s projections.
“When the operations started we thought the range initially would be between 7,500 and 10,000,” Stern said. “That (season-ticket base) is pretty good in NBA parlance.”
After reading that last bit, I couldn’t help but wonder how the NBA then views OKC after residents gobbled up more than 10,000 season tickets for the Hornets’ first season when they knew the team was temporary, then swallowed up more than 12,000 in Year Two when the team was clearly headed back to new Orleans. Again, draw your own conclusions.
-DM-
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Comments
the move from vancouver was a tragic mistake. a move from seattle will be ten times worse. once the original fervor has left. these small fledgling cities cannot sustain!
its why the NBA is in dire straits, its tied for dead last in the ratings. and who is the NBA’s partner at the bottom? NASCAR!! and it will get worse, with stupid moves like this. stern is digging his own grave!!
The Inside the NBA coverage was great but of course lacked any depth. There is just so much you can put into a 15 minute segment.
What the league needs to see is the damage that will be done to the league if they give up on the #12 market. The TNT people asked everyone they talked to if they would be watching if the team re-located and to the person they said No, if the NBA leaves here we are done with them. Any thought that the Seattle market would suddenly become Blazers fans is a serious miscalculation. There is no way Seattle fans would ever jump on the Blazer bandwagon.
The biggest thing they didn’t mention is that the region has just built THREE new facilities in the last 12 years, one for each sport, and is still paying off the debt for the 100% taxpayer funded Key Arena to be built to the specs demanded by the NBA.
OKC had better take a serious look at what happened here because their future will look just like this no matter what team they end up with.
You think you are ok because you have local owners? We did as well with a loyal owner selling to one that turned to be dis-loyal and who sold to an out of town owner that proved to be flat out dishonest.
You think you will be ok because the city will get a good lease? We have that here, rock solid, but that doesn’t stop a dishonest man from trying to break it.
We opened the checkbook for the NBA and that wasn’t enough. OKC just opened it up, in fact wrote a blank check, and will find out it isn’t enough either.
One thing for sure, when that day comes you won’t have 41 years of history to give you a chance to keep the team. They will be gone in a flash and no one will stand in the gap to protect a city that stole someone elses team.
Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.
It’s pathetic that this gets you excited:
“It means a lot to the NBA to be in a place that renews us”
i.e. shells out taxpayer dollars for corporate welfare programs like NBA arenas every 10 years. Maybe that’s why Stern loves these small market towns dying for recognition that treat him like royalty.
Did you really expect Stern to come out and say: “Memphis is a huge disappointment, ticket sales are well below our expectations.” No, because hopefully you’re not an idiot. Memphis isn’t exactly an NBA cash cow. Andy’s post illustrates perfectly that Stern’s whole M.O. is media driven intimidation and extortion.
Think about this: San Antonion won 4 championships this decade yet their success is seen as one of the reasons for the NBA’s decline in popularity in recent years. That’s not their fault. What’s funny is that this is a level of success OKC could only dream of attaining. OKC will be a cellar-dwelling San Antonio. Tell me again how this is good for the league?
If the NFL can thrive without being in the 2nd largest market, I think the NBA can “survive” not being in the 12th largest market. Get over yourselves Seattle.
bruce the NFL is a completely different animal. the NBA is the MLS by comparison! the NBA has made a series of very questionable moves, over the past several years. and this sonics move would only add to its slow and steady demise.
as i have said before, people in okc have no place to talk about keeping or losing a franchise. for obvious reasons!!
mark, try not to go after our seattle brothers to harshly! andy simon, is on our side! save your energy. once phillip starts posting you will see what i mean!
It’s really funny that you Seattle trolls need to come to an OKC website to post your opinions that nobody cares about.
In case you mental giants haven’t noticed, no one in OKC reads this blog…
I post here every so often but it’s alot more fun on the Seattle Times board.
It seems like there is a much larger Seattle contingent reading the Oklahoman NBA news than there are Oklahomans. I don’t know what that says about literacy rates or actual interest in the NBA, so draw your own conclusions. And if you don’t have any intelligent contibutions to post, feel free just to read what all of us Seattle-backers have to say.
Why would the NBA care about the number of season tickets each team sells. C’mon DM, you know where the NBA makes its money (hint: it’s not ticket sales).
(I don’t think anyone in the league wants a team averaging 9,000 fans. No matter how successful that club might be in other departments. -DM-)
No need to draw any conclusions about Hornets season ticket sales. Just wait for the trial where the truth behind these fabricated numbers will be exposed.
this club is historically bad!! and we are still getting 13000!! even considering the situation. okc, knows nothing!!! dm, i love you! but, as usual you are tragically incorrect!!
okc, soak it up! because this is the only fame you will ever get!! dead,lifeless,poverty stricken,wasteland!
remember, vote yes to become a big league city!!
shakespearean tragedy! oh, you small towm trolls!!
oh, and did i forget crime infested!! oh, the the beauty of a republican town. desperation is a stinky cologne!!
My first post on this blog. I come to love the opinions of OKC. I thought I would post in regards to the lovely show of disrespect that was shown to the fans in Seattle last night by the players and Sonics OKC owned ownership group when players refused to come out onto the court after the game to give away prizes for “Fan Appreciation Month” at KeyArena. Many of the players had to be forced out by Sonics Management and were frustrated because they said they were not told until after the game by the disfunctional team management. I feel Mr. Bennett owes the fans of Seattle an apology for the players actions. This is a preview of the team you could get in OKC.
DM, that is a horrible “article” or whatever you like to call it. This is not a case of the Seattle not wanting the Sonics, it is a story of Seattle not wanting your bigot of a Stern butt-buddy Bennett and the bill ($400 million for an arena that still would have relocated the Sonics outside Seattle and left a $25 million debt and no tenet for Key Arena) that goes with his new toy! That is MY conclusion, DM.
Stern is pouty because he can’t control the arena situation in Seattle because the residents there have stood up and refused to supplement the already swelling pockets of the ultra rich-and good for them for doing so! Bennett didn’t even want to split the bill or negotiate another alternative (like renovation). He gave terms, demanded 80% of his only offer be funded by the fans, and then hijacked the team when he didn’t get his way. But I think Seattle’s rejection of Bennett’s proposal was the plan anyway. Now Bennett is a savior and Seattle is ungrateful. But, you’ll have to draw your own conclusions, DM.
OKC is a just a tool, a tool used by Stern in a battle to get an arena deal in Seattle that favors the NBA instead of the city. Sorry guys, once the novelty of the team wears off, ticket sales will decrease and you’ll be another Memphis or New Orleans just waiting to be relocated while Bennett looks for another team with real marketing potential. I am sure Stern and the NBA are thrilled about the chance squish a budding superstar in Durant and a soon-to-be perennial All-Star in Green into a little box and wrap a top five pick around it then bury deep in the Nation’s armpit, right there with that nasty sweater lint, clumped white solid, and foul sweaty odor. Again, just my conclusion, DM.
Blah, Blah Blah…..Nobody cares.
Only two home games left and you guys won’t have to worry about it any more.
Get over it.
You are supposed to care Phil. You and the rest of OKC care, right? That is why you guys are such a viable market…there is so much love and caring and the NBA “loves to be where they are wanted.”
I live in West Palm, I don’t care about Sonic home games. I am giving an outside look at the situation. Although, I like Seattle a little more, for what I think are obvious reasons.
Do not forget the pending court date. There may still be a few more than two Seattle home games.
i’ll make my sentances short so people from oklahoma and washington can keep up. i’m from oklahoma. i want a team. this is not a cool way to do business. what’s done is done, what’s not yet done, is not yet done. talking crap about oklahoma won’t save your team. almost all pro sports owners are shady. (duh.) continuing to down oklahoma makes seattle look like a bunch of babies. sorry about clay bennett, but now you must realize that not EVERY person in oklahoma threw in some money on taking the sonics. we don’t care about seattle. or memphis. or any other city that has a sorry team we might get. this isn’t about oklahomans screwing over seattle. IT’S ABOUT MONEY AND BASKETBALL. wake up.
1) Your team was up for sale.
2) Your team was purchased by Clay Bennett and approved by the NBA.
3)Your city was then given the chance to keep the team based on the new owners’s conditions.
4)The voters in your city did not support their beloved team.
5)The optimistic residents of OKC were also given a vote to obtain the possibility of an NBA franchaise (no guaranties), which we passed with almost 2/3 of the vote.
6) Our state would support a team hands down and welcome them with excitement and gratitude, something they have lacked in their home state.
7) Remember what your mothers told you, “Don’t cut off your nose to spite your face.” God Bless……. See ya in OKC
you know, sometimes i go back and re-read what is on here, and it’s hilarious!
“small towm trolls” [SP]
seriously, that’s EVERY citizen in oklahoma. really. we’ll never be as good as seattle. does it make you feel better to hear someone other than yourself say it? need a little affirmation?
“deep in the Nation’s armpit, right there with that nasty sweater lint, clumped white solid, and foul sweaty odor”
wow, i would never lower myself to saying things like that about anyone else’s city, no matter how classless you think i am.
seattle: for such a big city, such small minds.
It really is all in fun, the insulting that is. I am sure you guys are good people and OKC is a fine place to live. I don’t, by any means, think that because you live in OKC you are automatically less a person. I write about your having an armpit town because I am making a point and having fun with my writing while I do it. Armpit/smaller market, they are almost synonymous right?
I am just jealous because I see the potential of this team and I want to reap the benefits of this forfeited season. I have disdain for Bennett and Stern because I don’t feel they are playing fair. However, I can’t stand those smug politicians in the Washington legislature who want to act like basketball is not culturally enhancing enough to fight for.
If I where in OKC I would be thrilled about the opportunity and embrace it as many of you have. But I am a Sonics fan. So, until this is all resolved, you guys suck.
Walt, I can’t imagine why you would think that anyone here would care what you think but I can assure you we don’t.
Suck on this.
jealous? you’re jealous? all this talk about oklahoma being SO inferior and now you’re jealous we’re (maybe) getting the team? how about angry, or sad, but jealousy? jealousy will get you nowhere. if you think i suck because the sonics are coming, then you are acting like a baby.
“Armpit/smaller market, they are almost synonymous right?”
yep, exactly right. totally the way it is. wow, do you work for the NBA?
are there any true sonics supporters who don’t think they’re better than everyone? i don’t feel the need to bash seattle, and then backpeddle and try to say it’s all in fun. (but thanks for proving my point.)
Backpedaling? Seriously? Why, because I am scared you might be mad at me? Come on. Stop reading every sentence as if a am shouting with an evil scowl on my face. When I say “you guys suck” do you honestly think I am at home thinking about how much I hate all the residents of OKC? If you beat me to the bathroom after a long road trip, you suck. If you eat the last bowl of ice cream, you suck. If you get a date with that hot girl across the street before I get a chance to introduce myself, you suck.
Donut, how is getting angry or sad going to help? Jealousy is a natural emotion. You guys are flirting with, no, coveting my lady and she is not stopping you. I could get mad and beat you up or sulk, like you suggest. No, I am jealous. Not of your city, of the idea that you could be sleeping with my Sonics.
I do not like what I know of Bennett, Stern, or this columnist DM. But, I have no issue with OKC or its residents as individuals. I have no reason to. It is, however, an inferior market, I don’t think you can argue that. And it does smell like armpit, I think you find that in any encyclopedia.
“And it does smell like armpit, I think you find that in any encyclopedia.”
my god, is THAT the best you could do? you don’t know enough to properly bash this state. let me help you. (if i have to read this crap, at least make it good.)
how about making fun of the way we’re getting the team by comparing it to the land run of 1889 (look it up in an encyclopedia).
make fun of sally kern and her moronic, embarassing opinions.
if you’re going to hate, do it. but don’t act like you’re some clever journalist who’s sticking to the issues, and you throw in a few comedy nuggets here and there. i would LOVE for someone from seattle (or oklahoma, for that matter) make a point without trying to be demeaning or saying (so eloquently) ‘you suck.’ with brilliant writing like that, why should anyone listen to you? (thanks for proving that point again…)
Do you think I need to know your birthday to call you fat? I don’t care about Oklahoma history, dude.
Here you go donut, my point without offense: Bennett’s investment group lied about their intentions to keep the Sonics in Seattle. He and Stern appear to be too close to be doing this kind of controversial business and it feels like the team is being stolen from the city. The team has a lease agreement through 2010 that means millions to the city and state through game day revenue and taxes on that revenue. Stern and the NBA are abandoning a superior market with a gateway to the Asian community for a switch to a much smaller market with a substantially lower median income.
there, was that so hard? i will respond to intellegent, non-insulting comments.
you’re right. bennett and stern are obviously in bed together (they probably set the stage for this years ago…). it sets a horrible precedent, and is embarrassing to the NBA.
and what’s the point of moving the sonics, and then (as has been mentioned) giving seattle an expansion team? why not just give it to OKC, and make (mostly) everyone happy? i would rather wait to get an expansion team, rather than a team that seems new, but we all know it’s not. a lot of people would rather grow with a new team, even if it’s bad, than take the sonics. but unfortunately, none of our opinions matter.
i’d like to have a team here, but honestly, i want the sonics to stay in seattle. i understand your anger-jealousy-sadness-whatever, it just seems like misdirected anger when you say i smell bad. thanks.
Spot on, Donut. I would feel the same as an OKC resident. I don’t understand why the National media has not tried to expose the relationship between Bennett and Stern. It feels like the fuel that drives this entire debacle. I can understand Bennett’s wanting to put a team in his hometown but this is the wrong way to do it.
I guess it is all a moot point because I have to agree that in the end you are right, “none of our opinions matter.”
And Donut, I never meant to make you think I disliked the way you smell…it is you city that smells like armpit. Ah, I kid.
unfortunately, most people in OKC are so blindly happy that we might be getting a team, they don’t feel the same as me. most people in oklahoma want a team. any team at any price. i am the objective minority. i think the NBA is running itself into the ground, and this is another prime example of why. hopefully, everything works out better for everyone (whether OKC realizes it yet or not) and this situation changes dramatically.
(i’ve never been to seattle, but i have family in west palm beach, and it rules.)
I have read plenty about Bennett’s philanthropy around OKC and what he means to the city and I don’t blame him for trying to get a team in his hometown or the residents for getting excited about it. I am sure he is an alright guy trying to improve his capitol city. He just looks slimy doing it this way. He needs to wait his turn.
For sure, Donut. West Palm is a lot of fun, I enjoy it here. I do miss it out West thought. You really should make the trip out there one day, you won’t regret it. Those Washingtonians act all smug and pointed because they want to keep all that natural and cultural beauty a secret. It really is gorgeous, and the rain thing is over done.
Bruce Says:
April 4th, 2008 at 7:53 am
If the NFL can thrive without being in the 2nd largest market, I think the NBA can “survive” not being in the 12th largest market. Get over yourselves Seattle.
___________________________________________________
The NFL wants back into LA so bad they have offered to finance a 400 million dollar stadium. They can’t get any takers to buy a team though.
LA is a perfect example of what happens when a City turns on a Professional Sports League after being spit on enough times. There is not enough interest left in the NFL to support another team.
This is what Stern and the NBA face in Vancouver. (pop 3.5 million) and will face in Seattle. (pop 3.5 million.) that’s 7 million fans with in a 200 mile long corridor.
Seattle won’t sell out the rest of the Sonics lease so Bennett will be forced to play there. No one believes there will ever be an expansion team because it will never be supported. (see Charlotte)
“You knew darn well I was a Snake before you let me in”
Bennett to OKC
I’m all for intelligent discourse, but Florida Walt’s “armpit” contribution was wity and hiliarious, which trumps intelligent comments in my book.
The NBA realizes the Seattle market will need to be without a team for the foreseeable future to allow time for things to heal.
Seattle is not even on the radar for a team at this point…….
“With Oklahoma City now reserved for the SuperSonics, the Hornets have three options if they leave New Orleans: Las Vegas, Anaheim and Vancouver. According to league sources, Anaheim would be their best option. But counting today’s game in New Orleans against the Warriors, it will be the Hornets’ 10th sellout in their last 15 games, with their average crowd around 14,400. That runs counter to Charles Barkley’s contention that the Hornets play in a “mausoleum.” …
Seattle has already received deposits on 13,000 season tickets for its MLS team that will begin play in 2009 and IT’S SOCCER! You know, the game where they kick the little ball around a huge field until they can get it into the net (or when time runs out). YES, I SAID SOCCER!
“im not sure what i hate worse? womens basketball or soccer?”
Luckily for you, you don’t need to worry about either of them. But NBA will make your city Big League! Thanks Mr. Stern.
With more e-mails between Clay Bennent and his gang being released today confirms again that they never intended to try and work out a solution to keep the Sonics in Seattle. I believe Davis Stern knew it all along as he’s working for the owners. It doesn’t help the cause that our city and state leaders are sitting on their hands and unwilling to act on a very decent proposal from another fix to Key Arena. The 41 years of history that the Sonics have should mean more to all NBA fans. It seems the national exposure this story gets is lacking. The fact that this new ownership group acted in a deceitful way from the very beginning says it all. Thanks………….
With more e-mails between Clay Bennent and his gang being released today confirms again that they never intended to try and work out a solution to keep the Sonics in Seattle. I believe David Stern knew it all along as he’s working for the owners. It doesn’t help the cause that our city and state leaders are sitting on their hands and unwilling to act on a very decent proposal for another fix to Key Arena. The 41 years of history that the Sonics have should mean more to all NBA fans. It seems the national exposure this story gets is lacking. The fact that this new ownership group acted in a deceitful way from the very beginning says it all. Thanks………….
It is very interesting to go back and read old quotes of David Sterns. For instance he said ““As far as them moving, it’s more than probable, it’s certain that the team will be relocated”. A quote on the Sonics? No, the Houston Rockets back in 2001.
Face it. This is how you play hardball:
- You scare a city into thinking they will lose their team if they don’t give you piles of public money.
- You tease a new city into thinking they will get at team if they give you piles of public money.
- You then negotiate a solution at the last minute and the team doesn’t relocate and the “new” city gets screwed.
Just look at your history, this is how it plays out every time.