Seattle Sonics, The NBA and NW Fans

The Seattle Sonics are on the edge of a cliff and wondering if they should back away or get shoved off the edge. The new owner of the Seattle Sonics (Clay Bennett) is an Oklahoma Businessman who has announced his intention to move the team to Oklahoma City as soon as possible. This decision is being spurred along by the lack of effort and general attitudes that the city of Seattle and the State of Washington have with regard to his requests for a new arena to be built south of the city.

The NBA stated earlier this week that if Seattle were to lose the Sonics to Oklahoma City that the NBA would not put a team back in Seattle.

To the best of my knowledge the problem lies in the fact that the owner (Clay Bennett) wants a new stadium built in the Renton area that would be funded by public moneys and the City of Seattle and the State of Washington want to spend the money on a remodel of Key Arena as long as Bennett was to put funds into the project.

Sports franchises and the power they hold over cities have gotten out of control. But as long as there are cities out there who want a team in their town there will be owners who will hold a city hostage over new arenas. Key Arena however is out of date and undersized for a city the size of Seattle. Ford Arena in Oklahoma City is only 6 years old and has 45+ luxery suites, seats 20,000+ for Basketball and as we all know, sports in the south is king.

Sports in the Northwest is an after thought for most people. If teams are hot and winning people get excited and go to games, but if the teams are losing nobody goes. In the south, fans fill arenas and stadiums week in week out. It is a lifestyle, a party, a happening. It is the place that everyone wants to be and they go to the games to party and cheer for their teams. In the Northwest, most fans go to games because they got free tickets from someone and don't really care if the team wins or loses because they mean nothing more to them then being seen at the game and impressing a business partner or friend.

Seattle fans like Portland fans need to get their collective acts together. You cannot complain all day about not having a team in some sport and then not support the teams that you have. They need to know that Professional Sports is a business and the athletes are highly paid because that is what we have let happen as a people where pro sports in concerned. So when an owner complains that he cannot field a competitive team unless he gets the high paid player and is losing money because of the Arena he plays in is to small or does not provide what he needs to be successful. You have only yourself to blame.

If your going to be a fan, then support your teams do what is needed to keep them their. Otherwise let them go and stop complaining when you don't have a team to go watch. Perhaps in stead of spending money on a billionare owner who wants everything, you should support your college teams and help support the education of our future adults and not the spoiled professionals.

The NBA is struggling right now. Football is king and I don't see the NBA doing anything about that in the near future. Seattle has chosen the Seahawks and Mariners as their teams of choice and there appears to be no more money left for the Sonics or the Huskies.

So ok Seattle, get off the dime and build a new arena or let the Sonics go to Oklahoma and be happy with it. I am sure the Blazers and Huskies won't mind having all the former Sonics fans out there with extra cash in their pockets. When they need a sports fix they can go to a Huskies game or come down to Portland to see a Blazers game and help up keep our NBA team in Portland.