Sonics owner tells NBA he wants to move team to Oklahoma City

[PeppyGPhiB]

How many people live in Oklahoma City and the surrounding area? I know folks have said that the Hornets games had good attendance when they were there, but that was a limited engagement and a novelty. Novelty wears off; what happens when the team isn't new anymore, the team stinks, and ticket prices go up? Is the population of that area big enough to support the team? Or are they going to have to rely on the same small core of people to go to every game?

The Key Arena is essentially a new arena. Not on the outside, since it was the original Coliseum, but the inside was completely gutted in the 90s. Why would we want to pay another $250 MILLION to renovate it again just 10 or 15 years later? We renovated it the first time according to what the Sonics owners wanted, and the past several years they haven't even come close to selling it out. In the end many Seattlites just got tired of the constant whining from team owners, especially the owners from out of state that I think everyone knew would want to move the team - that was the first thing I thought of when I heard that some out-of-towner had bought the Sonics.

At least we got to keep the nickname, colors, etc. so that we can bring back the Sonics another time if we want to. I'd personally much rather have a NHL team.