Went down today.

Discuss.

Or am I the only one that cares about the Sonics?

If I was a Sonics fan, I would be very worried. Has the new arena been shot down or apporoved yet? If the new arena doesnt happen, expect this team to be relocated to Oklahoma City.

The Hornets played last season in Oklahoma and should start playing back in New Orleans soon (they have to go back eventually or else its a public relations nightmare). Last season the Hornets werent very good and the entire city knew they werent staying, but attendance was good despite that. The NBA took notice of that. Even Stern has said its high on the list to be the next city to get a team. So expect the new owner to try and pull this off.

I'm not sure if the Mavs want a team in Oklahoma (I live in Oklahoma now). I dont think they make a lot of money off of the neighboring state, but the Mavs are the closest team and its the main team they showcase on the regional Fox Sports broadcasts. I dont think Cuban can stop it, but I imagine he doesnt want it to happen.

St. Louis, San Diego, Kansas City, and Cincinnati all deserve a team more than Oklahoma City does.

It's appearing that it's pretty likely that they'll be gone, we just don't know how soon.

too bad for Sonics fans Oklahoma people bought the team to move to Oklahoma

Based on what?

KC is a football town, and they have the Royals also. St Louis has always struggled to support much more than the Cardinals. Why in the hell does any city in California need another team? Cincy... not likly with the LeBrons as close as they are.

Good thing you read the 4 posts in this thread before responding.

We've already established that.

You're obviously misinformed about St. Louis. The Cardinals are the big ticket in town, there is no doubt about that, and they always will be...that we do know (the city isn't known as the "Mecca of Baseball", "Baseball City USA", and "Baseball Heaven" because they think the name sounds cool. Those distinctions are well earned and are undebatable. However, what you may not know is that the Rams have sold out every single game ever played in St. Louis. Also, up until the roster dump last year the Blues sold out nearly every game played at SAVVIS Center. The NBA could easily survive in St. Louis.

While Jadaki already responded to this, I think I have a better reason why none of your mentioned teams are at the top of the list. All of those cities have already had NBA teams and lost them.

San Diego - That team ended up moving to Houston (The Rockets). They also had an ABA team that shut down when it was not invited to the NBA (not good)

Cincinnati - Their team The Royals moved to Kansas City to become the Kings. This leads us to ...

Kansas City - This team of course moved to Sacramento, and this move was recent (back in the 80's)

St. Louis - This actually used to be the Hawks which are now in Atlanta. This move has always confused me because the Hawks were actually good when they were in St. Louis. Maybe St. Louis got screwed here, but I doubt it. Even new owners dont usually move from good cities. Other things about St. Louis... They had a team called Bombers long ago. They played in BAA for a couple years, joined the NBA, and then folded. They also has an ABA team (the Spirits) that werent invited to join the NBA. Thats a lot of bad history there.


All this is important when you take into account the situation with the Hornets. They used to have a team called the Jazz (which move to Salt Lake city of course). They thought things would be different and decided to move the Hornets there from Charlotte. Things havent gone as well as they expected (there were attendance problems before Katrina). I think the NBA is going to be gun shy for a while with cities whose NBA team moved away (regardless of the reasons or how long ago it happened).

You also have to factor in that all of those cities already have other established pro sports. And this is at a time when everyone is competing for enterrainment dollars.

Now take Oklahoma City (OKC), they had great attendance and a great atmosphere for a so-so team (just under .500) that wasnt even going to stay there. Now that is something encouraging. You also have to throw in that they would be the only pro team in any sport for the whole state. BTW, I'm not sure how that would translate to TV. I'm living in Tulsa now and I didnt see any Hornets games on local TV. I'm guessing that due to the short notice on moving to OKC from Katrina that TV schedules couldnt be worked out. I expect that to change if a team was in OKC permantly and at least translate into a few additional dollars.

There's almost nothing not to like about OKC (if you're an owner). Even some of the Hornets players said they liked their new city and would like to keep playing there. They just cant stay for obvious reasons. OKC probably will be the next city to get a team. It would just be sad to come at Seattle's expense.

Exactly.