Oh God no. Sold to Seattle owners?

[KingInExile]

The other take away from that survey was that out of the 78 cities in the survey, Seattle ranked 75th for NBA popularity. That tells me that there are a lot of cities without an NBA franchise that care more about the game than Seattle fans.

[boogie-reke]

That's not fair though cause they asked it in a time where they had no team and got stolen of one.. it's to be expected even NBA fans will say they don't care. Results probably won't be that low if you made a survey right now - and results in Sac would prolly be low too if you made a survey if the Kings happened to leave.

But even in their hay-day they were not anything but average/slightly above average in terms of NBA popularity according to a previous article in the link you provided - and that's even before they had the MLS team that brings near 40k fans each home game.

So it does seem to me like the whole "12th media market" is being pushed around without putting it in context, same as it happens with Sacramento the other way around when they dismiss it as a small city, but fail to realize it's the only show in town.

[ICMTM]

Yeah, it definitely isn't fair to compare it given what Seattle has been through, but it being THAT low is pretty alarming.

It's very fair actually.

I think with the way the Seahawks are playing, having a nationally recognized high school football program (Skyline), and having UW football starting to rebound is big! THEN you have the Sounders! There have already been reports that the MLS is becoming more popular than the NBA. http://aol.sportingnews.com/soccer/stor ... ican-sport
Obviously that's one aspect, but the real aspect is that the Sounders are there already and it's one of the more popular teams in the MLS. You have UW basketball, and it's popular there as well. You have to question can the area support another sports franchise. I'm not saying it cannot happen and NBA basketball can't work there again. I am saying there is already a saturation of sports in the area.

The only reason the A's have not (and will not) move to Sacramento is we don't have the disposable revenue to support an MLB team. While this is purely an interest study at some point you have to do these kinds of studies.

[bennith13]

That survey was before there was any hope of Seattle getting a team in the near future and right after the team was stolen. No one even knew who Chris Hansen was when that survey first came out. Take it for what it is worth, but people are VERY excited about the Sonics potentially coming back. I see people wearing Sonics gear every where I go know where I used to only see "robbed" shirts before.

[pillwenney]

Yeah, it definitely isn't fair to compare it given what Seattle has been through, but it being THAT low is pretty alarming.

It's very fair actually.

I think with the way the Seahawks are playing, having a nationally recognized high school football program (Skyline), and having UW football starting to rebound is big! THEN you have the Sounders! There have already been reports that the MLS is becoming more popular than the NBA. http://aol.sportingnews.com/soccer/stor ... ican-sport
Obviously that's one aspect, but the real aspect is that the Sounders are there already and it's one of the more popular teams in the MLS. You have UW basketball, and it's popular there as well. You have to question can the area support another sports franchise. I'm not saying it cannot happen and NBA basketball can't work there again. I am saying there is already a saturation of sports in the area.

The only reason the A's have not (and will not) move to Sacramento is we don't have the disposable revenue to support an MLB team. While this is purely an interest study at some point you have to do these kinds of studies.

It's about extents. That stuff absolutely factors into it. I just don't think it's fair to look at that ranking without considering their lack of a team. And not only that, but the NBA would probably be ranked especially low by fans who were bitter about pro basketball being taken from them at the time.

The general point that the interest in basketball there is diluted by other sports is legitimate. But the extent that survey would seem to indicate is way out of whack.

[floppymoose]

If you read the original article:
http://blogs.seattletimes.com/fyi-guy/2 ... mojo-back/
It shows that the percentage in Seattle expressing a high level of interest in the nba was over twice as high in 2005 as it is now. So I think we can expect a return to those levels if a team comes back.

The more interesting point to me is that even that level of interest (8.9% highly interested), Seattle was 27th nationally among the major markets, and was 10% below the national average.

[bennith13]

2005 was the middle of 8 years of mediocrity. Terrible owner and management drafting bust center after bust center. Similar to what you guys have gone through the last couple years. Curious to know what a survey would have said before Schultz owned the team.

[boogie-reke]

If you read the original article:
http://blogs.seattletimes.com/fyi-guy/2 ... mojo-back/
It shows that the percentage in Seattle expressing a high level of interest in the nba was over twice as high in 2005 as it is now. So I think we can expect a return to those levels if a team comes back.

The more interesting point to me is that even that level of interest (8.9% highly interested), Seattle was 27th nationally among the major markets, and was 10% below the national average.

And that's without the Soccer that's on the rise right now.

Again to my point that while people talk about the 12th media market and such and compare it so favorably to Sac, they fail to put things into context and paint a more realistic picture.

[pillwenney]

2005 was the middle of 8 years of mediocrity. Terrible owner and management drafting bust center after bust center. Similar to what you guys have gone through the last couple years. Curious to know what a survey would have said before Schultz owned the team.

It is similar to what we're going through now. And I guarantee you basketball would still easily be number one in Sac. And that's the point.

[VeeJay24]

All this speaks to the fact that the city chose to put up stadiums for the Mariners and Seahawks first and balked at putting up a new arena for the Sonics.

Unlike a city like Philly who did all three

[Chali2Na]

That piece is just the Seattle Times' last ditch effort to prove to everyone that Seattle shouldn't build an arena. They've been in the back pocket of the opposition (The Port, mostly) since Day 1 on this, so they'll grave dig meaningless polls as a desperation move to get their point across. Conduct that same poll right now and it'd turn out much different. I bet you'll see support for the Mariners now barely registers a blip on the radar.

[ICMTM]

Right.

I am just saying it's in the interest of the NBA, Sonics to do a feasibility study on all levels. If money isn't an issue there is still the question of will this be a better fit for the NBA than the Kings/Sacramento. I'm not providing the answer. I am just saying it's a very valid question.

[jeffhardyfan52]

So has there been any updates in the situation? It's seemed quiet lately on what's going on
At least from what I can tell

[KF10]

So has there been any updates in the situation? It's seemed quiet lately on what's going on
At least from what I can tell

http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/ ... r-seattle/

[RIPskaterdude]

It is interesting that it's been so quiet recently, after KJ was going crazy with unneeded Press Conferences the first week.

[bibby1023]

http://www.king5.com/video/featured-vid ... 25291.html

[SacKingZZZ]

Just reading Stern in that interview, I don't think he wants the team to move to Seattle. Pretty interesting that he tacked on the mayors efforts to keep the team in town immediately after mentioning that the Seattle group submitted paperwork.

C'mon Stern, leave the Kings where they are AND bring back the Sonics!!! It's the RIGHT thing to do.

[ADoaN17]

You guys probably heard already but

@sactownroyalty: Kevin Johnson makes strong case for Sacramento, says owners don't want to move a team http://t.co/JTZ82hjb

@News10Sean: VIDEO: Sac Mayor Kevin Johnson returns from NBA All Star Weekend. Says City will keep #NBAKings http://t.co/NpzS4Wq3

[RIPskaterdude]

Eh, of course hes gonna say that. Don't get me wrong, I have completely faith in the guy, but what else would he say?

[SacKingZZZ]

No matter what, this has been a remarkable situation. KJ and the people of Sacramento can pull this off and what a story it will be!