Cuban opposes Sonics move

[your_dallas_mavericks]

Cuban opposes Sonics move
Owner to vote against bid
By GARY WASHBURN
P-I REPORTER

DALLAS -- Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban refuses to write Seattle off as an NBA city, even if city and state leaders aren't giving him any reason for his faithfulness.

Cuban, churning out miles on his Stairmaster, said Tuesday that he would vote against a Sonics' relocation to Oklahoma City, even if it means he is the lone owner to support the Sonics remaining in Seattle.

Cuban said he believes market size is critical.

Seattle is the 14th-largest media market while Oklahoma City is 45th.

"I'm going to wait to get all the information," he said before the Sonics' game against the Mavericks. "(But) my preference is the Sonics stay in Seattle. My prejudice is against having a Dustbowl Division in this part of the country because I don't think in the big picture that helps the NBA and I think the bigger market helps the NBA."

If the Sonics were to relocate to Oklahoma City, the NBA could move the OKC team to the Southwest Division along with the Mavericks, Spurs, Rockets, Hornets and Grizzlies. Cuban has not wavered in his support for Seattle, despite being informed that the Steve Ballmer-led investment group has pulled back its offer to help renovate KeyArena.

"There could be information that sways me," he said. "If they come back and said the Oklahoma City index is 200 when it comes to watching the NBA on TNT or ABC, and no one in Seattle watches, then OK maybe there's information that goes beyond market size.

"My prejudice is to vote them in but like everything else in the NBA, (the vote) will be 29-1."

Cuban said he would welcome Ballmer into the NBA ownership family and admires the Microsoft CEO's affection for the sport.

"I'd like to see Steve Ballmer in the NBA. It would be phenomenal," Cuban said. "I know Steve would get up early in the morning and play basketball. That tells you something. Is it a business or is it in your blood and you just love the game? That's one of the things I liked about Howard Schultz. I think he was sold a bill of goods from the NBA more than anything else."

Many Sonics fans believe Schultz triggered the team's potential relocation when he stunningly sold the Sonics to Clay Bennett's Oklahoma City-based ownership group in July 2006. Cuban doesn't view Schultz as a villain.

"There's a lot of things that aren't obvious until you look from the inside out about the NBA and our economics," Cuban said. "That's just the way it works. There's a reason why we're 0-for-since-I've-been-here in terms of our moves and expansions. You can always win the next game."

NBA commissioner David Stern said league owners have been "lukewarm" to the idea of expansion and Cuban said he would totally oppose any idea of expansion. He voted against the NBA's expansion to Charlotte in 2001.

"I would always vote against expansion because expansion's the worst economic move a league like the NBA can make," he said.

link

[your_dallas_mavericks]

Cuban's main reason for being against the move:

All of Oklahoma is currently the Mavericks market. On Fox Sports Southwest, most of the games are televised. Sonics move here, he loses a good portion of his overall market. It's money, plain and simple. The only reason Stern agreed to the move was to stick it financially to Cuban and that he seemingly had no other choice but to go along with it.

[dirkforpres]

Im with Cubes on this one. There is a lot of history in the Seattle Sonics and to just up and move them to Oklahoma would be bad economically, especially if the numbers he gave are true.

[jwa1107]

it would be sad for SEA to not have a team

and then you begin to have realignment problems in the West too

but I bet Cuban is right that SEA would generate more $ for the NBA as a whole than OKC regardless of whether OKC eats into DAL marketing/$ or not

[your_dallas_mavericks]

Okay, here is your local OKC reporter with his take...

Clay Bennett, Chairman of Devon Energy, bought the Sonics with the sole purpose of moving them to OKC.

He gave Seattle one shot to pay for a new arena, they didn't. He was approached with different ideas thereafter, it was too late.

Bennett originally tried to buy the Hornets from Shinn and he refused. This later led Bennett to buy the Sonics from Shultz.

OKC supported the Hornets when they were here for two seasons in the top 5% in attendance.

OKC just approved a tax increase for 18 months that would revamp the Ford Center downtown and pay to build an NBA practice facility.

The Sonics are full of expirings and have lots of draft picks for the next few years. They could become very good, very fast.

There is talk that Seattle is trying to put in a Cleveland Browns agreement where the name 'SuperSonics', and its colors stay in Seattle.

Another thing...
This is the link to the Metropolitan Areas site on Wikipedia. OKC metro is 44. It's larger than Salt Lake City (48 ), New Orleans (51). Also, just above OKC metro is Memphis (41), and Milwaukee (38 ).

Final thought:
Move OKC to the SW division
Move Memphis to the East/Central division
Move Milwaukee to the West/NW division

Edit: Edited to appease the yawning presence known as JES12...

[JES12]

yawn

[your_dallas_mavericks]

that was rude 2007, but probably deserved. I will split it up...

[JES12]

LOL! Not you or the length, the topic. Who cares what Cuban thinks about the Sonics?

[your_dallas_mavericks]

It will be the final nail in Cuban's coffin or the final nail in Stern's coffin. I am not sure yet whose it will be. But, the Sonics (or whatever their name will be) look to become the darlings of the NBA with a GM and Head Coach from the San Antonio program. The geography and the voting against the move creates a rivalry that will rival Texas-OU weekend. OKC has a riverwalk too, wonder if Cuban will think it's dirty!

Bennett also co-owned the Spurs for a while too before purchasing the Sonics. He knows about running a franchise. Stern would want nothing more than to have Cuban sell the team and get out of the league. Bennett's moving of the Sonics helps perpetuate that.

[jwa1107]

OKC fans/residents care...
Okies like ydm care
Luke Skywalker told Princess Leia "I care."

[JES12]

Yeah, they care about the move. Who cares what Cuban thinks about the move?

[your_dallas_mavericks]

OKC fans/residents care...
Okies like ydm care
Luke Skywalker told Princess Leia "I care."
(picture)

Uh Picture Man and everyone else...

I am a transplanted Texan stuck in Oklahoma. My wife won't let us come home. She says it's not fit to raise a kid. I tell her, "I was raised there" and she replies, "Exactly..."

What's crazy is, I am moving to Norman next month. At work we will be having a ceremony outside where I set fire to a Texas Longhorns sticker and vow allegiance to OU for the rest of eternity. I will also promise to no longer call it, "Texas-OU" weekend but instead call it "OU-Texas" weekend. It's crazy but hilarious and fun.

[JES12]

Maybe you should call it zeroU-Texas like Galloway.

So YDM, it must suck to be stuck in OK, huh? I was stuck in Drumright one summer and was looking for trouble or something to do to keep me from going insane! Pales in comparrison to the summer I was stuck in Austin and the summer I was stuck in San Antonio.

[your_dallas_mavericks]

2007, the most excitement there ever is in the YDM household is when a game is on which doesn't quite suit Mrs. YDM and the little miss YDM is starting to not like watching games with Daddy unless she is shooting at her basket. She's got a great shot. She's gonna be tall. Stuck here isn't bad as long as I can see the Mavs on TV (along with da Cowboys...)

[dirtyfilthynasty]

I don't think there is as large of a fanbase in Oklahoma as you guys make it seem. If OKC cares about any team it is New Orleans and the Sonics. Even before the expansion talk, there weren't a lot of Mavs fans in OKC. How much money do you guys think the Mavs are getting from Oklahoma? Merchandise is minimal, ticket sales are minimal, and concessions are minimal. Half the games aren't even on tv. I think the OKC fans are the last thing on Cuban's mind.

[northernpuppy]

Cuban's main reason for being against the move:

All of Oklahoma is currently the Mavericks market. On Fox Sports Southwest, most of the games are televised. Sonics move here, he loses a good portion of his overall market. It's money, plain and simple. The only reason Stern agreed to the move was to stick it financially to Cuban and that he seemingly had no other choice but to go along with it.

Yeah that would make sense.
But Cuban doesn't want to publicly state that. He is in it to see the Seattle Franchise succeed where they are.

I, for one, as a Sonics fan when they had Payton and Kemp, applaud Cuban for standing up and saying no!

Plus, from another financial standpoint, the amount of revenue generated in British Columbia for the Sonics also has to beg the question, why move from Seattle to OKC?

[your_dallas_mavericks]

Before the Hornets, everygame on FSN was also on up here. Only the games on formerly UPN21 were not seen. There were bumper stickers and front license plates (only back ones are needed in Oklahoma) on a number of cars. Since the Hornets, the Mavs have remained on some of the time on FSN, but not all of the time. If there were a poll right now in Oklahoma, it would go about like this:

35% Sonics
33% Hornets
27% Another NBA team
5% Mavs fans

What is hilarious is all these commercials for Big Tex Ford and Jack in the Crap does us no good up here. There is no Jack in the Crap in Central or North Eastern Oklahoma. But if those commercials are shown no matter the market, they still gotta pay. Cuban makes money here, don't kid yourself. It doesn't matter how many fans are up here as long as the games are televised...

[Det the Threat]

Okay, here is your local OKC reporter with his take...

Clay Bennett, Chairman of Devon Energy, bought the Sonics with the sole purpose of moving them to OKC.

He gave Seattle one shot to pay for a new arena, they didn't. He was approached with different ideas thereafter, it was too late.

Bennett originally tried to buy the Hornets from Shinn and he refused. This later led Bennett to buy the Sonics from Shultz.

OKC supported the Hornets when they were here for two seasons in the top 5% in attendance.

OKC just approved a tax increase for 18 months that would revamp the Ford Center downtown and pay to build an NBA practice facility.

The Sonics are full of expirings and have lots of draft picks for the next few years. They could become very good, very fast.

There is talk that Seattle is trying to put in a Cleveland Browns agreement where the name 'SuperSonics', and its colors stay in Seattle.

Awesome, the newspaper run by Clay Bennetts in-laws, the Gaylord family, with their take on this situation.....

There's hardly anything like Seattle trying to pull a Cleveland Browns agreement. That came from Bennett and Stern, when they offered those $26.5 to buyout that lease, as they also offered the team name, colours and history. Though, that didn't really impress anyone, as Bennett surely does not want any part of that, given that people would recognize what happened over those years in Seattle.

BTW: Those next weeks/months will be interesting. Bennett and the league want no part of that court case, as the're probably a couple of things they don't want in the press. So i'm expecting more rhetoric and buyout offers to settle this thing before it ever goes to court. Though, i still doubt that the city of Seattle will settle for a buyout, if there isn't a replacement team within about 2 years guaranteed.

Another thing...
This is the link to the Metropolitan Areas site on Wikipedia. OKC metro is 44. It's larger than Salt Lake City (48 ), New Orleans (51). Also, just above OKC metro is Memphis (41), and Milwaukee (38 ).

Awesome. The Seattle metro area is #15.

The league moved two teams under Stern and both of those moves have turned out to be bad decisions. Going from Charlotte to New Orleans wasn't a great move and going from Vancouver to Memphis was even worse. Going from Seattle, who's supported their franchise through thick and thin for 41 years and sending this team to such a market is not just bad business, but also unbeliveably shortsighted, as it's going to hurt the league financially in the future.

Though, i want to say thanks to Mark Cuban for standing up and saying what every business men should say and that is, that he's only voting for something, if it benefits the league now and in the future.

[studcrackers]

move the team to frisco or allen, its time the metroplex supports 2 teams in 1 sport

[your_dallas_mavericks]

sc, too funny - but I could see it happening!