RealGM

From today's Seattle Times:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/s ... oni03.html

Oklahoma vote

Oklahoma City residents will vote March 4 on whether to levy a 1-cent sales tax to pay for improvements at the Ford Center in hopes of making it ready for the Sonics or another NBA team, the City Council decided Wednesday.

The vote will take place about six weeks before NBA owners meet to vote on an application by the Sonics to relocate to Oklahoma City.

The tax would last for 15 months, starting Jan. 1, 2009, the day after a current 1-cent sales tax used to fund school improvements expires, and would generate an estimated $121.6 million. It would also pay for a practice facility.

The building, which opened in 2002, cost about $89 million to build.

My question to you all to discuss is if the vote passes, do you think this will be enough to sway the NBA Board of Govenors opinions at all about whether or not to move the Sonics to OKC?

Second of all, how in the hell could a stadium cost only $89 million to build? I'm guessing $121.6 million dollars the increased tax would bring to improve the Ford Center will not make it a "state of the art" facilitity that Clay Bennett is demanding here in Seattle. What a crock.

jenn_gp wrote:Second of all, how in the hell could a stadium cost only $89 million to build?

I dunno, real estate must be cheap there. Supply and demand. (Plenty of the former, none of the latter.)

Seriously though, I'm thinking if an arena really cost $89 million, or whatever the equivalent of $89 million in 2002 dollars is today, this wouldn't even be an issue in Seattle.

^If that's the case, then maybe the increase tax vote could turn it to a state of the art arena? I'd love to hear what Clay has to say about this, and can't wait to see what kinds of improvements will be made. I'm sure whatever they are, it will be more than fine with Clay.

Hey Brian Robinson over at Sonics Central had a nice take on this whole thing and it might make you a bit more happy about the situation.

http://sonicscentral.com/blog/?p=1627

wiff wrote:Hey Brian Robinson over at Sonics Central had a nice take on this whole thing and it might make you a bit more happy about the situation.

http://sonicscentral.com/blog/?p=1627

There's probably some merit to that.

I think so Sweezo. I just don't see how the owners are going to let money slip through their fingers and let the team move if Seattle has a more viable option.

Now the City just needs to bring forth an offer that is clearly better than OKC.

Wow, interesting read. Thanks for sharing that Wiff. Brian really put a positive spin on it. Hopefully Seattle has some sort of plan to counter offer what Oklahoma has put out...which is it is a rumor they have some sort of plan to unveil this month.

this is very interesting. this certainly explains the silence on seattles end.
the cowboys go shootin off their mouths and the quiet, coffee drinking, highbrows just sit back and wait to make thier move. i am very interested to see the ford center proposal. from what i have read, one of the reasons it was built so cheaply was that it was pretty bare bones. and the 120 mil also has to pay for a practice facility. how much are those going for? 10 mil? will 110 mil be able to turn the ford center in to a first class mulitipurpose arena, able to generate tens of millions in revenue? if seattle comes back with a 150 mil+ key upgrade proposal ( i have been to 4 different nba venues and i still think the key has the best sitelines/overall vibe), will the BOG vote against keeping the sonics here?
i think the next two weeks should reveal a lot.