RealGM

The State pitches together with local cities and purchase the Griz.

Ugh, it's not that easy.

There's this little thing of the state government needing to step up to fund a remodel of Key Arena, which would totally piss me off since they did a pretty good job of avoiding the subject while the Sonics were here. They are full on idiots and would rather fill the Key Arena with dates that include the BMX sporting events and video gaming tournaments.

do not forget the 20 year lease in memphis

Honestly the seattle people need to take notice of the New Orleans situation. I really don't see that team staying there with the constant Hurricane problems every other year.. How can that city be rejuvenated and support a NBA team when their city is being destroyed every other year. Stern can only tolerate a rehabilitation process only so much..

If Gustav does major damage, New Orleans loss could become SEA gain.

I'd hate to just buy a team and move it. Isn't that why we hate Clay Bennett so much? I'd hate for a fan base to suffer what we just went through. And I'd especially hate even thinking of getting a team because of a natural disaster. That's a little low...If the NBA ever comes back to Seattle it needs to be a concentrated effort with the city of Seattle, the Washington State government, and a rich person (Steve Ballmer), and the NBA. An expansion team is the right way to do this.

Poohdini wrote:Honestly the seattle people need to take notice of the New Orleans situation. I really don't see that team staying there with the constant Hurricane problems every other year.. How can that city be rejuvenated and support a NBA team when their city is being destroyed every other year. Stern can only tolerate a rehabilitation process only so much..

If Gustav does major damage, New Orleans loss could become SEA gain.

The problem with that is whether or not George Shinn is willing to sell his team to Steve Ballmer & Co. There is a major snag in the Key Arena remodel in that the offer is only on the table if Ballmer owns the team. Any other owner would have to pony up the full $300 million of his own money in order to play in Seattle, whereas Ballmer would pay $150 million.

Do we really want to have a conversation right now about the New Orleans situation and how it could affect Seattle? What kind of black eye would it be to the NBA if they even allowed that to happen? Letting the Sonics leave was bad enough...letting a playoff team leave an ultimately downtrodden community compounds that ten-fold.