Here is a new one to me. The Seattle Supersonics may move out of Seattle at the end of the season the the WNBA Storm if the taxpayers do not assist with $300 million in taxpayers subsidies. I was reading this in sleeplessineattles blog and couldn't help but get a little upset about another team holding their city hostage on a new arena/stadium. Art Modell did this to the city of Cleveland with the Browns. He used the stadium and its revenue as a means to get out.
It takes a lot of stones to actually have the nerve to demand a city grant $300 million to help a multi-Billion dollar company build its own facility. The Sonics like almost every single team in any sport are NOT owned by the city but by an investor or investment group. The Packers are the only team I even know of that is own by the citizens.
The part that really takes it over the top is that when you do go to watch your hometown team that you helped build a facility, they charge you 600% more for every item in the building and parking too! Shouldn't everything be cheaper? Seriously, how can they charge $8 or more for a beer and $3.50 for one hot dog. Even McDonalds and other fast food chains have gotten into this scam. Last season at a Tigers game I went into McDonalds to get a Big Mac meal and saw it was $9.50! and you couldn't even get it special made. I am not even sure if they made the food at this McDonalds. It could have been driven there from a real McDonalds outside of the stadium.
Once again as always a greedy owner that's not ever considered the reason behind his franchise's failure. Is the fact that the product that he's got on offer for the public isn't worth a hill of beans ! The Sonics are a terrible team and lack commitment. But then again that sums most of the franchises within the NBA that aren't competitive and lack the will to win. Much like their ownership. Furhtermore why is it that the public should be stuck with paying off someone else's debt in this case. The franchise shouldn't feel that there's a sense nor should it be led to believe that it's granted to a sense of entitlement. Our state, local and city governments give up way too much on our behalf just to secure a professional sport's franchse within a vicinity. This sort of thing should stop as a lot of the time they end up being the proverbial 'white elephant' sitting within one's midst empty and no interest in the abandoned facility itself.
rampant/tophatal....
Last edited by rampantfanatic on January 24th at 12:17 PM.
this happens because fans are stupid. the owners know they can convince the politicians to buckle and the fans, many of whom will never actually make it to a game if they could afford, agree that keeping the team is a good thing... in theory. but fans are dumb. i watch Detroit fans burn matt millen in effegy then march all the way to the stadium in Lions jerseys. we need to be robbed, we love to be robbed. people will freeze to death on the streets of seattle, Washington state will spend more money on prisons than education or health care, and the supersonics will get their new stadium because the public wont tolerate the shame of losing their team.
good post bob. Shame that the citizens of a city are forced into making this decision. I agree with Demonicume. The fans should stand up. It's a tough business and an even tougher situation for those in the city of Seattle.
ReverendRhythm .... You'dve thought that for all the billions Rich De Vos is said to be worth. He'd be thinking about building the arena with his own money and then arranging some sort of leasing deal with Orange County government or the City of Orlando. But then what do I know when all I'm trying to do is make sense of what these owners are about. Oh I remember it's a little thing called greed ! Hence the reason behind the fictional chracter Gordon Gekko's speach from the film 'Wall Street'." Greed is good and is what empowers this country that we call America to greatness".
rampant/tophatal......
Last edited by rampantfanatic on January 24th at 9:30 PM.
ReverendRhythm ..... They've certainly have got the product on court to make a serious attempt of making the playoffs this year.
How far they'll get though is open to question because of their lack of postseason experience. Added to the fact that other than Grant Hill and Arroyo I doubt that any of the other players on the roster have actually ever played in the playoffs of the NBA.
However should they make it then the experience will no doubt do them good ! It'll be a great learning curve for the future for the likes of Howard, Nelson , Millicic and Ariza.
I must admit to having made a small error in my post on this subject. Pepsi Center in Denver is the one that the new ownership group want to emulate, not Staples Center in LA. Looks very much like they won't get it though, so will have to live with the one that is already built in OKC.
Maybe what one city should do is invest in a team. Say the city of Detroit buys the Lions and Ford Field and changes the name to Lions field. All the profits that come out of it including TV revenue would be used to improve the city and long term taxes go down.
Actually, that's not a bad idea in one sense (assusming you could get the owners to go for it, which I doubt you could--don't want any politicians interfering in their business, so to speak). If you have a profitable franchise, you get money to put back into infrastructure. Problem is, too many of them are not really profitable, despite the outward appearance.
bob260505 ... If any city were to that their citizeens would be in uproar ! The only city that's done it are the Green Bay Packers. And the citizens there are avid fans and take a discerning interest in everyting that the team does from top to bottom. Most of its shareholders are either life long season ticket holders or residents of the community of Green Bay.
I doubt that it'd work in a large metropolitan city because of the varying social needs and the overall cost involved.
It would be ludicrous and burdensome to laden a city with such debt , especially when they've got no expertise in owning a sport's franchise !
"Maybe what one city should do is invest in a team."
And yes, there are two ways to do this.
1) Build an arena.
2) Build an arena with a team with a contract stating how much the team will pay and how many years it will pay for the arena the city builds with the emphasis being on a long term arrangement like the Titans did in Nashville.
But wait there's more. Oklahoma City has an arena as well as Kansas City. The hottest rumors are Seattle to O.K., Sacramento to K.C.,.
Last edited by 14Falcons on January 25th at 9:24 PM.
ReverendRhythm ... I believe his son in law sits on the board. As Gm Otis Smith is answerable to him. From what I understand they have a great professional relationship. Which augurs well for the future of the Heat. Whilst we're on the sybject of basketball. How is it that the fans vote in to make Shaq a starter on the East's initial 5 ? He's not played at all this season and yet we have Dwight Howard playing lights out ball and is completely overlooked. There's got to be a better way of picking the starters for the All Star game! It's even more increduluous when you look and see that Nash isn't even on the West's starting fve either ! We as fans love the game but not many of us are knowledgeable enough about the game to be making these decisions.
Saw the highlights over the Bulls' victory over the Mavs.
They were extremely impressive and in Luol Deng and Ben Gordon they've got two extremely underrated players. Should they make the playoffs they'd be my underdogs from the East. They can run and gun with the best of them and to top it off they play very good defense when called upon.
rampant/tophatal...........
Last edited by rampantfanatic on January 26th at 11:52 AM.
Flint Michigan -
-bob260505@ya hoo.com-
Three time defending (division 2) four square champion
1993 United States Hacky-Sack Champion (runner up in 92 and 94) - finishing move "the Stall"
MVP of 1986 Whiffleball World Series - WWS was played in the side yard and had longer home runs.
2006 1st place league Champion fantasy baseball, 2003 and 2004 second place in fantasy football, 2003 second place in fantasy baseball and hockey, The last person out in Dodgeball in a record 17 of 22 games played in 1992 and led the gym class with over 175 kills in 92 - 93 (averaged 8.18 kills per game)
bob260505@yah oo.com
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