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Friday, February 1, 2008

If The Pitch Failed Here…

posted by on February 1 at 16:34 PM

…then why the hell would Oklahoma City’s citizens want to foot the bill for an NBA stadium and a practice facility, both for a Sonics team that hasn’t officially moved yet, to the tune of $121 million? Preach it, brother Bennett:

“There would be an immediate tangible return through sales tax, certainly around downtown immediately. Then you’ve got players coming that are purchasing homes, buying vehicles, a staff of 150 or so jobs that’s developed.”

Hold the phone, Clay. You expect NBA celebs to build mega-homes in Oklahoma?

OKLAHOMA?

I’ve been to Oklahoma. Well, technically, I’ve been through Oklahoma, and that’s what the state is good for—to exist for stops on a road trip, or to give you a job with America’s armed forces, or to offer you a full ride for college so that you don’t attend school in a neighboring state instead. Or, of course, to preserve Native American culture, an aspect that’ll jive well with Kevin Durant’s episode of Cribs.

When I think about the potential move to Oklahoma, I often get so caught up in anger that I forget a crucial issue—is an NBA team in Oklahoma City really sustainable? I know that New Orleans’ displaced team had surprising success while playing in OKC. Lots of at- or near-capacity crowds for their home games. Lots of corporate sponsorships. But then I peruse the above article and stumble upon info like this:

While Oklahoma City might not be able to ask as much for naming rights as larger cities, Bennett suggested that a local company might go the extra mile to help overcome that potential revenue shortfall.

I can see it now: The Arrow Trucking Rootin’ Tootin’ Dome. Or, Lord help us all, the Sonic Drive-In Sonics Center For Sonic and Sonics (nice ring to it). Does Bennett actually foresee true sustainability for the Oklahoma City Sonics, or is he simply hoping to capitalize on momentum fostered by the New Orleans drama, milk it dry with reduced overhead thanks to state-approved funding, then sell and scram before the bottom falls out? When the team in question still can’t hold on to a fourth quarter lead to save its life, you gotta wonder.

RSS icon Comments

1

And, with the recent defaults in the sub-prime mortgage market, this provides an extra added bonus to real estate!

Phone now for our low low prices!

Posted by Will in Seattle | February 1, 2008 4:49 PM
2

it'll raise median home sale prices in Oklahoma!

also, stadiums built on tax dollars are the biggest fraud ever that people willing vote for. if sports teams had real economic benefit to themselves and others they wouldn't need to have tax payers foot the bill for them. i find it intolerable that we, the tax payer foot the bill for losing teams without a benefit to the community that makes up for the tax revenue lost.

Posted by Bellevue Ave | February 1, 2008 5:02 PM
3

Aw, fuck. They ought to just put the team up on eBay. Like there's anybody left in the world who gives a shit.

Posted by Fifty-Two-Eighty | February 1, 2008 5:24 PM
4

Why would OKC want to pay for the craptacular Sonics when they could get their first-love - the Hornets, best team in the West?

Posted by Rob | February 1, 2008 5:35 PM
5

Stop worrying. The Sonics are all grown up and ready to leave the nest, and I'm sure they'll be just fine without us here to watch over them. Seattle raised them well, and the day has come to let go. If you really think they need it, slip a couple bucks into their lunch sack before they go. I'm sure they'll write.

Posted by elenchos | February 1, 2008 5:37 PM
6

OKC
zzzzzzzzzzzz give a shit

Posted by Larkin | February 1, 2008 5:38 PM
7

I GIVE A SHIT YOU FUCKHOLE! If the team does move I am going to pray every single motherfucking night that it fails, they stay winning the same amount of games they are now and Clay Bennet gets booed out of town, ends up a penniless pauper, begging for money on the street telling crazy stories about how he used to be somebody...

Posted by Dominique Wilkins | February 1, 2008 5:48 PM
8

Those touted benefits are pathetic. Great, sales tax revenue. Meanwhile, local businesses lose money to the new arena. Oh, and 150 jobs created? That's so worth sticking taxpayers with hundred of millions of dollars.

Posted by keshmeshi | February 1, 2008 6:31 PM
9

If the people of Oklahoma City want to pony up all that money for a new stadium, go right ahead. They live in one of the reddest states in the country--how smart can they be?

Bye-bye, Sonics. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

Posted by RainMan | February 1, 2008 6:54 PM
10

Actually, some amazing homes have been built in Oklahoma.

Frank Lloyd Wright designed and built an anachronistic residence for his cousin, Richard Lloyd-Jones, in Tulsa. And there's his Harold Price, Jr., home he designed in Bartlesville.

Which same Bartlesville is home to Wright's Price Tower, where, in one of the apartments, Bruce Goff lived after having been outed and fired from his post at the University of Oklahoma for being gay.

And Bruce Goff? He designed one of the most amazing private residences in America -- Shin’en Kan -- for Joe Price in Bartlesville. Tragically, this home was burned to a crisp in 1996.

And on and on and on.

But I'm under no illusions -- I doubt any of those parvenu nouveau riche NBA guys would think to put up something of this substance.

Posted by Jubilation T. Cornball | February 1, 2008 10:37 PM
11

Oklahoma City Slickers

Posted by Gordon Werner | February 1, 2008 11:23 PM
12

ah, yes. good work. we're doing such a great job of talking ourselves into this loss. keep it up.

i'm sure that our wonderfully seattle "progressive" surly elitist perspective will fill the hole left by the Sonics departure wonderfully.

yeah! let's take a shot at sales tax revenue! cause that never adds up to anything!

Yeah! Let's be sarcastic about corporate sponsorship in professional sports! Because that's never added up to anything either!

those back-assward Oklahomans will never cobble together any of those repeatedly successful economic benefits tested and proven in so many other markets! those fools. They don't even live near a coast!

And we have so many good ideas for what to do with Key Arena without them! Thank god they're leaving so we can have more, uh... Ozzy Osbourne Concerts! and Disney on Ice!

It's not like the Sonics revenue funds any other cultural programming around here! And, in case it does, our incredibly positive response in ballot initiatives lately, I'm sure that we can always just ask the public to foot the bill!

Yeah! Screw off, Supersonics! We'll be SO much better without those pesky basketball players because... well, um... because, uh... screw them!

Posted by sammy sarcasm | February 2, 2008 12:15 AM
13

Oklahomans are more willing to cut things like education and welfare from their state budget to finance NBA arenas. That's mostly why teams want to move there and places like Utah and San Antonio. I read somewhere that Seattle was the 12th largest TV market, and OKC was like 438th, but it's trumped by dumbass hicks shooting themselves in the foot and giving their tax $$$ to rich billionaires.

Posted by kebabs | February 2, 2008 12:01 PM
14

Jubilation, great comment. Wright's Price Tower is particularly freaky, its floorplan completely lacking right angles, substituting 60 and 120 degrees for 90 and 180. Walking up the stairs is particularly tricky.

On to the money: I know OKC's corporate oligarchy is ready to shell out and the city is ready to roll onto its back (a one-cent sales tax just to renovate a stadium? How tiny and poor is that place, that you need a 1% sales tax to raise 121 million?), but don't sports teams still need to submit to some economic laws to survive? Surely the handouts aren't sustainable indefinitely, and surely it can't be a good idea to move from the 14th largest market to the 44th.

Posted by Eric F | February 2, 2008 12:57 PM
15

sammy sarcasm @ 12


those back-assward Oklahomans will never cobble together any of those repeatedly successful economic benefits tested and proven in so many other markets! those fools. They don't even live near a coast!


I loved this bit of "sarcasm" since everyone knows that there are no net economic benefits to spending taxpayer monies subsidizing professional sports teams and the inflated salaries of their players.


The Sonics are a business, if they can't manage to sell enough tickets at a high enough price to build their own facilities while paying the inflated salaries of their players well that's too fucking bad. Businesses fail every day because of factors like this and I fail to see why, if the business consists of a bunch of retards in athletic gear tossing a ball around that they should be immunized from this reality.


I'm tired of Sonics, Mariners and Seahawks fans asking me to pay higher sales taxes when I dine out, rent a car or a hotel room so that the NFL, NBA and MLB can continue with their unsustainable business models. Indeed I think it's time that we non-sports fans got some of our own back and put a 50 percent tax on all tickets to professional sporting events with the revenue being dedicated to music and sports programs in our elementary schools. It's time for all of the mouth-breathing sports jackoffs to give something back to the community, and paying sales tax on overpriced stadium concessions and crap like bobble-head dolls doesn't count.

Posted by wile_e_quixote | February 2, 2008 8:02 PM

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