I heard that the Sac Kings have been sold for $500m & will be moving north. Discuss.....

NBA.....sorry no interest on my part.

+100

I have had the NBA boycott going in full force here since the Sonics were stolen from the area. I am a little torn because I am still pissed at the NBA for this BUT I also applaud Chris Hansen for being willing to come back and make this whole deal happen. He has been slandered by many folks in Seattle and he could have just decided that the effort wasn't worth the trouble.

Chuck will be all excited, he can get his Isiah Thomas jerseys and posters out again as his hero will be coming home.

I've said it before, the NBA is completely crooked. It is basically a mafia run business. And that is just in regards to the league in general.

With the Seattle story specifically, it is without question that the league did not act in good faith and took efforts to lube and facilitate the theft.

Sometimes people get slandered for a reason. His multi-million dollar pay day will be "worth the trouble".

Don't care.

I already am forced to pay for Dubs and Esclades with my tax money, sure a hell ain't going to do it by choice.

Wash improved when you split.

Here's the analysis that should be performed prior to rejoicing about bringing the NBA back to town:

First, estimate how much revenue (through all channels) the team will bring to the area, specifically to entities other than the team's ownership, each year. Next, multiply that figure (plus inflation) by the number of years it took for Key Arena to go from bring the crown jewel of the NBA to no longer a viable venue. Next, estimate how much money the city will be required to contribute to the cost of the new arena that the NBA will try to racket them into building the next time around, assuming that period of time is similar to the "lifetime" of Key Arena.

Does the revenue outweigh the cost of the next arena? If so, bring 'em in. If not, bring 'em in anyway, but don't bitch and moan next time the team gets purchased by a tycoon from another city that wants a piece of the action.

Remember how you felt when you realized the Sonics were going away? That's how the fans in Sacramento are feeling right now. Why is that OK? Why should we not expect the same racket when the new arena becomes outdated?

Sacramento is a HUGE basketball town. Are Seattleites OK stealing the team away from Sacramento fans after what happened to Sonic Fans? I see and hear a lot of my friends who are basketball fans elated over this possible deal, while ignoring the hypocrisy...

Clay Bennett lied to Seattle fans and said that the team would stay here.

Sacramento has had four years of a team without a lease in their arena, and four years of knowing that other cities wanted them...and how many ownership groups in Sacramento have stepped up to keep their team there?

Zero so far.

Kevin Johnson was reportedly trying to get a group together as of yesterday.

Yesterday.

Did no one in Sacramento see this coming until yesterday?

Fish on...

Todd

Lots of problems with the formula used here. 1) It is virtually impossible to put an effective dollar figure on the revenue a sports team brings to an area. It is very similar to trying to figure out how much sport fishing dollars impact an area.

Next, Key Arena was never the "crown jewel" of the NBA. Older folks here will remember that Ackerly had his own site and wanted to build a new arena before Key Arena was renovated but for several reasons it was not done. So, Ackerly went along with the city and they renovated Key Arena but even when it was finished it was a middle of the road at best venue.

While it my be splitting hairs, the two situations involving the Sonics move and the Kings move are quite different. The Sonics had a 40 year history in the city and enjoyed good fan support. The Kings have been in 4 different cities throughout their lifetime. Clay Bennett paid lip service to the area after purchasing the Sonics and as many emails made public have shown, he never intended to keep the team here. The Kings owners are broke and the city of Sacremento is broke, shortly after forging an agreement this last summer both sides figured out just how broke they were and the deal fell apart. The Kings owners take the heat for backing out of the agreement but both sides know the other side doesn't have the funds to carry out the deal, and like Tod said, they have been at this for 4 years.

Finally, Stern is getting very close to retiring and the big spot on his legacy is the moving of the Sonics franchise. He helped broker that deal and in hindsight it was a terrible PR move for the league. He wants to put a team back in Seattle but the current economics of the league do not allow for expansion, therefore, the easiest way to do it is to move a struggling franchise to Seattle.

" while ignoring the hypocrisy"

What? Fans ignoring hypocrisy in pro sports! Say it ain't so!
You can't possibly be serious bringing up hypocrisy in pro sports. Hell, the entire pro sports world is built on it. How any sports fan of any pro sport thinks any pro sports league is better than another when it comes to screwing the fan is beyond me. I still try not to buy anything at Starbucks as I blame Schultz to the loss of the Sonics. I expected it when Bennett bought it.
I moved to Seattle in '71 and had an apartment 5 blocks from Key Arena. I attended a lot of games as I could walk to the game and tickets were cheap. I like most pro sports but basketball games have less dead time than the other pro sports except soccer.

After reading some of the comments here, I'm thinking Seattle ought to go seek out some more soccer and tiddlywinks franchises to locate here.

JFC

or a major league baseball franchise...

LOL, the entire game of soccer is dead time, the only thing more boring is soccer on TV.

As long as I've got college football and basketball along with pro football I'm good sports wise.
I'll take a pass on soccer, tiddlywinks and NBA basketball.

As long as Calabro is gonna call the "Sonics" games again... all is good!

I don't understand the hate on soccer. Played it for years and it sure as hell ain't for pussies. Definitely a little on the boring side compared to other sports as far as watching on the tube. As with any sport, much better to actually play.

As far as nba basketball, I enjoy watching it and going to games. I'm glad to hear it will likely be coming back. David Stern is a POS and all players not limited to just basketball of course, are severely overpaid.

But as long as people fork out the $$$ and waste hundreds if not thousands of dollars every year for apparel or going to games, it will never get better.

Time to overhaul the roster if they make it up here.

I like Evans,Salmons, and Cousins if you get him on estrogen and get him acting not so hot headed. I rather him be crying and crampy on the floor than throwing elbows and cussing people out.