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Dont hold your breath
Yep. Mayor McFatty sold us out, ultimately. The city council got on their high horse and yapped about how the Sonics didn't mean anything to Seattle (Nick Licata, if I ever run into you, I'm punching you in the face), but all the mayor had to do was say "we're not settling" and Clay Bennett would have been forced to keep the Sonics in Seattle until 2010. And considering the way the economy tanked a few months later, he would have been forced to sell eventually. The agreement was set in stone. They couldn't leave before the lease was up. Part of the settlement was that they pay $45 million to the city, and they'd put up another $30 million if the city did renovations to KeyArena and secured a team by 2013 (never was going to happen), so the city LOST that extra $30 million by striking that deal. And Mayor McFatty wonders why he didn't even make it past the primary the next year.
If you were to replace Seattle with Sacramento, Mayor McFatty with Magoofs, and Sonics with Kings then this would pretty much be exactly the situation we are in right now.
I'm guessing you're talking about Sherman Alexie. He is great. Leading up to the Sonics leaving I said the Jim McIlvaine signing is what led to the Sonics ultimately leaving town, and when I heard him say that early in the documentary, it was the ultimate validation. Finally, someone who was able to analyze the situation, looking farther back than anyone had even considered. It wasn't just about Schultz selling the team, it was a ten year history of poor management, across two ownership groups, that led to what happened. Sad, but looking back, it all makes sense.Originally Posted by Statis22
An awesome documentary might I add.
That author's 3 minute piece on Ray Allen towards the end.He was really choked up and it felt genuine.
Don't get me started on what Clay Bennett demanded in Seattle, as part of his "good faith effort" to keep the team here. A $500 million multi-purpose arena (by far the most expensive non-baseball or football stadium in the history of American professional sports), 100% funded by taxpayers. It was so laughable.Originally Posted by rck2sactown
If you were to replace Seattle with Sacramento, Mayor McFatty with Magoofs, and Sonics with Kings then this would pretty much be exactly the situation we are in right now.
Broke #+# owners can't do #++*. Bunch of idiots. Our local government has gone above and beyond to try and keep this team here and get a new arena. Its the owners who have their hands out and want to "not settle" and get a better deal; essentially a free arena with no collateral and all the profits(I'm not kidding, thats really what they want), on top of design power and a shorter lease than any other team moving into a new arena
None of this matters. In the end, the Sonics weren't the flavor of the month. That's why nobody stood up for them. I guarantee if they'd rattled off 50+ wins in 2006 again, the politicians and the public would have been singing a different tune. By 2007, they were a bad lottery team, and all hope was gone. Seattle is a "what have you done for me lately?" town.
