[Lefty Noob]

Breaking news here, folks: the Sonics will move to Oklahoma City for the 2008-09 season. This come hot on the heels of a $75 million deal between team owner Clay Bennett and the city of Seattle. Bennett and his Professional Basketball Club LLC will pay the city that sum in exchange for the immediate termination of their lease. No word yet as to wether or not the franchise will have a new name or will retain the Sonics moniker. Your thoughts?

Last-minute deal lets Sonics move to Oklahoma City - NBA - Yahoo! Sports

[3fanforever]

I was gonna post the news last night after the press conference, which all the local TV stations carried live, but I thought I'd wait until today. Glad you did Racer Duck.

Part of the agreement is the team will be leaving the name and the colors back in Seattle. They're gonna have to come up with all new uniforms, colors, logos, and a new team name. As far as the name goes, Clay said last night they have a very good list of suggestion to chose from, which they got from the people of Oklahoma. They'll make their final decision as soon as possible.

The only stumbling block to get over now, is that lawsuit by the Starbucks guy, Howard Schultz. (personal opinion: maybe if he got over losing the team, he could spend more time keeping all his high priced coffee stores in business.) But Clay said he believes the case is baseless and will do whatever it takes to get past it. But, if Schultz happens to keep the team in Seattle, the city would have to reimburse all the money back to Bennett and his partners.

I can tell you this morning, there is a tremendous amount of excitement around here. When they opened the phone line to order season tickets last night, they were overtaken with the amount of calls. The line was open for 1 hour and they took over 2000 requests. We'll see more how that goes today, when they stay open from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Personally, I've never been a big fan of pro basketball. All the years I lived in Atlanta, I never went to one game, and I doubt I'll be going to any here. But I will admit it's pretty fascinating watching all this happen. It's hard not to get caught up in the excitement.

[Lefty Noob]

Very cool info. I did not realize that the deal regarding the team name and colors had been reached, thanks!
So any thoughts as to what the team's new name might be? I'd like to see the "Oklahoma Stampede" myself. What do you think?

[3fanforever]

Originally Posted by Lefty Noob

Very cool info. I did not realize that the deal regarding the team name and colors had been reached, thanks!
So any thoughts as to what the team's new name might be? I'd like to see the "Oklahoma Stampede" myself. What do you think?

Here's what Bennett said last night about that:

"We are working very closely with the NBA on the development of this new name and color scheme. There are vast legal issues, licensing issues relative to the league with how they use the name with the distribution that the league has around the world. A lot of work has to go into seeing that we can protect the name and use the name appropriately in our business.”

Allot of people have suggested a name that has something to do with the weather around here, like Tornados or Storm. Last night they interviewed a guy at one of the local sports bars, and he suggested they name the team the Oklahoma City Thunder, and every time they took the floor, they could play "Thunderstruck" by AC/DC. I thought that was pretty cool. But Stampede is another really good suggestion. That has a lot of logo possibilities, not to mention the tie to the history of this state.

I also found this interesting:

Seattle will retain its original 1978-79 championship banner and trophy, but the OKC team will create a duplicate banner and trophy to bring with them to Oklahoma City. And the team's historical stats and records will remain with the Oklahoma City franchise, but will be transfered back to Seattle if and when they get another team.

[Lefty Noob]

Originally Posted by 3fanforever

Here's what Bennett said last night about that:

"We are working very closely with the NBA on the development of this new name and color scheme. There are vast legal issues, licensing issues relative to the league with how they use the name with the distribution that the league has around the world. A lot of work has to go into seeing that we can protect the name and use the name appropriately in our business.”

Allot of people have suggested a name that has something to do with the weather around here, like Tornados or Storm. Last night they interviewed a guy at one of the local sports bars, and he suggested they name the team the Oklahoma City Thunder, and every time they took the floor, they could play "Thunderstruck" by AC/DC. I thought that was pretty cool. But Stampede is another really good suggestion. That has a lot of logo possibilities, not to mention the tie to the history of this state.

I also found this interesting:

Seattle will retain its original 1978-79 championship banner and trophy, but the OKC team will create a duplicate banner and trophy to bring with them to Oklahoma City. And the team's historical stats and records will remain with the Oklahoma City franchise, but will be transfered back to Seattle if and when they get another team.

It won't be Storm -- that's the WNBA's Seattle franchise, and the league won't want a men's and women's team sharing a name, I'm sure. I like the Thunder suggestion too. And the records will be treated like what happened in Cleveland, with the NFL's Browns. That's cool, too. I do wish they'd just leave the records from the get go, though, instead of possibly belatedly rewriting the record books cover to cover.

[Seahawker 562]

Since their leaving the name sonics in seattle, im very curious as to that their logo and name will be.

[Quack Attack]

This move is very sad to see. I lived most of my life near Portland, OR and the Sonics have always been a huge rivalry with the Blazers. I know the owner of the Blazers was one of two to vote against this move. I hope Seattle can bring in another team but may take awhile and don't see the NBA expanding anytime soon.