In case you missed it, here's Jason Reid of Sonicsgate appearing on ESPN's Outside the Lines discussing the Sonics and the Kings, and the NBA's continued retardness (well, he didn't say that, but it was implied). If you're not interested in watching 30 minutes of talking heads and want to skip to the money shot, JR appears at around the 13 minute mark.
5 comments:
Clay Bennett - new chair of the relocation committee....the NBA's middle finger to cities and fans who can't or won't "support" their broken model.
I think I'd rather see the Kings disappear altogether (for the overall health of the league) than see them relocate.
Honestly, if you're concerned about the health of the league, you'd rather see a team in Disneyland than an evaporated Sacramento Kings.
I know everyone's getting their knickers in a twist about 3 teams in LA, but that's just dumb (not you, Brain, but anonymous other people). There's 30 million folks living in LA, you telling me that ain't enough to support 3 NBA teams? Oklahoma City has, what, 73 people living there and they can support a team, but LA can't?
Further, the only people who ought to be concerned are Jerry Buss and Donald Sterling, and since when do we give a rat's hind leg about their problems?
The bottom line is that the league would be better off with 3 or even 4 teams in LA, and at least 2,3 or 4 teams in NY, and another team in Chicago as well - at least in the short-term. If you look at attendance, the big cities suffer less fluctuation than the smaller cities (usually, SLC is an exception, for example).
Of course, that's not the best thing for the league as far as exposure, as it's hard to grow your business when you're only in a half-dozen cities.
Maybe I should be stoked that the drive from San Diego to Anaheim is considerably closer than SD to Staples Center.
It will be similar to all the years of driving from T-town up to Seattle for weeknight games at the Key....oh yeah, I forgot I don't have a team anymore.
So are the Maloof's saying that even if the team was selling out and winning 60 games a year, that they would still be relocating?
They're just saying that while they expect their creditors to give them leniency when it comes to their problems with the Palms, the Maloofs can't be expected to give that same leniency to Sacramento when they try to deal with a near Depression and a horrible basketball team.
From what I understand from SacTown Royalty, the Kings are still charging the same ticket prices they did when Webber, Bibby & Co. were winning 50+ games a season.
Essentially, they're charging Palms rates at Barbary Coast and complaining that they're not selling out.
Actually the Kings are no longer charging the high prices they did in the middle of the last decade.
That said, they did charge way too high prices up until last season. There is no disputing that.
And, for those who do not know, I'm a Kings fan living in Seattle.
I've listened to the panel and it comes down to what it has always come down to: Paying for a new building in Sacramento.
Unlike Seattle, which has the difficulty of finding a new location, especially in the city of Seattle, Sacramento has 3 ready to go places to build an arena. Partly that's because Seattle's real estate is a lot more valuable and there are 2 other pro teams and a major university in the city too.
If Kevin Johnson can find financing for the building he's trying to build in the DT railyards in Sac, and he's working at it, that will be a major hurdle that's never come close to happening before.
At any rate, what I know is that the NBA has an image issue that won't be helped if they push another NBA team in a market that simply just wants one for their own personal ego.
I'm probably just pushing that point from my personal perspective though.
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