this fiasco . The team will do fine as will attendance. OKC is in really 2 markets in one. Tulsa has as many people as OKC and they will commute 55 minutes down to OKC thus the market is on par with many in the NBA. With the price of oil & gas, this part of the country is not feeling this so called recession like many are thus the suites are already sold and high end tickets will be hard to come by for all home games. On the other hand the average joe will fell the other side of this coin having to shell out half of his weekly income to take the family to a game. Bennett will also spend the cash to put a winner on the floor, if he dosen't all i just said will be moot and you all can pile on my ass and chant "WE TOLD YOU SO"........
I hope your Ford Center contract is longer then 5 years,because the NBA just got into the prostitution business and your "beloved" Oklahoma team will be moving as soon as the lease is up and Pocatello, Idaho builds them a new stadium....................
OKC will still draw well, but the novelty of the NBA will start to wear off a bit. At that time, Bennett and Stern will be asking the public for $600M for a new arena. Because by then, the Ford Center will be 10 years old and clearly out-dated....from the NBA's perspective.
And, by the way, Bennett's losses on this will be roughly $100M by the time he moves the team. I'm sure by then he's going to want to dump a bunch more money to build the team.....right? Keep in mind, during the two years Bennett's owned the team, the Sonics have put together their worst 2 year record.....EVER. Yeah, he's a brilliant owner.
Dude, go to Google Maps. Select "Driving Directions". In one space, type Tulsa, OK; in the other space, type Oklahoma City, OK. Then hit enter. Where does it say 55 miles between Tulsa and OKC? It's actually 107 miles, 1 hour 37 minutes average driving time. I have a friend in OKC and he says it's actually closer to 2 hours (unless, of course, Clay is building you guys a rocket ship to transport fans). The point being that I can see people making the trek on weekends, but it's hard to imagine a lot of people getting off work at 5 on a weeknight and being willing to drive two hours to see a basketball game. Maybe initially, but down the road when the excitement of a new team has worn off? I don't think so.
It's a bit funny to read posts from people from OKC arguing their market is better than the Seattle market for the NBA. The following statistics demonstrate the advanced revenue potential of the Seattle market compared with the Oklahoma City market:
Population:
o Greater Seattle: 3,524,000
o Greater OKC: 1,240,967
Median Family Income:
o Seattle: $70,133
o OKC: $48,162
Seattle is consistently named as one of the best cities in America, and Forbes recently ranked it fourth among the Fastest Growing Cities in America. Also, for those who bring up the cost of living in OK being lower, that doesn't mean seats will be lower in costs. Bennett and Co. will need the revenue in order to compete//////and to compete, they'll need to sign FA's, etc. The NBA salary cap is equal regardless of where one lives.
I would love anyone to come up with a sound reason, with these facts, over the long term, the NBA is better off in OKC than Seattle. They may fare well there, but it's clearly not a comparable market to succeed.
To add to what Hawks said Seattle property value are increasing at the second highest rate in the nation, The unemployment rate is under 4.1 percent top 5 in the Nation. It's home of Microsoft, Starbucks, Boeing, Nintendo to mention just a few. So when ticket sales are down in rural OKC if it is really even a city, not to mention it has one of the highest rates in the nation for people who have just lost there homes where are they going to get the money to support the team just because gas is a few cents cheaper?
Since your so brilliant with all of your calculations why dont you compare the cost of living in okc and seattle? You can get alot more for your money in okc. I agree with you that Seattle is probably a better market, but you people took forgranted what you and were not willing to do what it takes to keep them. Now that they will be leaving the city wants to try and do more, but what about before the last owner sole the team?
