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Breaking News: Seattle Sonics Sold to Oklahoma City Group

By Shrug

Forgive the quick detour into basketball, but this is a huge story for Seattle professional sports:

The NBA Seattle SuperSonics, and the WBNA Seattle Storm, have been sold to a group of businessmen from Oklahoma City, led by investment firm president Clay Bennett. Oklahoma City has served as a part-time home for the New Orleans Hornets after Hurricane Katrina devastated the region. Since then, OK City and the NBA have had a nice little love fest.

Will the Sonics move to Oklahoma City?

Update [2006-7-18 18:35:25 by Shrug]: I've continued this story in a new page, which I normally wouldn't do, but... well, I'd like to keep this a football site on the surface. You can find more of the story at the "Read More" link below, plus any updates from me (or you, if you'd like) in the comments.

The article quotes Tom Price, a partner in the new ownership:

"We love Seattle. To come to Seattle more frequently would not be a bad thing. Obviously, the people of Oklahoma City really fell in love with NBA basketball. The people of Seattle have to make a decision about how important NBA basketball is to them. We're excited about owning an NBA franchise. Anybody that has been a long time NBA fan, they know they've got a great tradition in Seattle. There's a lot of people in Oklahoma that would be excited to have this team in Oklahoma City as well."
Translation: Yes. The Sonics are moving to Oklahoma City. Not for the 2006-07 season, but as soon as possible thereafter. In fact, Jenni Carlson of The Oklahoman already considers the Sonics move a fait accompli. Personally, all this means for me is that I'm free to go back to being a Sacramento Kings fan exclusively.

More details can be found elsewhere on the web.

We now return you to our regularly scheduled football town.

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