Oklahoma City Sonic Burgers Closer to Reality

We've been keeping tabs on Seattle SuperSonic's owner Clay Bennett's quest to move the team to his hometown of Oklahoma City (the corporate headquarter of the fast food drive-in chain Sonic coincidentally). Today, that came one step closer to a reality, as Bennett notified the league of his intention to move the franchise. There had been an October 31 deadline set for the city to provide a plan for developing a new publicly-funded arena for the Sonics (and the WNBA's Storm). That deadline passed, and Bennett, in all magnanimity, gave Seattle one-and-a-half more days to come up with a solution.

spacer

blahblblablahblah Good luck getting that suit in Oklahoma hoss

Skeptics will note that Bennett had until March 1 to formally petition the league for permission to move, and that the announcement comes suspiciously AFTER the Sonics have played one home game at the league's smallest venue, Key Arena. Normally, a move such as this might be viewed as leverage, but it should be noted that the previous owner of the Sonics, Starbucks Coffee chairman Howard Schulz, sold the team last fall over frustration that the city would not give him a free arena.

This is not a move to empty the seats this season to make him look less like a bad guy. Bennett always intended to be the bad guy. This was the ownership equivalent of a sign-and-trade, a "buy-and-move" if you will. A group of local investors have made an offer for the team, but with only one year of appreciation in value, they would have to overpay Bennett to make him relinquish his dream of bringing the NBA to Oak City.

ahblah Sonic is awesome, but the nearest to ECB are in Dover and Bridgeville, DE

Not lost on ECB is the fact that former Longhorn great Kevin Durant would enjoy quite a pre-built following in Oklahoma City, as it is in clear Big 12 territory. Kevin Durant, on the other hand, may not enjoy life in Oklahoma City too much.