July 2, 2008
By billmcneal 3 Comments
My very first experience of a local professional sports franchise taken away from me happened on July 2, 2008 (and July 2 happens to be my birthday). On that day it was officially announced that the Seattle SuperSonics were moving to Oklahoma City after owner Howard Schultz sold the team to a group of Oklahoma City investors including Clay Bennett. Clay Bennett and Co. seemed to never have any intentions of keeping the team in Seattle, and Schultz should have known better to sell his team to a group in another state far away. The new owners claimed the move was because the city of Seattle did not renevate Key Arena, but that was just an excuse to justify their actions. It doesn't take a Ph.D to know that if you sell something local to somebody who is far away, there is a good chance of that something to be moved. The relocated team became the Oklahoma City Thunder, and all the continued success of great players like Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook could have been blossoming in Seattle. Now I know how Cleveland felt. I hope Seattle gets to join the National Basketball Association soon, and a National Hockey League team would be killer also.
