Sonics resurrected? addressing the Hornets to Seattle rumors

After being uprooted and relocated to Oklahoma City two and a half years ago, Seattle just may be getting their professional basketball team back, if you believe any of the talk coming from NBA and Seattle circles. While it is nothing more than pure speculation at this point, very credible sources have come forward giving validity to this story. According to former Sonic great Slick Watts there is a "50-50" chance the Hornets will relocate to Seattle. While it is fun to throw around what if and maybes, lets look at the facts of what has to happen for Seattle (or any city) to land an NBA team

1. Arena- This is critically important, and the sole reason why the Sonics left in the first place. KeyArena is old and hasnt been touched since the Sonics left town. If the Hornets to Seattle rumors have legs, there must be investors committed to building a new state of the art arena that has the capability to host the NBA and the NHL. In this economy this will be incredibly difficult, however there is a lot of corporate money floating in and around Seattle and the allure of bringing back pro basketball and possibly a new NHL franchise (topic for a another post) this may be able to get done. If not, the Sonics will never come back.

2. Fan Base/ Media Market- As in all professional sports, it is a business and the NBA is only going to go places where their product is well received. I see positives and negatives with Seattle in this category. First of all, Seattle clearly has the money and market size (13th largest media market) to justify to the league they deserve a franchise. However there have been mixed feelings about having a team back especially because of the way they were uprooted from the City, I question whether the fans will flock back to the team. Ultimately fans want winners, and Seattle has demonstrated its a great basketball town in the past so if the team is winning, I am sure the fans will come back.

3. Ownership Group- If you havent heard of Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer by now, you will get to know him very well before this is all said and done. Ballmer initially ponied up $150 million towards a $300 million dollar renovation to the KeyArena to keep the Sonics in the first place. Last month, Ballmer sold $1.3 billiion worth of his Microsoft shares to "diversify his investments". Now regardless of his intentions the fact is, the man has $1.3 billion on hand. Ballmer is a local guy who is clearly interested in having a team back and would make a great owner, the problem is who would want to invest in the NBA with its current state and possible lock out? Ultumatley if the Sonics are ever to come back, Ballmer will have some sort of roll in it.

As you can tell there are many hurdles for the Sonics to return to Seattle, and the NBA isnt the most popular brand in the world right now. However if Seattle wants to become a major big time sports city the only way to do that is to add professional winter sports like the NBA and NHL to the market, and the idea of Seattle becoming a big-4 sports city is an exciting proposition.