The Sonics will get to move to Oklahoma City for next year after paying a $45 million ransom for buying out the last two years on their lease and a extra $30m "in 2013 if the state Legislature in Washington authorizes at least $75 million in public funding to renovate KeyArena by the end of 2009 and Seattle doesn't obtain an NBA franchise of its own within the next five years."
Also, the SuperSonics name and logos stay in Seattle, much as the Cleveland Browns name and logos stayed in Cleveland when the old Browns became the Baltimore Ravens; unlike the Browns, it appears that the franchise records will move to Oklahoma, so that Kevin Durant doesn't become the career scoring leader of the Oklahoma City Wildcatters (I don't know what their new nickname is yet) rather than Gary Payton.
It's interesting that the team's name is a bit of an anachronism. Back in 1967 when the team got started, Boeing was in the middle of building a competitor to the Concorde, thus the supersonic name, but the US pulled out of the SST race in 1971; it's an interesting factoid that the B-1 bomber borrowed from the Boeing SST design.
Maybe we can go with the OKC Hedgehogs, then they can have Sonic as their mascot.
The most accurate parallel here would have to be the Hartford Whalers/Carolina Hurricanes NHL move in 1997 -- the Canes kept their franchise records, but the colors, logos, banners and retired numbers all stayed in Hartford. The Hartford Civic Center even continues to post the banners, and raised three more two seasons ago.
The Canes have never reissued Gordie Howe's #9, but #2 and #19 went back into circulation that first season. (#2 is being re-retired next season in honor of Glen Wesley -- who has quite the ironic name for the Baptist church he and his family attend.)
Posted by: JoshC | July 02, 2008 at 11:09 PM