I think the NBA is making it increasingly hard for anyone but the biggest markets to be successful. The City of Seattle is not run very well in general and certainly does not make our sports teams a priority. The front office has been horrible since Wally Walker took over for Bob Whitsitt (he did a good job for the Sonics). Walker took an NBA Finals team and drove the Sonics into the ground, starting with the signing of Jim McIlvaine. Kemp had his problems after that, but if we would not have signed McIlvaine, Kemp and Payton would have been a lot happier and we could have seen the Sonics go deep in the playoffs for a lot of years. How Walker is still around is beyond me.
My issue with Seattle (and by that I mean the fans, residents, and City) is that for the most part we seem to only care about our sports teams when they are winning. That was not always the case. If anyone noticed, Citizens for More Important Things were able to gather 23,900 signatures in support of Initiative 91 to block ANY taxpayer financing of the Key Arena renovation. That is 7,700 more people than the average attendance at Sonics home games last year. I applaud the effort by Save Our Sonics, but they were only able to get 1,000 members to sign up through 5 days.
If you do not think we need a new arena, consider the fact that Seattle ranked 9th in home attendance percentage, but only 23rd in total home attendance. It is not just about luxury boxes; we need more seats. The Sonics have not been higher than 20th in total home attendance the last 4 seasons (and I could not find data further back than that). Oklahoma City had the 11th highest average home attendance, despite hosting a transplant New Orleans team. Half of the games were sold out and they had an average of only 500 empty seats per game. It is hard to argue they do not deserve a franchise.
Having an NBA franchise is a privilege that only 32 cities in the country have. The NBA is able to exploit the situation because many places want a team and are willing to sacrifice a lot to get one, but there is a reason several groups are trying to poach the Sonics as opposed to other NBA teams. If Seattle wants to be one of the 32 teams we need to support the club with both our attendance and our tax dollars, that is just the reality.
I am a Seattle Sports Fan to the bone and I do not want to see us lose our team. I went to the Mariners 1995 one-game tiebreaker against the Angels to earn their first-ever trip to the playoffs, the Supersonics 1995-96 NBA Finals appearance against Michael Jordon and the Bulls, and the Seahawks 2005 NFC Championship game where the team earned its first-ever trip to the Super Bowl. All of those games were that much sweeter after supporting those teams through the less than great times. The NFC Championship game meant a lot more after going to every home game during the 2-14 season in 1992.
People do not seem to understand you earn the right to say "WE" won. It is not just about living in the city, but rather standing behind your team even when they stink. A sports team is like a family member for a real fan. You love them whether they are up or down, you criticize them and tell them what they need to hear when they are screwing up, but you always have their back in the end, no matter what. It does not seem like there are enough people that feel that way about the Sonics anymore. I just feel like people would be showing a lot more support for a winning team, and that is not what sports is all about.
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