What the Seattle Supersonics relocation can teach us about the Trailblazers

The Civics Education Initiative, a statewide program sponsored by the Oregon State Capital Foundation. They help Oregonians learn how our government and democracy work and how you can get involved and make a difference. Grant applications to help nonprofit and educational organizations support civics education programs throughout Oregon are open now through September 30th at Oregoncapitalfoundation.org. This fall, let Curiosity lead you to Newport. The Newport Festival of Arts and Culture brings together music, arts, markets, culinary experiences, and community celebrations on the Oregon Coast. From September through November, take in world-class performances, explore the historic Bayfront, and discover the stories that make Newport unique. Unlock exclusive lodging offers for OPB listeners at Discovernewport.com slash OPB. The Newport Festival of Arts and Culture? where creativity is in the water. This is Think Out Loud on OPB. I'm Jeff Norcross. Nearly 20 years ago, Seattle lost its NBA team, the Supersonics. A combination of new ownership without local ties, an outdated arena, and political decision-making caused the Sonics to leave after 41 years in Seattle. This is starting to sound familiar, isn't it? We're going to talk now with Tim Booth, sports reporter with The Seattle Times, and he joins me now to share more about what happened in Seattle and went lessons it might have for Portland if the Blazers leave Rip City. Tim, welcome to the show. Hey, thank you for having me all this afternoon. So what was the first thing that went through your mind when you learned that the Sonics were leaving town? A lot of thoughts, a lot of history, a lot of ties to my childhood, to so many people around here who grew up with the Sonic scene that the part was really tough for anyone who was a sports fan of any of the teams in Seattle, but specifically if you grew up as an NBA fan or a basketball fan. Not having the green and gold as part of the fabric of the city was a really tough blow for many to accept. And it's still something that I think a lot of basketball fans in this area are still grappling with. And we're talking about it 18 years after the team last played here. What were the main characters in the supersonic's ultimately leaving town? A lot of characters. I mean, you go back to the decision by Howard Schultz, the former Starbucks chairman who owned the team at the time and decided to have his ownership group, which was comprised of 50 or 60 people at the time, voted to approve the sale to Clay Bennett, who was the businessman from Oklahoma, who had... worked with the NBA to be a temporary home for the New Orleans Pelicans after they had been displaced by Hurricane Katrina. And that had gone so well that it kind of wet the appetite there for fans and for the owners to try and go out and find an asset that was available. And it turned out that the Sonics were that asset. So those are the two main players. There's a lot of...

pieces that went along the way. You had issues with the state legislature here. You had then MBA Commissioner David Stern and his role in sort of guiding this process that led the team to eventually end up in Oklahoma City. You had political leaders in the city of Seattle who sort of dismiss the importance of the NBA and professional sports in the in the marketplace or in the community. So. There were a lot of people that ended up very much responsible for the events that transpired that led the team to eventually leave. Yeah, and you called the Sonics an available asset at the time. What was it about the Sonics that made them available? Well, they had tried to... They remodeled what was known as Key Arena back in the early 90s. It opened the same year that Moda Center did in Portland, 1995. There's kind of this sort of unique timeline of all three arenas in the Pacific Northwest. Rogers Arena in Vancouver, Modus Center in Portland, and Key Arena in Seattle all opened the same year. But the remodel was done sort of on the cheap. And it didn't come with the amenities that over time became incredibly important for NBA teams to generate the revenues that they would like to see coming out of a venue or out of an arena. And Howard Schultz had gone to the state legislature, he'd gone to local leaders. We had just come out of an era when... the public had contributed money toward the building of T-Mobile Park, the home of the Seattle Mariners, and Lumen Field, the home of the Seahawks and the Seattle Sounders and the Seattle Rain. And the public just was not interested in giving any more money to update, remodel, enhance any... professional sports buildings in the in the area and so harold's kept running into roadblocks along the way as he was trying to get some some public contribution toward updating key arena to where it needed to be at that point and it just got to a sort of a breaking point where he felt like the only way that it could be taken seriously the situation would be to sell the team and by selling it to an outside entity that didn't have Seattle ties. He felt like that would spur the community to then throw their support behind giving some money toward a new arena or an arena renovation. And he couldn't have judged it more poorly about how it was all going to, how it was all going to go and ended up. leading to the events that we saw the team eventually leave. Yeah, it's interesting because the modus center, as you may know, is having conversations right. Well, the Portland City Council is having conversations about the upgrade of the motor center and how much public money is going to be involved. And it sounds like you're telling me that is a key thing, a critical thing in a decision to move any NBA franchise? 100%. And arena, arena, uh,

Not availability, but modernization. Having what's often called a first class arena, it's a key element that the NBA wants to see its teams have and put out there. It's for the impression that it gives, not to the other. other owners and other teams around the league. It's also for revenue generation because revenues get shared. It's critically important for the bottom line of a billion dollar industry where these franchise valuations are now through the roof that they are making money off of the building that they are using and to the maximum amount that they can. And so, yes, the arena is going to be You know, from watching it from afar, it looks very familiar to what we went through here. And what happens with Motiv Center seems like it's going to be a critical, you know, breaking point one way or the other in how this all goes. If the city passes its funding package to go along with what the state and the county have already put forth, I think it's going to be hard for the current Blazers ownership to turn away from that. But if the council box and the money isn't there, then there's going to be this continued sense of uncertainty about the future of the Blazers. Yeah, if you're just turning in, we're talking right now about Seattle's NBA team, the Supersonics leaving that city in 2008 and how lessons learned there might apply to the Portland Trailblazers now. Tim Booth is a sports reporter with Seattle Times. Tim, we're talking about NBA team relocation like it's just something they can up and do. How hard is it to actually move a team? It's really hard. And you have to have so many pieces in place. You have to have the city that you want to go to. You have to have a building that you would want to go play in. Or you'd have to be in a city where you'd have a temporary place to play with the hopes of then constructing your own arena within that area, within that region. You have to have probably some willing political figures in those cities or a political climate that would probably... be willing to see a team come into their area and maybe make some concessions on tax breaks or what have you in order to see that new revenue stream come into their marketplace. And then you have to have the okay of the MBA. You can't just say, hey, I want to buy that team and move it to name your city. The NBA has to sign off. along the way in this process. And how likely is the current iteration of the NBA under Adam Silver to do that to say, okay, go ahead? It's a great question because silver's at the behest of his owners. The owners essentially tell him what he wants, what he should do. He has a sense of, my understanding from talking with him in the past and talking to others, he has a sense of trying to sort of write the wrong of what has happened in Seattle. And...

That's why there's been this push for expansion conversations and potentially bringing back the Sonics along with potentially a team in Las Vegas. And because of that, he's not interested in trying to see the same thing happen to Portland. He's going to give a certain stance publicly, and he's done that with some of the things that he's said along the way over the last year about them needing to find solutions in Portland. But... with the potential of consequences if they don't. But behind the scenes, the sense is he doesn't want to see Portland go through the same thing Seattle went through. He's one who feels bad about what happened with the Sonics. He doesn't want to see that happen with the Blazers. That's the sense that you kind of get from talking to others. But at the end of the day, if... 23 of his owners because you have to have a 75% majority. If 23 of his owners say, yes, we're okay with Tom Dundon moving this team to name your city, Kansas City, Nashville, you know, wherever. that's the decision that's going to be made. There's going to, there would be massive relocation fees that would come with that, which, who knows if the money would be there to, from the current ownership group to actually do that. But it ultimately comes down to what the current ownership structure of the NBA and the guys who own their teams feel about the direction of the league and do they want to. potentially allow this to happen. Okay. Well, last question, and I only have a few seconds, but what do you think is going to happen in Portland? Are we going to keep our team? I think if the city passes the funding package and all the money is there for the motor renovation, they're going to have a really hard time justifying, possibly moving the team. So I'm hopeful that the Blazers are still there, and I'm hopeful that we see the Sonics back in a couple of years, and we're talking about the Sonics and Blazers playing once again on the court. Oh, we've missed that rivalry. Tim, thank you so much for this. I appreciate it. Thank you for me on. Tim Booth is a reporter with the Seattle Times. Finally, today, managing producer Shiraz Sadiq joins me here in the studio to read some of your recent feedback. Shiraz, hi. Hey, Jeff. Yesterday, we talked with the new director of the Multnomah County Homeless Services Department. We asked folks on Facebook how they think the county should prioritize those services, and we heard from a number of people with firsthand experience. Matthew Lane said as someone who has experienced homelessness here and is still dealing with it, I just want clear answers. There is no simple list or one place to go for housing. Everything is spread between nonprofits with one hand not knowing what the other is doing. If you're on the streets, there is not just one place to go for help. There are many and they are all overwhelmed.

James Merlin Epler wrote, as someone who is homeless since age 16, they should have caseworkers with plans on how to end their own homelessness. It will always take help and people rooting for them to succeed, but they need to follow these plans. Many won't because they won't stay in the same group. They don't want to leave their homeless friends behind and often ruin their chances by inviting homeless people who aren't willing to change into their new living situation. We need to find something that gives them hope and motivation. Opportunities to be something like a wildland firefighter to show they're meaningful in our community. Kat Jay Jones sent us this email. I am a woman with three college degrees who worked for Multnomah County for 10 years. I graduated summa cum laude. I worked hard and so did my husband. We bought a house and never missed a payment in 10 years. I do not have addiction issues. And yet, I was forced into homelessness when my husband got sick with cancer. He had paid for long-term disability insurance for his entire career, but when he got sick, they refused to pay for time off. While I was his caregiver, I could not work. We ran out of FMLA, and the bank foreclosed on our home. She went on to say, he went into the hospital in the spring, and neither of us ever went home again. My partner died of kidney cancer in the summer, and the night he died became my first night of homelessness. Please inform your listeners that their stereotypes are not reality. Don't imagine homelessness is about a failure of the individual at the expense of society. This is a societal failure, and every one of your listeners is a lot closer than they think to the streets. A couple of weeks ago, we talked with a pair of professional sewists about the declining number of tailors and seamstresses joining the profession, and we ask people on Facebook whether they still get their clothes tailored. Stacey Humphrey said, Absolutely, but not that often. Occasionally, I'll find an incredible, high-quality piece that's a size or two too big. Think vintage Pendleton wool blazer in pristine condition. My incredible Taylor is able to take it and modify it to fit my body and style preferences and make a singular piece found nowhere else. Nice. Norma Greger sent us this mail. I have been sewing for many years, and as a retiree, I now spend time sewing for our homeless neighbors for free. I mend and repair items because folks may not have the means to replace things, but I also mend and repair items that hold deep sentimental and emotional importance. I found that a backpack can be so much more than a backpack. In some cases, it holds a life story. Fixing those straps to provide one tiny measure of restored security is one of my favorite and most frequent projects. We... Always appreciate your comments and suggestions. You can leave them on our Facebook page. We are at OPBTOL. You can also send us an email at think out loud atopb.org or leave us a voicemail at 503-293. 1983. Thanks, Shiraz. You're so welcome, Jeff. Tomorrow on the show, Oregon's wildfire season has been severe, resulting in smoky air in communities all over the state. Central Oregon now ranks among the regions with the worst air quality in the nation, and we'll hear from the Crook County Public Health Director about how people can help keep themselves safe. Our production staff includes Malia Fas.

Roli Hernandez, Gemma DiCarlo, senior producer, Alison Frost, and managing producer, Shiran Sadiq, Idrisa Guy, is our summer intern, Naline Silva and Laila Isbel, engineer the show from the Gert Boyle Studio. Our technical director is Stephen Cray, and our executive producer is Sage Van Wing. If you don't want to miss any show, you can listen wherever you get your podcasts. Our nightly rebroadcast is at 8 p.m. Thank you for tuning in to Think Out Loud on OPB and KLCC. I'm Jeff Norcross. Have a great day. Think Out Loud is supported by Steve and Jan Oliver, the Rose E. Tucker Carlson Charitable Trust, Ray and Marilyn Johnson, the Susan Hammer Fund of Oregon Community Foundation, and the Lang Spengarde Family Fund. If you tune in to think out loud because you love learning about what's happening in our region, you'll love listening to The Evergreen. This weekly podcast paints an audio portrait of the Pacific Northwest through the stories of the people who live here. Subscribe now, wherever you get your podcasts.