The REAL REASON Seattle Lost the SuperSonics 

As an Oakland Athletics fan currently going through this, my heart goes out to all the Sonics fans. I remember watching it unfold and thinking to myself no way they move the sonics after they were purchased. I thought they had been saved, but a year later they were gone. Sports only care about money

I was a huge Supersonic fan cause of the jerseys and history.

The Sonics were one of my favorite teams as a kid in the 90s, that Kemp/Payton/Schremp squad was great.

I quit watching the NBA when the Sonics left Seattle. Used to be a huge fan. I don't know if I could ever come back now, given how much the league has changed since then.

"We didn't buy the team to keep it in Seattle, we hoped to come here [OKC]" - Aubrey McClendon

Being an Oakland A's fan this one hits hard....

Schultz betrayed his home town and reneged on his promise not to let the team get moved. That’s why longtime Sonics fans like me still boycott Starbucks to this day. So far, many of us have been true to our word that we will NEVER spend a cent there.

Not even from Washington, but as a teen the Sonics were my favorite team. Detlef Schrempf was awesome with Payton and Kemp.

As a Laker fan I wanna hate you guys again like every other sport. Bring back the Sonics.

Considering even the Hornets are worth 3 billion dollars now and teams like the dubs are 8 billion, it is safe to say all previous owners of the Sonics are regretting their decision to sell. Either of those poor rich men should have just built the stadium themselves.Schultz bought the Sonics for 200 mill, sold it for 350. Now OKC is worth 3 billion dollar. Ouch. And Schultz had no need to sell, he could have easily afford a stadium and lose a hundred mill on that team each year, he'd still be a billionaire today.

I’m from Portland so a blazers fan but I miss the sonics..remember the sonics flag waving on top the space needle after they left..

after the sonics lost the finals in 96, my love of basketball started waning, once the sonics left, it killed my love of the game.

I was 14 years old when the Sonics moved and growing up 60 miles north of Seattle my dad and I went to so many games sitting in the back row of the arena, some of my favorite sports memories of my life, and being at the courthouse protesting with Gary Payton and other fans was awesome. Still makes me sad but the newly renovated arena is massively improved and hopefully the league will expand because I don’t ever want a kid in another city to feel the way I did and lose their team

I do feel bad for the seattle fans, especially when they won a championship with Bill Russell being the coach unlike the Vancouver Grizzlies who sucked

If I read up on it right, part of the agreement when the owner purchased the Seattle Supersonic was to keep the team in Seattle. Obviously the new owner didn't keep his end of the agreement and came up excuses to move the team because he couldn't get a big enough stadium built meaning he couldn't generate more income if he kept the team in Seattle which was BS. The owner cared about his pockets more then the fans.

At least Seattle still has a few professional sports teams left. I've seen The Raiders leave twice and taxpayers are still paying for it. I saw The Warriors leave (then have Oakland on their jerseys) and The A's are leaving. I recently found out that Oakland even had a NHL team leave.

Shawn Kemp, Gary Payton, Lenny Wilkens, and others all kept allegiance to the Seattle Area and it's Fans. We never really lost our Supersonics. The real Supersonics never abandoned Seattle.

I'm not gonna lie, I didn't appreciate the Sonics when we had them. I went to few games, had a Gary Payton poster on my wall....but by the time they left, I really didn't care. Granted I was like 16 when they left, I had a lot going on IRL. If they ever decide to come back, i'm going to be a day 1 fan, win or lose....

I blame lebron James

We need our team back man . When we had the Sonics I wasn’t a huge fan but if we get them back I would be a die hard .

Wow you did a disservice to the Sonics by going from 79 to Shawn Kemp. Those 80s Sonics teams were just as fun to watch if not more. Tom Chambers, Dale Ellis, Xavier McDaniels, Nate McMillan etc...

It’s so amazing to me that u can do such things to a sports team in America. If this happened to European football there would be riots violence anarchy and even casualties in the og city of that team

As a Blazer fan I'd love to see the Sonics back where they belong. In Seattle!!!

The summer of 2008 was a tough one for then-KeyArena. Not only did the Sonics move to Oklahoma City, but the Thunderbirds, our WHL team, moved to ShoWare down in Kent, leaving the WNBA's Seattle Storm at the only tenant at the arena. (To think I was at one of the last T-Birds regular season games at KeyArena....)

Seattle has nothing left to prove for deserving the Sonics back. They shouldn't have left in the first place. I hope the NBA undo's the wrong they did.

I was at the last Sonics home game and I haven’t watched an NBA game since they were stolen out of Seattle. The City definitely hold some of the blame as well The Glove The Rain Man and Big Smooth

When Schultz sold the franchise to a guy from OKC, who'd just proven NBA basketball would work in OKC after Katrina, the writing was on the wall. i can't believe anybody believed Bennett when he said he had no plans of moving the team & that as owner he actually made it more likely for the team to stay in Seattle. 🙃

This is why as much as the NBA tries to promote OKC as this feel good team, I never buy it…. They were built on a shady past and deserves nothing until things are made right in Seattle

Great vid, instant sub

A related story of how Seattle tried to take the Sac Kings a decade ago would be a good video...

I’m a Spurs fan, but I loved watching the Sonics play. Livid would be an understatement regarding how I felt when the Sonics were moved to OKC. Ever since then, I’ve been a Thunder hater as well as hopeful that Adam Silver and the NBAPA can work something out to get basketball back in Seattle again 💚💛🏀

Of all the modern professional sports franchise movements, the Sonics feels like one of the most unjust. We're extremely spoiled in Boston to have never had to spend public money to build sports stadiums, just minor taxation restructuring and completely justified roadway improvements around Gillette Stadium. That said we had our own version of Schultz dead set on moving the Patriots to St. Louis in the early 90s. Fortunately our stadium lease deal was tougher and more bulletproof than Seattle's and they couldn't afford to leave town. At an absolute minimum, taxpayer-funded stadiums need to have deeply punitive terms in their contracts with sports teams attempting to back out. That's more than fair.

Great Content 👍

Seemed very thorough. Thanks for the great synopsis and wow i still feel wronged.

You had me at SuperSonics 😢

One of the biggest disgraces in NBA history.

I'm from Seattle and grew up during the 90s watching the sonics. When you have a team that sells out night after night the owners shouldn't be able to sell just like that.

Thanks for video took me years to be able to watch the nba after they left

What's even worse is that Seattle has a WNBA team w/ the space needle in the logo, same colors and everything...what a joke..I'm a Rhode Island , Celtics man...but Seattle was my team back in NBA Jam and those NBA live days... Rashard Lewis and Ray Allen, still have this tin lunchbox with the two of them on it

Gotta do Emmanuel mudiay next

This guy has watched Sonicsgate and I am here for it!! Bring back the Sonics!

As a Wisconsin sports fan I almost watched this happen to both Milwaukee teams. Almost lost the brewers and bucks. Milwaukee wouldn’t been the same ..

Swish county the #1 NBA youtuber 🙌

Why would lebron do this?

Based on what the Starbucks owner did, I'm surprised that Starbucks is still open anywhere in Washington.

Would love to see a video from you about the Chargers relocating away from my San Diego home 🥺

I haven't watched an NBA game since 2008.

Support Sonics from Italy. Glove & Reign Man forever. Nba without Seattle isnt my Nba.

Not only was the city paying for Safeco Field/T-Mobile Park and Qwest/Lumen Field, we were still paying for their predecessor - the Kingdome! City taxpayers were paying for 3 stadiums and were asking to fund a fourth.

This is also happening to the Oakland A's.

Bring back our Sonics!

Damn so thats the reason 😢 rip sonics. I hope we get our team back soon but im doubtful

What a nightmare... (206)

When the price doesn’t match value, It’s usually tied to money laundering.

If there are plans for expansion, hope the NBA reconsider returning to Seattle, just like how the Charlotte (Hornets relocated to New Orleans but got a new franchise as Bobcats before returning the to the Hornets name) and New Orleans (Jazz team moved to Utah and the Hornets relocated in the city years then later changing to the Pelicans) before....

I’m surprised this wasn’t mentioned in the video but what used to be key arena got a remodel back in 2020 for the new NHL team. One of the nicest stadiums I’ve been to behind sofi and allegiant stadium. Kinda a waste not to bring em back now

In 2006 Frank Chopp the Speaker of the House of Washington instantly tell's David stern and Howard Shultz in a meeting about just to renovate the old arena, "you know I will say no. I know I will say no. how long do we have to sit in a room together before we can pretend we tried and just say no ?" That's how and why Seattle lost the Supersonics....

Ps Key arena was renovated to Climate Pledge arena which doubled the size to 800,000 square feet plus the NBA has become more focused on expansion recently.

Houston is a pawn for the NHL and Seattle to NBA. Pawns as threats to other markets for building new arenas. Both markets are potential big time tv markets. Both Houston NHL and Seattle NBA should have teams

I was 13 when they left. Im now a vet whos pushing 30. I cant believe i might go my entire 20s without basketball in Seattle.

OKC is cursed from the way Bennet stole the team. They won’t win a finals until after the eventual new Seattle team does… I’m convinced of this

Damn I totally forgot Ray Allen was on the Sonics. Even we Blazer fans would go to Sonics games. Hated seeing them leave

I lived in Seattle when the team left, so I can say, the hardest departure for a modern fan base WASNT the sonics, it was when the Expos left Montreal. I'm not an Expos fan so there is no bias here. I still see Expo gear everywhere. Sonics gear is rare

As an OKC fan, I am very grateful to the Seattle’s negligence. Very happy we just voted to build a new arena. As soon as a Seatle business person decides they want to pay for a new franchise the NBA is happy to oblige. They have plenty of billionaires, just not enough committed to them. It’s crazy Balmer never stepped in to help Seattle out.

WE NEED OUR TEAM BACK

the Safeco tax and eventual Seahawks stadium were taxed yes but the tax was on hotels/motels......most of which wasn't paid by locals. Schultz was a bad owner and betrayed his city even more by selling to a group he knew intended to move the team to OKC. The NBA and commish Stern were at fault as well. They did not try to help the city keep its team and also did everything he could do to not let any team move here. The Hornets not only moved to N.O. but also was replaced in Charlotte while this city still waits. Stern blocked an agreed upon sale for the Kings and a planned move to Seattle, costing a man Chris Hansen a 50 Million NON refundable deposit. But lets be honest for a minute, IF the NBA was looking to expand during this time would OKC really be a viable option? Would it have been on top of the list of wanting cities? My answer would be a resounding NO. In more recent years the NBA commish SIlver, has dangled expansion for over a decade. The city of Seattle has been told many times "we are looking at expansion, but we need to work out our CBA deal with the players." Then when that happened it was "we need to focus our efforts on getting our next TV deal done before we decide on expanding." ANd they rotated between the two for years now. Now that the CBA has been done and the TV deal is nearing completion yet again what will be the excuse this time Silver? The players want this team back, the fans want this team back and usually money makes all the decisions but in this case the money is there, the fans are there, the only thing that isnt is the Sonics. Fix it before there isnt anyone left around here that actually remember our beloved team. We have waited too long as it is. THe Hornets didnt not exist as long as the SOnics did in Seattle and are currently the worst run franchise in the league and maybe in sports period. Yet they got their team back before we did. The SOnics have won a title and had 41 years in Seattle, a much larger history than the lowly Hornets. GET IT DONE SILVER!!!!!

So Seattle declined to renovate the arena and when an arena was built in another city, they filed for a lawsuit? Dude. That is just fuckin dumb af. To me, it's the city's fault. They really lost their team. A very big source of tax just because they don't want to fund a renovation. That is just pathetic governance. Sure, the new owners have faults on their own but looking at it, it's more of the governance's fault. Don't worry Seattle fans, we are going to have a team again in the next expansion

Surely there is a huge demand now for a basketball team in Seattle considering all the tech money that has moved in since..

Downtown Freddie Brown

I miss the sonics😢

Sonics will be back soon! What will end up happening is that OKC will be considered an expansion team, starting in 2008 and Seattle will have been considered to have Suspended operations for almost 20 years.

I think the only reasonable thing to do is move the Grizzles to the east and add a team to Vegas and Seattle

Seems to me at the time, one franchise had to go so that two could thrive in Seattle. A couple years earlier the Mariners had one foot out the door as well until Griffey saved baseball in Seattle. Great video.

Seattle might be getting their team back

Sad reality for the fans, at the end of the day.....it's a business and business is about money. Greed does exsist and team owners are business people first.

8 year old me is crying all over again....

I hate Seattle but they should of never lost their NBA team, there should be a team up there

The short answer is Seattle’s politicians and Washington’s senators and congressmen were to blame. None of them took the threats seriously and blocked every possible solution. They were eying a possible payout from the OKC owners as a form of ransom to allow them to break the Key Arena lease. They never had any appetite for building a new stadium. The Thunder owners paid Seattle $75M to allow them to break (2 years early) what had been a pretty iron-clad lease. But both parties realized Seattle would not have been happy with a lame-duck team, and the NBA also let Seattle know that without the freedom to leave the NBA would punish Seattle in expansion. Facing that the leaders capitulated and allowed the Sonic’s to go. But they first squeezed out that ransom. Realistically both Clay Bennett and the City got what they wanted, but not the fans. Gonna be a bumpy ride in Chicago, another town with another hungry team, this time in the always ambitious NFL, and in a state with no appetite for funding sports stadiums.

Will be a great rivalry when Seattle gets there team back playing Okc

If we are being honest, it’s Lebron’s fault Seattle no longer has a team. Shame…

Btw, the NBA may be thinking expansion again to Seattle and Vegas. LeFlop wants to own one of the next two expansion slots. Good luck with that.

W vid bro

Bro people of Minnesota(population 5ish million) built the Target Center for Wolves(recently updated to top practice facility in league), Excel Center for Wild, Gophers college football stadium, Target Field for Twins and a Billion Football stadium for the Vikings(after paying for Metrodome their previous building). They took our Lakers and our North Stars(who almost immediately won a championship after making the Finals in their last years here) and tried everything they could to contract the Twins(Eliminate them from existence less than 10 years after winning their 2nd championship in 5 years). And we are looking at another basketball arena. Just sick of people making excuses and saying there was nothing the fans could have done and the owners were out to get them thats a lie. You guys didnt even pony up to keep Griffey Jr what do you expect? And the fact that the NBA is talking about the next Sonics franchise is asinine. So you guys want the championship and all the history that comes with it right? Well at that rate the Lakers lose 5 rings to the Wolves because they won in Minnesota and there sure as hell arent many Lakes in LA. LA does not have as many titles as Boston Minnesota has 5 of them which ties them with San Antonio and above Milwakee, Miami and New York among others... Wolves played in the metrodome and Minnesota held the season attendance record at one point with a terrible product on the court to watch. Players that were drafted in the expansion draft refused to play here(Rick Mahorn) and we still supported awful teams.

It's wrong to say the only winners were a small group of investors. The Sonics became the Thunder and were warmly welcomed by an appreciative Oklahoma populace that had never experienced pro basketball but immediately embraced their new team. They were big winners of the move and, despite not having won a championship since the move, continue to support their team to this day.

Wish they would bring them back

Crazy Oklahoma city has an nba team and Seattle doesn't. Also crazy how Seattle never replaced the supersonics

The Seattle local government that time doesn't care about sports, that's why the NBA agreed to the relocation. Seattle had the chances, they had chances like The Kings or Bucks to relocate there but to no avail and those franchises got their new owners then the worst of it all when a local Seattle business group wants to revive their team but their hopes was squashed by their own local government.

As a former Washingtonian, Seattle citizens put their foot down after the Hawks and Ms stadiums were built and said no more public money for stadiums. The league punished Seattle. Key arena was awesome, I dont GAF about suites to be honest. Would be hilarious to see the Plunder moved back especially with their bright future. Never been to OKC but no way that city has more to do than Seattle....

Seattle hating OKC because a businessman bought the failing team from a Starbucks idiot is wild to me. And nobody even started boycotting Starbucks until recently… for unrelated reasons. Also OKC taxpayers recently approved a tax increase for a billion dollar new stadium-something Seattle didn’t want to do. Nobody can deny how successful the Thunder has been since moving to OKC.

There is word the Sonics have a shot at being picked as an expansion team. Then maybe the curse can be lifted on OKC. A curse that will show itself again tonight when OKC, a #1 seed, is eliminated in the conference semifinals. Tip off is anytime now.

#bringbackthesupersonics

We want our fucking team back now!!!!!!!!! 😤 💚 💛

The thunder are loved here in OKC, because of the move I got interested in basketball

Bring back the Seattle SuperSonics!

if one of my favorites teams bailed, i'd never watch that league again.....ultimate betrayal teams need to build their own arenas, bet they'd stick to a budget then

If we don’t get our Sonics back by the next tv deal I will never watch the nba again

I haven’t watch an NBA game since they left! ( except an exhibition game a number of years back that was shown on TNT, Warriors and I forget who) the only way I return is when the SONICS DO! I’ll never ever say the name of the city where they were stolen to. And I hope they never ever win a championship ever! And it will be an awesome sight to raise another Championship banner before they do! SEATTL SUPERSONICS FAN FOEVER!

There might be an expansion happening in the NBA soon. and Seattle is mentioned alot.

I was born and raised in Seattle. We grew up here with the Sonic's who locally were more popular than the Mariner's. When they took the team away, they basically forfeited this region. No one I know, not family, friends, or neighbors follows the NBA now. No one I know misses it or is asking for an NBA team to come back either. Washington State is over the NBA. Crazy considering they call us a blue state and the NBA is all about the "blue" agenda. Any way #GoKraken!!!

I want to see the Sonic play the Nugget again