The Daily O’Collegian

By Murray Evans

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — James Onstott of Oklahoma City sat Wednesday night at a downtown restaurant, dialing numbers on his cell phone, determined to be one of the first to buy season tickets for a relocated NBA franchise.

It hadn’t yet been an hour since Seattle SuperSonics chairman Clay Bennett announced Wednesday evening that the team would be moving immediately, and Onstott could barely contain his excitement.

“This is the foot in the door to the big time,” the 37-year-old said.

In simultaneous news conferences, Bennett and Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels announced the terms of an agreement that will allow the Sonics to buy out the final two years of their lease in Seattle and make the move to Oklahoma City.

The settlement — reached on the day a federal judge was to rule in the case — calls for a payment of $45 million immediately, and would include another $30 million paid to Seattle 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.

The Sonics’ name and colors will stay in Seattle, and Bennett said the team soon will announce a new nickname and colors. He said that team officials have gathered ideas and suggestions for the nickname from various sources, including media speculation.

Bennett said the franchise’s move will begin Thursday and will start with the players. He said that the business side of the team employs about 125 people, but that he doesn’t know how many of them will want to move with the Sonics to Oklahoma.

Tickets went on sale even as the announcement of the move was being made.

“I’m not sure we’re going to have enough seats in the building. This is going to be pretty extraordinary,” Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett said.

Roy Williams, the president of the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce, said that agency will work with the Sonics to smooth the team’s transition and will hold a job fair for the team on a still-to-be-determined date.

The New Orleans Hornets spent two seasons in Oklahoma City after that franchise was temporarily displaced because of Hurricane Katrina. Williams said the experience the city gained from hosting the Hornets will prove invaluable and that having a team locate here permanently will be an “enormous” economic boost for the city.

“This is about as good as it gets,” Williams said. “When something is definitive and is written down and for certain, then you can begin making plans and putting things in motion.

“There are only 28 other (cities) like us nationally” with NBA franchises, he said. “We have the opportunity now to engage corporate leaders in 28 metro markets for a specific reason … that before we didn’t have. It’s much easier to open that dialogue now that you have a level of credibility that being an NBA city gets you.”

The Sonics, like the Hornets, will play at the Ford Center, which will be undergoing a taxpayer-funded $121 million renovation during the next two years. Gary Desjardins, the Ford Center’s general manager, said the arena has been holding dates for the Sonics in case the team was able to relocate for the coming season.

“We’ve been operating under that premise,” Desjardins said.

Bennett said all 41 of the Sonics’ regular-season games will be played in Oklahoma City, but said it’s likely that the team will play exhibition games at the BOK Center in Tulsa, a new arena that is scheduled to open in September.

“We want to make this Oklahoma’s team,” Bennett said. “This is a team that’s going to play in Tulsa.”

U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe, who is from Tulsa, offered his support for the relocation.

“The relocation of the NBA SuperSonics franchise to Oklahoma City is a slam-dunk not only the city, but the for the whole state of Oklahoma,” Inhofe said.”… Our state can boast some of the best fans in the country — this move is a testament to their dedication.”

Bricktown Association executive director Jim Cowan predicted that before the Sonics play their first game at the Ford Center, there will be announcements of major tenants who plan to set up shop in the Bricktown entertainment district adjacent to downtown.

“It just puts a huge smile on everyone’s face,” Cowan said. “We knew they were coming, but to know they’re coming this year, that changes everything” as far as preparations that will need to be made.

He said that first Sonics game will “be an historic moment. It was neat when the Hornets played that first game, but this will be our team. We’ll have to be thinking about what we do in terms of how we celebrate it. I think there will be a lot more hoopla than there was for the first Hornets game.”

Onstott, who said he grew up in southeastern Oklahoma rebounding for future NBA star Dennis Rodman while Rodman was in college, said he plans to be there when it happens.

“This is a state that craves basketball,” he said. “I’m a Dallas Mavericks fan, but now I’m a fan of whatever the team will be here.”