NBA commissioner David Stern said on Saturday that it is inevitable that the SuperSonics will leave Seattle after more than 30 years in the northwestern American city.
Speaking to reporters on the eve of the league's annual All-Star Game, Sten said he expects the SuperSonics to leave either this year or when the team's lease expires in 2010.
"It's apparent to all who are watching that the Sonics are heading out of Seattle," Stern said during his annual press conference. "I accept that inevitability at this point. There is no miracle here."
Stern said he has encouraged the SuperSonics, who entered the National Basketball Association as an expansion team in 1967 and won the 1979 league title, to make an offer to the city to buy out the remaining two years of its lease at Key Arena. He said the offer approached US$30 million and was rejected.
Sonics owner Clay Bennett and his predecessor, Howard Schultz, have both said the Sonics couldn't remain in Seattle without public funding for a new arena. But despite the efforts of both of them, Stern, and a group of fans called "Save our Sonics," state lawmakers have given no indication that is a priority.
Bennett has informed the league he plans to move the team to his hometown of Oklahoma City after this season. But a potential move is currently on hold after the city filed a lawsuit against the team, attempting to make it fulfill the terms of the lease.
Stern doesn't think there is much point.
"There's not going to be a new arena. There's not going to be a public contribution and that's everyone's right. I mean that sincerely," Stern said. "So the only question now becomes, is the court going to rule that you can fulfill the terms of the lease by paying money for the remaining two years after this? Or, despite everything, there is some reason to keep them there as the clock winds down."
Stern spoke more hopefully about the future of the Hornets in New Orleans. The franchise will have the right to opt out of its lease at New Orleans Arena if it doesn't average 14,735 fans at the end of the 2008-2009 season.
The Hornets average only 12,645 currently, 29th in the 30-team league. But Stern hopes All-Star weekend helped turn over some new fans.
"When I leave here after the All-Star game, I'm much more optimistic about the prospects of the team meeting the goals that have been set," Stern said. "The people I hear interviewed, the businessmen I speak to, the fans, the government officials, I think there is going to be a unique, unified effort to make sure that New Orleans is very much a basketball town."
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