Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Sonics Fans Apologetic, Encouraging to Sacramento Fans

The producers of the heralded "Sonicsgate: Requiem for a Team" documentary, who have fought to bring basketball back to Seattle, have penned an open letter to Sacramento Kings fans as the two Pacific cities vie to build the Kings a new arena.

While the producers are basketball fanatics who were upset with the Sonics leaving Seattle, they understand it's nothing personal; it's just business:
(Sacramento,) We know the gamut of emotions losing your hometown team can inspire.

To that point, our film ends with this poignant realization by author and Sonics fan Sherman Alexie: “If we get a team, it’s going to be somebody else’s team ... To get a team, I'm going to have to break the hearts of people just like me.”

We’ve never shied away from this unfortunate reality, warning other vulnerable cities that if the Sonics could leave Seattle after 41 years, then truly No Team Is Safe.

It depends instead upon competition among municipalities to build bigger and fancier arena facilities, with team owners constantly seeking out new revenue streams and often requiring taxpayer subsidies to stay profitable. The power will always be in the hands of the privileged few, those who guard the purse strings and pluck the puppet strings behind closed doors.

1 comment:

  1. "...nothing personal; it's just business..." words to remember before getting emotionally involved with a professional sports business that the "fans" have on real stake in. GET IT FOLKS - FRANCHISE OWNERS KNOW THAT YOU'LL PAY UP SO THEY'LL KEEP PLUCKING YOUR STRINGS UNTIL YOU WISE UP.
    When the Seattle whiners get what they think that they want, they won't give a damn about the customers in Sac. They cry about the "privileged few", if it wasn't for them big league "sports" wouldn't be there.
    Whiner also conveniently leave the athletes who have their hands deep in the "purse".

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