Consumer Review - David Stern

David Stern, Commissioner of the NBA, could care less about the fans of the NBA. He has allowed owners of NBA franchises to hold teams for ransom against cities they're located in so that the franchise itself can benefit.

The most recent city that has to fight for it's team is Seattle. This story has been going on since the team was sold to OKC based group, lead by Clay Bennett. Here are couple recent articles written on this situation.

From an article written by Kahn Games of Fox Sports on 3-10-2008 "......ultimately Oklahoma City billionaire Clay Bennett, another Stern crony who overpaid for the team just to put OKC on the map. Keep in mind Stanton, who owned 20 percent of the team in Schultz’s bloated group, wanted in with the new ownership, but Bennett nixed it, wanting only Oklahoma City ownership.
Even worse, Bennett refused to discuss a remodel of KeyArena, and when it was apparent the politicians wouldn’t give him land and build him the Taj Mahal on Lake Washington for $500 million, he applied to move to Oklahoma City.
Now everyone is raving about the $121 million promise of a remodel to the Oklahoma City Arena, but the proposed $300 million to KeyArena isn’t worth a look? Does it not matter that Seattle is the 12th largest media market in the country, has a 41-year history supporting the Sonics and Oklahoma City is the 45th largest market?"

WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT IT?
From an article written by Bill Simmons of ESPN.com on 2-29-2008, "I did have one idea that won't necessarily save the Sonics, but will definitely achieve the goal of raising national awareness for what's happening here. It's a radical idea, an act of aggressive pacifism, if you will. I don't think it's ever been done before, but I think it could work. And no, this idea wasn't inspired by the "Donna Martin Graduates!" episode on "90210." OK, maybe a little.
Anyway, as soon as the third quarter ends for one of Seattle's upcoming home games, the Sonics fans should simply leave their seats and walk onto the court. Don't be violent, don't antagonize anyone ... just walk onto the court en masse, and as soon as the court is filled with people, start chanting, "SAVE OUR SONICS!" for 10 minutes straight. Assuming you had 3,000-4,000 people stroll onto the court, there's no possible way they could arrest everyone, and if they called the game, who cares? You were probably losing the game, anyway. The crucial thing to remember is that it should be done as nonaggressively as possible; the rest of the nation won't be sympathetic to your cause if you act like jerks. And you shouldn't chant anything like "BENNETT SUCKS!" or "STERN SUCKS!" You want everything to be as simple and benevolent as possible.
If you could pull this stunt off in a dignified way, it could be incredibly effective and raise the right amount of national awareness for this issue. (In fact, it would be the dominant story of that week and make the sports radio/talk show rotation.) I'm not going to pick the game for you, but I will say that you should pick a Sunday, Monday or Tuesday game so the story (and the highlights) can get national attention for the rest of the work week. Remember, carry yourselves with dignity and don't act like jerks. Heck, I might even show up to join you."