Will Seattle Ever Get an NBA Team Again?

Its been almost three years since the Seattle Super Sonics played their last game and if you ask any sports fan in Seattle they would love to have their team back.

The Super Sonics touched a lot of peoples lives from 1967-2008. (41 years) A team that won six Division Titles, three Conference Titles and one NBA Title. The team touched a lot of people because it was the first professional sports team in Seattle. It was before the Mariners, Seahawks and the Don James years of Washington Huskies football and the city needed something to get excited about.

However, in 2006 the city of Seattle was in jeopardy of losing their team. The team was in jeopardy because Key Arena contract was almost up and needed to be settled or the team would move to Oklahoma City. The city was unable to reach an agreement to provide funding for upgrades on Key Arena and the team was sold to an Oklahoma City Businessman named Clatyton Bennett. He bought the team for 350 Million dollars and after the 2008 season moved the team to Oklahoma City.

Now almost three years later the city of Seattle is pushing to get the NBA back in the city of Seattle. Personally, I think Seattle deserves an NBA team but there is only one problem. Seattle still has no arena. In the week leading up to last Sunday's All Star game in LA, there was lots of speculation that their might be a few teams might be on the move in a few years. A few cities have showed interest including Seattle, Vancouver, Kanas City, Anaheim and Las Vegas.

The reason for some of the teams moving is because of attendance. A good handful of teams this year are averaging 13 to 14 thousand fans a game. You can view the attendance chart here.

If I could predict the future, I would say that one or two teams will have to relocate in the next two-four years. This could get some people excited but it's only a reality again if Seattle gets a new arena deal.

There has also been reports that a couple of teams will also need a new arena deal in their city soon. Those cities include Sacramento and New Orleans. There has been some interesting news in Vancouver (my home town) in the past week about the Vancouver Canucks owners have been interested in bringing the NBA back to Vancouver. Vancouver has been without a NBA team for almost a decade and might have a leg up on Seattle as Vancouver has an arena, which was re-done prior to the 2010 Olympics in 2007.

If you want to read the story about Vancouver wanting a NBA team, click here.

The bottom line is this. If Seattle wants to get a NBA team back to their city they will have to get an arena deal. As it stands right now, there are too many cities looking to get an NBA team. Seattle would be a great place to put a team if they get the support. However, these things don't happen overnight and I think Seattle or any other city is at least two-four years from getting a new team.