Seattle — It was thought that the annual Rain City Showcase might be a hint at Seattle’s NBA expansion process, but off-court action has yet to begin in earnest.
The Los Angeles Clippers and Portland Trail Blazers will play Friday night at Climate Pledge Arena. This will be the third consecutive year the Clippers will play here. Both franchises have owners based in the Seattle area.
Plans were in the works with several business and civic groups to use the event as a springboard for a coordinated public relations campaign about the Sonics’ revival.
However, comments made by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver to KOMO News in September put those plans on hold.
Related | NBA commissioner says league will work on expansion ‘this season’
“We’re never going to go beyond the NBA. That’s always been our policy, because we don’t want to do that. We’re going to prepare this building to be NBA-ready. We are making all the preparations,” said Rosie Cele, Vice President of Climate Pledge Arena.
“We’ve proven we can play basketball. We’re coming off our third Storm season where we had to do everything under the sun, including Storm basketball, hockey, and concerts.” We played college basketball,” she said, noting that the arena has a “future NBA locker room” the same size as the existing Seattle Kraken locker room. pointed out.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver answered questions from KOMO News after the owners meeting in New York on September 10th. “There wasn’t much discussion about expansion at this meeting, not just because there was no interest, but largely because we were telling them we weren’t ready yet,” he said at the time. . He continued, “That’s something I told the board that we’re going to address this season. We’re not completely ready yet, but I think there’s certainly interest in that process. ”
He previously indicated that the expansion committee would first tackle the idea, with Seattle and Las Vegas being top targets. He also said the league will look at how Seattle’s exhibition games will be conducted in September.
The news comes after Silver said the league would discuss expansion after inking a new television and digital rights deal. The company did just that this summer, agreeing to a $76 billion package with Seattle-based Amazon, ESPN and NBC.
But shortly after the NBA Finals, another complication occurred with the announcement that the championship Boston Celtics would be put up for sale.
See also | NBA signs $76 billion media rights deal, paving the way for Sonics’ return to Seattle
Kevin Calabro, a longtime Sonics spokesperson who now calls Portland Trail Blazers games, believes this is an obstacle to expansion on KOMO’s “Inside the Arena.” said.
“They want to see where the numbers are when it comes to Boston, and then have cost certainty about how much money they’re going to share, what formula they’re going to use, and how they’re going to do it. “I think they’re looking to potentially use it to share TV revenue in the first few years of that expansion,” Calabro said.
Longtime fan Brian Robinson has participated in many civic efforts to save or bring back the Sonics. He is now starting a volunteer organization called “Seattle NBA Fans” to rally support for the seemingly inevitable marketing campaign associated with the expansion process.
The Museum of History and Industry is also preserving all Sonics banners and jerseys for return.
Freezing Time | Hundreds of Sonics artifacts preserved for decades at Seattle Museum
Robinson acknowledged that he thought the game would be a “tip-off point” for the effort, adding: “There is nothing to indicate that the start of this process will have any effect on the end of this process.” So, you might be a little disappointed, but I don’t think it will affect the final result. ”
There seems to be high expectations for the ending of the story. A recent poll of registered voters by the Seattle Metro Chamber of Commerce shows that 56% want the city to work to bring back the Sonics and improve Seattle Center. Only 26% of those surveyed felt otherwise.
Cele said the arena should be full on Friday and is ready to reiterate that it can accommodate teams full time. She says the schedule has been confirmed and the in-house programming team can handle the conversion from hockey to basketball in a matter of hours. Sell says there is plenty of room on the schedule for the next few years. She says CPA hosts nearly 300 events a year, with a mix of small corporate conferences, Storm, Kraken, concerts and special events.
“We meet NBA standards, modern NBA standards. We’re just waiting and being ready to take action when the day comes,” she says.
