Chris Daniels on New NBA Media Deal and Expansion for Sonics

Chris Daniels of Komo News joins Dave Softy Mahler and Dick Fain joins Dave Softy Mahler and Dick Fain to talk about today’s breaking news about the new NBA media rights deal and what it means for the NBA expanding and the return of the SuperSonics.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Live from the R and R FoundationSpecialists Broadcast Studio. Now back to Sofie
and Dick on your Home for theHuskies and the Kraken Sports Radio ninety three
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(00:41):
about lasik starting at four ninety fiveand I and the new evil implantable contact
lens procedure is available as well.I hear this too, and I think
Snapper Jones, I think Bill Walton, I think Marv Albert Well, Brent
Mussberger tossed in there as Bob costis doing the Open for sure doing games
as well. I also think ChrisDaniels. I think Chris Daniels has established

(01:04):
himself as the pre eminent inside theNBA reporter in this city, and he
joins us right now on the radioshow. At least that's what he told
me to say before he got thecopy right there. You just read it,
right, Chris, Did I dothat? I've been the beat.
I was the beat reporter for anon existent building in two non existent teams
for a long time. You deservethose three things are done. That's right,

(01:26):
you deserve it, my friend.Well, the media rights deal.
All we kept hearing from people isyou want the Sonics back, Get the
media rights deal done, and thenwe can talk. Well, look at
here, eleven years, seventy sixbillion dollars, it's finished. Are we
next? Should Sonic fans start toget a little bit excited about what's to

(01:48):
come here in the two oh sixWell, I don't think there's any big
secret here with what Adam Silver,the NBA commissioner is, has telegraphed.
He's he's laid it all out overthe course of the past year to get
their TV digital rights deal done.He said it again on June sixth before
the NBA Finals that once they getthe NBA TV digital rights deal, they
will turn to expansion. He's excitedabout expansion, he said two days later,

(02:14):
Seattle in Vegas or at the topof that list. So he has
laid all of this out now,and it appears, yes, multiple reports
led by Andrew Marshawn of The Athletic, that the deal is done eleven years,
as you said, seventy six billionwith a B dollars, and that
the NBA owners the Board of Governors, could approve it as early as next

(02:36):
week, but by the end ofthis month, no doubt. I'm just
impressed with the forthrightness and honesty thatAdam Silver's shown through this whole thing,
because we did not get that fromthe prior commissioner. I just think there's
a lot of Seattle sports fans,Chris that just kind of lump Adam Silver
and David Stern together as this oneNBA commissioner entity, and they're two separate

(02:58):
people, right, with separate waysof going about things. You know,
there is an argument to be madethat Adam Silver has the best reputation of
any of the major pro sports commissionersat this point, just how he handled
the Donald Sterling fiasco right out ofthe gate a decade ago, and how
he has been relatively forthcoming on alot of issues involving social justice in the

(03:22):
business of the NBA. And Ithink that there are several players in the
league who will tell you they likeAdam Silver. You wouldn't necessarily hear that
in other major professional sports. Andyes, he said back on June sixth
that once the deal is done,they're not going to snap their fingers,
so to speak, and announce expansion, but there would be an expansion committee

(03:44):
that would be formed of NBA owners. So you start laying out this timeline
now, and we do have historicalreference in the last time the NBA did
this that say, they get thedeal signed off, announce it here by
the end of this month. We'retalking somewhere in the August to October timeframe
of announcing an expansion committee. Andthe last time the NBA formally expanded was

(04:10):
December eighteenth, two thousand and twofor the Charlotte then Bobcats two years later,
so they had less than a twoyear runway to start the team.
So if Adam Silver is leading everybodydown this path and says that they're going
to form an expansion committee and thenturn to expansion, we are looking at
by the end of this year havingsome sort of announcement about Seattle and Vegas

(04:33):
presumably together for a start. Yeah, twenty twenty six. Well, you
just answered my question, because thatwas going to be my question. I've
been telling people that will listen thatI think by the end of the year
we're going to know by the endof twenty twenty four, and you laid
it out right there perfectly that wevery well could know by the end of
the year. So I guess thequestion then becomes, do we start talking

(04:57):
ownership? Do we start talking rucksure, David Bonderman majority owner? Does
Bezos have any role whatsoever? Arethose premature discussions, Chris sur Do you
believe it's appropriate to start having thoseconversations. No, it's appropriate to have
those conversations. And you know,lurking in the background here in the last
week the Boston Celtics up for sale. Fifty one percent of that franchise is

(05:21):
being sold this year, according totheir managing general partner. We know David
Bonderman has a minority share there thathe would need to divest before he is
an owner in any way, shapeor form for an expansion franchise. So
I believe that is all interconnected asfar as Amazon with being a potential media

(05:41):
rights partner here with the NBA.We know Andy Jassey, the current CEO,
is a minority investor in the Kraken. We know that Amazon has the
naming rights on the arena for aclimate Pleasure arena. So all of those
pieces of the puzzle do fit together. Whether anybody can write that potentially for
or high billion dollar check for anexpansion franchise, I don't think any one

(06:03):
person is going to be doing that. I know that there have been meetings
with investors around town and potential investorsaround town to try and put that money
together forward the expansion franchise. ButBonderman, his daughter Samantha Holloway, who's
been actively involved as an owner ofthe Kraken, both names that have been

(06:24):
discussed here locally as being involved witha new Sonics franchise, And there have
been a lot of meetings over thecourse of the past year here in Seattle.
On a civic level. The mayorhas already said he's been having weekly
meetings on this, So a lotof things have been quietly happening behind the
scenes. Who get ready for aannouncement by the NBA commissioner of an expansion

(06:47):
committee. Are you surprised how manypeople that you talk to have no idea
that this is happening? I mean, I get questions all the time,
So when of the cosonics coming back, and I give them a similar spiel
to what you's just you've just givenus the last time minutes and they're just
like blown away. They're like seriously, really, I mean, are you
are you surprised that it's not outthere more? Well? I think a

(07:12):
lot of people there there's a certainamount of fatigue. I mean, I
see it, I hear it.Tell me when it's actually happening, Chris.
We have heard these stories before,and I think it's fair for people
to be fatigued by that. Andyou know what, Frankly, Seattle there's
a completely different city than when theSonics left in terms of the growth and
all the new people that have movedhere who haven't followed it as closely as

(07:32):
the three of us have. Soit doesn't surprise me. But you know
what doesn't surprise me either, isjust how many people still are tied to
that emotional hole of losing the teamback in two thousand and eight. There
is something about this team, thatfranchise, that point in time that people
who don't even care about basketball askwhen are the Sonics coming back? They

(07:57):
want that hole to be filled.We've heard multiple mayors say tried to do
it and couldn't do it. Andit appears that we are perhaps just weeks
or months away from having a formalprocess that is going to get everybody talking
and everybody excited again. Well theway it is almost over, man,
which is it's hard to not getemotional talking about that. And look,
I mean, I hope you don'ttake offense to this, but your point

(08:18):
about you know how this has beensomething people have wanted for sixteen years.
You've made a career Chris in alot of ways of covering this story,
and that doesn't happen without the interestin it. I mean, just look
at what your career has turned intoand what you've been able to do on
the backs of this story man inthe City. And I hope you don't

(08:39):
take that as an insult, becauseit's not an insult. It's you've been
the guy on this and the amountof interest in it has justified your coverage.
So when Dick says, when arethey coming back. Are we talking
if we know by the end ofthis year, by the end of twenty
twenty four, should Sonic fans expectthat it's going to be the twenty five
twenty six he's in the twenty six, twenty seventh season. When should people

(09:03):
expect to be able to walk intoClimate Pledge Arena in realistic terms? And
I won't hold you to this andwatch that team play again. First of
all, I appreciate all of that. We are we're talking about twenty six
twenty seven season, a two yearrunway. Think about what the Kraken had
before their initial season, and theexpansion draft and all the other franchises dealing

(09:28):
with salary cap and financial ramifications,all that kind of stuff. Other teams
are going to want a two yearrunway to plan for that and the contracts
of existing players. I would tellyou this off the and I appreciate what
you said there. This is astory that transcends sports. It's about civic
priority, it's about transportation, it'sabout what people care about in a very

(09:50):
diverse city. And I think that'swhy this story has resonated with so many
people, and a lot of Seattleitesfeel like this city got a raw deal
back when they gave up the Sonicsfor forty five million dollars in that franchise
is now worth three billion dollars.It was a hell of a deal for
Clay Bennett. It was a baddeal for the city of Seattle, although
they paid off the Key Arena debt. And I think that's why a lot

(10:13):
of people have paid attention to thisover years. Now sixteen years that we're
going and we go eighteen years ifwe want to talk about when Clay Bennett
bought the team from Howard Schildt.So it does sound like we're in the
home stretch. Who knows we're goingto have a hiccup here down, you
know, in terms of financing puttingthat money together. But every indication over
the last year from Adam Silver,from the NBA League office is they get

(10:37):
this TV digital rights deal and theyturned to expansion and there are two cities
that they have in mind, andwe know that both those cities have arenas
that can host NBA teams. Rightnow, what's the purpose of the expansion
committee then that this is a donedeal. I think that there have been

(10:58):
owners. I think when when youhear Adam Silver say the things that he
has said publicly there, just likeDavid Stern before him, there are reasons
for those statements that are external andinternal, and I don't think he has
had necessarily internal support to expand whenhe first started talking about it back in
December of twenty twenty, when theNBA was having financial difficulties, that's when

(11:24):
he floated the trial balloon. Andthen that trial balloon popped after a year.
So having an expansion committee that ismade up of five owners, potentially
including Clay Bennett, would allow themto have a conversation for a couple of
months, but those conversations have alsobeen happening for a year two years.

(11:48):
Yeah, and it's just going tobe a matter of Hey, at our
Board of governors, meaning in October, let's form a committee and maybe by
December announce those franchises. I thinkit would be a quick, pretty quick
process, but there will be aprocess, just like we saw in the
NHL. Hey, I know we'relate for a break, Chris, real
quick? Do they get the historyback? Remind people that agreement and how

(12:09):
that works. Well, remember therewas a deal with the Hanson Group back
in twenty thirteen that it would bea team named the Sonics. By all
indications, Clay Bennett still owns hisprofessional basketball team, LLCD still owns all
of that. Clay Bennett has nothad a thrill back night, has not
done anything with the SuperSonics name downin Oklahoma City, all of those banners,

(12:31):
the trophy, it is here inSeattle, MOHI hazard under lock and
key. They'll be the SuperSonics,they'll be the Green and Gold. It'll
be the Sonics, and Clay Bennettwill give that up as part of this
whole process. I love it allright, man, great stuff. Appreciate
this and we'll talk soon, buddy. Thank you. Thanks guys. Chris
Daniels with us on the show.I don't know, it just kind of,

(12:54):
for some reason for me right therekind of became real. I don't
know why I feel this way becauseeverything that he's saying, We've been talking
about you and me for a longtime, but there's something about that little
conversation and I want to come backand ask you guys if you feel the
same way. It just kind ofthe weight's coming to an end, so
let's discuss it next. On ninetythree three KJRFM,