False info from Save Our Sonics:

Q. Let’s buy the teams and have public ownership.


A. False: The situation in Green Bay is unique in sports. Leagues have rules to prevent it from happening again.

With NBA teams suffering operating losses it is imposible for a team to exist owned by the people in a city. Here, of course, it’s even worse because the City of Seattle can’t find the money to fix potholes, much less cover the operating losses of an NBA team.

Owners like Howard Shultz recover their losses when they sell the teams and that defeats the purpose of public ownership.

Of course that again assumes that the new owner would consider selling and that isn’t apt to happen.

Actually, the Green Bay Packers aren’t owned by the city of Green Bay, but rather individual stock owners. And, while every major sports league in the United States ban non-profit or government ownership of teams, only the NFL bans corporate ownership to prevent stock sales of teams.

But, the NBA totally allows stock ownership systems. Both the Boston Celtics and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

So, what’s stopping anyone from filing a corporation with the Secretary of State’s office and selling stock to try to buy the Sonics. Nothing at all.