| The Norman Transcript Jul. 3--Maybe the Storm, heretofore Seattle's WNBA team, will come, too. And when the Ford Center becomes a nightly draw of more than 19,000 NBA fans next season, perhaps the National Hockey League will become interested all over again. SAVE MONEY ON TRAVEL DEALS Maybe this is just the beginning. Though such speculation is hardly important because what's really important is what we already know. "The NBA will be in Oklahoma City next season", Clay Bennett, the face of the ownership group of the team formerly known as the SuperSonics, said Monday. Oklahoma City has become a major league city. The metropolitan area, of which Norman's a big part, has hit the bigs. And though we may not yet know all what bringing the NBA to town will bring along with it, we know it will bring something. All of a sudden, this newspaper's competing in a larger media market. Just like that, several young millionaires will be living amongst you and I. Immediately, there's no difference in the public imagination between Oklahoma City and other major league locales like Portland, Sacramento, Columbus and Charlotte; you know, other than the people being nicer around here and all those tornadoes. Maybe we're already looking at ourselves a little differently, first thing in the morning, in the mirror. Coming up with a name will be the next great drama. Bennett said it and the team's new colors will be announced very soon. Whatever, we know Kevin Durant, the rookie of the year, is on the team, and P.J. Carlesimo, at least for the moment, remains its coach. It will cost a bundle. Bennett and his group owes Seattle $45 million and the city will get another $30 million if two things happen. One, a plan for a new arena or a completely revitalized Key Arena takes hold and two, it takes hold and still Seattle's unable to land a team over the next five years. If Seattle can do for itself what it couldn't do for the old Sonics, it will realize another $30 million from Bennett's group or, it hopes, the new Sonics. Yet the real lesson of the agreement that will have preseason NBA games in Oklahoma City as soon as October is the clear confidence Bennett and his group have in their hometown, it's surrounding area and the state. He spoke of how imperative it was every Oklahoman feel connected to this team. Should that connection be made, the long term future of the franchise will never be in doubt. Good seats may cost a fortune, but they'll sell every one of them. This team doesn't have Chris Paul to build around, but Bennett gushed talking about his players. He clearly likes them and can't wait to give them an Oklahoma welcome. If character judgment happens to be one of his talents, the support will be immediate. More than anything, the Hornets went over because they were so easy to root for. There's no reason to believe it won't be the same with what used to be called the SuperSonics. Just like there's no reason not to congratulate ourselves. This metropolitan area was the first to be struck by domestic terrorism in any kind of a big way and responded by giving the nation a lesson in fortitude and faith and being a good neighbor. Nine years ago, we did it again in the aftermath of the May 3 tornadoes. And just looking around, central Oklahoma's been booming for a while now, since long before it cost a gazillion dollars to fill up your tank. And now we're major league. Yeah, we were already, but now we have a team. It feels good. Clay Horning 366-3526 cfhorning@normantranscript.com
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