Thunder Ink Sponsors As Team's OKC Return Gets National Play

Bennett Intimately Involved In Thunder's Daily Operations, Including Selling Sponsorships

The Thunder for the '08-09 NBA season have partnered with five cornerstone sponsors: Chesapeake Energy Corp., Devon Energy Corp., MidFirst Bank, The Oklahoma Publishing Co. and SandRidge Energy. The team is planning additional corporate sponsor partnerships in the future. Terms of the five deals were not disclosed (Thunder). In Oklahoma, Steve Lackmeyer reported four of the five cornerstone sponsors, SandRidge excluded, were "active supporters of the Hornets franchise" during the team's two-year tenure at Ford Center for the '05-06 and '06-07 NBA seasons (DAILY OKLAHOMAN, 10/26).

JARS OF CLAY: SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL's John Lombardo profiles Thunder Owner Clay Bennett, and writes from "selecting team colors to selling sponsorships, Bennett has been personally involved in virtually all of his team's major business decisions since moving" the franchise from Seattle this offseason. The Thunder have no team President because "Bennett holds the position, if not the title." Bennett: "I think I am a pretty good chairman, but not a good CEO. My sense is to devote myself to (the Thunder) and once the renovations are through at the Ford Center, then at some point I will remove myself from the day-to-day operations of the business.” Bennett said of the Thunder, "We have a good relationship with the city, the economy here is good, and we have a favorable lease where we control all revenue streams. We will outperform our market size and we will be profitable.” NBA Commissioner David Stern said of Bennett, who acquired the Sonics in '06, "He walked into a buzz saw and I don’t think he knew what hit him. Clay has learned that as owner of a team, he will be front and center, and I’m not sure he understood it.” Bennett said, "I feel like the past two years have been 10 years. ... There were times when I became very jaded and cynical, and I’m working to overcome that. But we are working on something positive here, and we will knock it out of the park" (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 10/27 issue).

Fans In Oklahoma City Have Been "Feverish" About Thunder Since Relocation From Seattle

OK CORRAL: The N.Y. TIMES MAGAZINE's Bruce Schoenfeld writes, "As I spent time in both Seattle and Oklahoma City, it became evident that the intense passions on both sides -- Oklahoma City has been as feverish about the team’s arrival as Seattle was about its departure -- were obscuring a larger issue facing" the NBA. It may be that a "midsize market like Seattle, with its big-league baseball and football teams and a wealth of recreational and entertainment options, has outgrown professional basketball, or at least the desire to fight terribly hard to keep it." In turn, a more "appropriate home for a franchise these days seems to be a smaller city on the rise, with maybe a million to a million and a half people, plenty of money, local and regional art museums and a few ambitious restaurants but not too much else for its population to do, and an excess of civic pride ready to be harnessed. A place, in other words, exactly like Oklahoma City." Schoenfeld notes the Thunder's relocation marks the fourth time since '85 that the NBA has "traded down to a smaller market," and that trend "risks shrinking its television footprint and stunting the value of its other franchises." Bennett said, "When they first started looking at this, and the idea of the team moving from Seattle, a lot of the other owners said to me: ‘I like you, Clay. But when I hear Oklahoma City, I think Des Moines and Omaha.'" Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry said of having an NBA franchise in Oklahoma City, "It will enhance public perception of the entire state. We'll be on SportsCenter every night." Bennett said, "The worst thing we could do is to bring a team to Oklahoma City and have it fail." Schoenfeld notes such an outcome "would be disastrous financially for Bennett, and especially for his partners, who have suffered heavy losses in the ongoing financial crisis." It also would "undo much of the work this generation of civic leadership has done to alter the city's image" (N.Y. TIMES MAGAZINE, 10/26 issue).

STORM WATCH: Oklahoma City-based WWLS-AM's Bobby Thompson said, "I don't think the Thunder will ever reach Oklahoma football levels. But I definitely think there's a place for it." However, USA TODAY's Jon Saraceno wonders, "After the bloom is off the relocated-franchise rose, how difficult will it be to sustain interest in a team that posted" the NBA's second-worst record last season? Thunder coach P.J. Carlesimo: "We need to play hard to get people back in the building. We need to play exciting basketball. We don't want to sit here and say, 'Don't worry, we'll be good in two or three years.' A, our players don't want to hear that, and, B, we (can't) sell that" (USA TODAY, 10/28). In N.Y., Peter Vecsey wrote, "Once the novelty of the Thunder wears off in Oklahoma City, how long will fans remain fervent should ownership fail to construct a competitive team?" Vecsey: "Think the pressure might be on Sam Presti to show some results in his second season as GM? The smart money says [Carlesimo] will be this season's first coaching casualty" (N.Y. POST, 10/24).