The NBA Seattle Supersonics and Oklahoma City have reached a preliminary agreement on a lease at the Ford Center pending NBA approval of the team’s relocation. The 15-year deal calls for the SuperSonics to pay the city US$1.6 million annually for use of the building and reimburse $409,000 per year to replace revenue from naming rights for the arena currently paid by local Ford car dealerships.

The NBA will hold a meeting on April 17 to give final approval to the move, then the only question will be when the relocation will take place. The Sonics’ lease at Key Arena in Seattle runs through the 2009-10 season.

Meanwhile, a $100-million renovation to Oklahoma City’s Ford Center is set to begin in June. It will be a three phased upgrade, with concourse and public areas first on the list, then construction of a “grand entrance” and finally loading dock and other infrastructure improvements.

One thing that won’t be going From Seattle to OKC is the team nickname, and that runs contrary to NBA tradition. If you look at recent NBA franchise moves, team names have stuck — KC/Sacramento Kings, the Vancouver/Memphis Grizzlies, the San Diego/Los Angeles Clippers, the New Orleans/Utah Jazz, the Charlotte/New Orleans Hornets. QUICK! What is the last NBA franchise which changed its nickname when it shifted cities?

Give up?

The year was 1978, when the Buffalo Braves were reborn as the San Diego Clippers.

Back in Seattle, the newest vision for a replacement arena to eventually lure an NBA or NHL team to the city is the Emerald City Project, a multi use facility with a retractable roof arena as its centerpiece. The idea is to fund it privately, but the bigger challenge might be finding the land to build this.

The USRT visited Oklahoma City in 2006 and we had a kick ass time! It was the NO/OKC Hornets at the Ford Center, and a side visit to Bricktown Ballpark. Even if the team moves by next season, right now we’re sort of thinking of holding off our return visit until fall of 2009 - tie the trip in with the Dallas Cowboys new NFL stadium, and by then the Ford Center renovations should be taking shape nicely.

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