T H E " O K L A H O M A C I T Y P L U N D E R " Turner's Social Drama and Team Relocation M A T T H E W M O R R I S T H I S E S S A Y F R A M E S T H E P H E N O M E N O N O F T E A M R E L O C A T I O N AS A S O C I A L D R A M A D E F I N E D BY A N T H R O P O L O G I S T V I C T O R T U R N E R . T O S U P P O R T T H I S V I E W I EX A M I N E D T H E C O N T R O V E R S Y S U R R O U N D I N G T H E S E A T T L E S U P E R S O N I C S ' M O V E T O O K L A H O M A C I T Y , W H I C H O C C U R R E D O V E R A T W O - Y E A R P E R I O D B E G I N N I N G IN 2006 A N D E N D I N G IN 2008. I P R O V I D E A C O N T E X T F O R T E A M R E L O C A T I O N IN T H E F O U R M A J O R P R O F E S - S I O N A L S P O R T S L E A G U E S O F T H E U N I T E D S T A T E S A N D C A N A D A AS W E L L AS T H E S P E - C I F I C C O N T E X T O F T H E S U P E R S O N I C S C O N T R O V E R S Y . I T H E N A N A L Y Z E T H E S I T U A - T I O N AS A S O C I A L D R A M A O C C U R R I N G B E T W E E N T W O P A R T I E S ! C I T Y O F F I C I A L S A N D T E A M O W N E R S . T H E M E D I A ' S R O L E AS AN I N T E R M E D I A R Y A N D T H E F A N ' S R O L E AS AN O B S E R V E R A R E A L S O E X P L O R E D . I C O N C L U D E B R I E F L Y N O T I N G T H E I M P A C T O F T E A M R E L O C A T I O N O N T H E F A N S . I N T R O D U C T I O N Throughout the history of the four major professional sports leagues of the United States and Canada, team relo- cation has been common practice for team owners. Of the 122 teams that make up Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Football League (NFL), the National Basketball Association (NBA), and the National Hockey League (NHL), 40 have relocated 52 times. Traditionally one might attribute this trend to lackluster fan support, but i n modern times the rationale behind team relocation is usu- ally business related. Most commonly, team owners (or ownership groups) wi l l claim that the conditions under which they are operating the franchise are less than favor- able for turning profits. The team's ownership then makes an appeal to the public arguing that the construction of a new stadium wil l secure the team's place i n the city and re- sult i n "increased tax revenues, job creation and commu- nity image-building."" As a consequence, team ownership presents the city with an ultimatum: either dedicate public funds to the construction of a state-of-the-art arena or force the team to move to a location more eager to construct a new stadium. Typically, the city initially opposes financing anything as ex- pensive as an arena or stadium and engages the owners i n a debate. The team's ownership—using the threat of relo- cation as leverage—forces the city into adopting either a complacent attitude or a more combative one. Though ini - tially resistant, the complacent city eventually gives i n to the ownership's demands, fearing that their city's prestige and economy are at stake. Alternatively, the combative city sees public funding for private ventures as "socialism for the rich" 1 1 1 and decides that there are better uses for their tax dollars than a new stadium. The city subsequently permits the team to move elsewhere. The complacent attitude seems a more common result: 89 of the 122 total pro sports teams play i n stadiums built i n 1990 or after, and only 12 of the 89 received their new arenas after relocating. I n this "public argument" between the city and the team, each party views the other's public statements as efforts to empower themselves and strengthen their position. According to Bishop, this process "that begins with a team expressing its desire for a new stadium and concludes with the construction of that stadium has all the makings of what anthropologist Victor Turner calls a 'social drama."' v Turner defines social dramas as "an eruption from the level surface of ongoing social life, with its interactions, transac- tions, reciprocities, its customs making for regular, orderly sequences of behavior." According to Bishop, journalists act as intermediaries i n stadium construction social dra- mas, transmitting and interpreting the messages they re- ceive from the principal parties.' 1 The local media, there- fore, provides the rhetorical theater i n which the conflict between the ownership and the city plays out for all to see. Bishop only examines the development of stadium con- struction social dramas i n cities that acquiesce ("compla- cent" cities). This adoption of the complacent attitude re- sults from a combination of mobilization of fan "energies," support from the local media, and a persuasive economic argument/ 1 1 1 I n Bishop's analysis, stadium construction and team appeasement are the two inevitable conclusions of this type of social drama. Her analysis, however, over- looks the obvious possibility of team relocation. I contend that—although more rare than the outcome examined by Bishop—the factors i n a stadium construction social drama ending i n relocation merit consideration as well. When the city behaves combatively toward a given team's ownership i n a stadium construction drama, the likely out- come is team relocation to a smaller city hungry for profes- sional sports and will ing to allocate the money to meet the ownership's demands. Smaller cities are often motivated to acquire a professional team by a hope that through that ac- quisition their city wil l gain "major league status."1 Many think that a city that is worthy of a major league sports fran- chise is both more desirable for potential residents and more lucrative for potential investors. As a result, smaller cities are will ing to fight bigger, more cosmopolitan cities tooth and nail to attain a team. E L E M E N T S FALL 09 With these factors i n mind, I wi l l examine the possibility that Bishop neglects i n the context of the Seattle SuperSonics' move to Oklahoma City i n the summer of 2008. After outlining the salient events i n the team's relo- cation, the specific correspondence with Turner's elements of social drama wi l l be criticized. Finally, a brief look at the history of relocation social dramas wi l l highlight the wider impact of this type of drama on the country's social con- sciousness. T H E SEATTLE S U P E R S O N I C S M O V E TO O K L A H O M A C I T Y Before i 960 , Seattle saw itself as a provincial city largely isolated from the rest of the country.x But the meteoric rise of Boeing and the 1962 World's Fair —which saw the con- struction of the Space Needle and Key Arena (the future home of the SuperSonics)—established the city as the f i - nancial and industrial capital of the Pacific Northwest. Arriving i n 1967 as an NBA expansion team, the SuperSonics became Seattle's first professional sports team. The team was extremely popular among Seattleites who interpreted their arrival as a validation that Seattle had indeed becme an important city on the national level. x i The Sonics made their city even prouder when they defeated the Washington Bullets i n the 1979 NBA Finals i n five games, ; ! capturing for Seattle its first and only professional sports championship. Since the Sonics' 1979 championship, Seattle has grown economically with the rise of the computer industry and culturally with the artistic triumphs of the city's counter cul- tural movement, notably with the explosion of Grunge i n the early 1990s.x 11 Seattle also gained two other profes- sional sports teams: MLB's Mariners and the NFL's Seahawks, both of which eclipsed the SuperSonics i n pop- ularity. The SuperSonics, however, continued to draw crowds, excluding their lame duck years of 2006-08. Although Key Arena had the smallest arena capacity i n the NBA (17,098), the team frequently finished near the mid- dle of the pack i n the league attendance, measured as the average attendance per game, per season.xiv KEY ARENA WAS LOVED BY FANS DESPITE ITS SMALL CAPACITY. In 2002, the SuperSonics ownership led by Starbucks ty- coon Howard Schultz began petitioning the city govern- ment for a new publicly financed arena. The SuperSonics were still playing i n Key Arena, a relic from the 1962 World's Fair that had been their home since the team's in- ception (apart from five years spent playing i n the Kingdome). But Schultz's pleas fell on deaf ears, for the city was not will ing to finance another stadium project, hav- ing just paid a combined $672 mil l ion to finance new sta- diums for the Mariners and the Seahawks.x Washington state taxpayers, having paid begrudgingly for the other two stadiums, were reluctant to dedicate any more public money toward stadium construction. 1 Frustrated and los- ing money, Schultz and the other 58 owners—including prominent city oligarchs such as Richard Tait, co-creator of the game "Cranium" and Pete Nordstrom owner of the eponymous department store—decided to sell the SuperSonics and its Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) sister team, the Seattle Storm, to the highest bidder. This turned out to be an ownership group from Oklahoma, which offered $350 mil l ion for both teams. x v i i The new ownership group—officially known as Professional Basketball Club, LLC—was led by Oklahoma City businessman Clay Bennett. Bennett was responsible for the NBAs foray into Oklahoma City during the 2005-06 T H E " O K L A H O M A CITY P L U N D E R " and 2006-07 seasons when the New Orleans Hornets were displaced by Hurricane Katrina and needed a temporary home. The Hornets ended up playing their home games during those two seasons i n Oklahoma City's Ford Center. The Ford Center was an $89 mil l ion publicly funded con- struction project finished i n 2002, constructed primarily to lure an N H L or NBA franchise to the city. x v i l i This goal was accomplished when the New Orleans Hornets fell into Oklahoma City's lap during the 2005-06 season. Residents of Oklahoma City rallied behind the team despite the awareness that the arrangement was only temporary. The venture, however, convinced Bennett that Oklahoma's cap- ital was a viable NBA market. x i x He was able to convince a group of equally optimistic local investors, and together they swooped up the SuperSonics when the team was was put up for sale. The Seattle media was immediately suspicious of the new ownership's inten- tions for the team, and, despite reassurances to the con- trary, many Seattleites began to lament what they viewed as an inevitable relocation.- Bennett was legally bound to a clause i n the terms of sale that stated that he was required to put i n a one-year "good faith effort" to keep the team i n Seattle. I n compliance with the clause, Bennett announced i n February 2007 that the team would stay i n return for the publicly funded construction of a $530 mil l ion arena i n the Seattle suburb Renton, WA. X X I Far more ambitious than Schultz's $220 mil l ion plan to renovate Key Arena, nobody outside of Renton took it seriously. The Seattle media inter- preted it as a feeble attempt to comply with the good faith clause.5"" The Renton plan was dropped i n April 2007, and the own- ership announced i n November that i f Seattle remained idle, the team would relocate to Oklahoma City as soon as it was legally able to do so. x x n i In August, the controversy reached a new level of public and media acrimony when team minority owner Aubrey McClendon stated i n an inter- view with the Oklahoma Journal Record, "We didn't buy the team to keep it i n Seattle. We hoped to come here." x x i v Additionally, a series of e-mails between the owners of the SuperSonics revealed i n April 2008 indicated that the own- ers had privately communicated their excitement to one an- other about moving the team to Oklahoma, even while they were publicly stating that they were trying to keep the team i n Seattle. In one infamous e-mail, minority owner Tom Ward stated, "Is there any way to move here for next season or are we doomed to have another lame duck season i n Seattle?" to which Bennett replied, " I am a man possessed! Wil l do everything we can. Thanks for hanging i n there with me boys, the game is just getting started." x x v I n response to this e-mail, the previous owner of the SuperSonics, Howard Schultz, filed a law suit against Professional Basketball Club, LLC claiming they had com- mitted fraud by violating the good faith clause of the sale, rendering the sale vo id . x x v l Before this point the media and public had seen the SuperSonics' relocation as inevitable, but i n the wake of this mounting evidence, public and jour- nalistic support of "Saving the Sonics" skyrocketed. CLAY BEN N ET, HEAD OF PROFESSIONAL BASKETBALL CLUB, LLC, SPEAKS ATA PRESS CONFERENCE ABOUTTHE RELOCATION. E L E M E N T S FALL 09 "Years after his initial obser- vations, Turner determined that although the fashion in which the Ndembu tribe en- gaged in social drama was unique to their culture (the 'ritual'), the phenomenon is universal across cultures and subcultures regardless of sophistication.77 The culmination of all these events occurred i n June 2008 as the City of Seattle took Professional Basketball Club, LLC to court i n order to require the ownership to honor its lease of Key Arena from the city, forcing the SuperSonics to stay i n Seattle an additional two years. The trial was marked by a large throng of green and gold fans protesting publicly outside the courthouse.^ 1 1 Former players Xavier McDaniel and Gary Payton addressed the crowd, reiterat- ing demands that the SuperSonics stay i n Seattle, at least for the next two years unti l their lease expired. x x v m The trial concluded on July 2 with a settlement between the team ownership and the city, one hour before U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman was to deliver her summary judg- ment . x x l x The settlement allowed for the SuperSonics to move but required that the owners pay off the remainder of their lease wi th the City of Seattle i n addition to dam- ages.x x x It was stipulated that i f the City of Seattle did not receive a replacement NBA team i n five years that Professional Basketball Club, LLC owed them $35 mil l ion. Additionally, the ownership agreed to allow the city of Seattle to hold onto the SuperSonics name, color, and his- tory, so that they might be used by an NBA franchise return- ing to Seattle. Subsequently, the now former Seattle SuperSonics began the process of physically moving the team to Oklahoma City. v : It was announced a month be- fore the season started i n September that the Oklahoma City incarnation of the team would be named the Thunder and would bear no resemblance beyond its personnel to the SuperSonics franchise. T U R N E R ' S S O C I A L D R A M A Scottish anthropologist Victor Turner conceptualized his notions of "ritual" and "social drama" while observing the characteristics of the social structures and lives of the peo- ple of the Ndembu tribe i n Central Africa for four years. He was fascinated by the Ndembu people's inclination toward social conflict that "manifested itself i n public episodes of tensional irruption which I called 'social dramas."' x x x i i Social dramas occurred within the Ndembu tribe, as Turner explains it, "when the interests and attitudes of groups and individuals stood i n obvious opposition." Everyone within Ndembu society is forced to take sides during a so- cial drama, sometimes against his own personal wi l l , i n ac- cordance with the society's deeply held sense of morality and loyally. Years after his initial observations, Turner determined that although the fashion i n which the Ndembu tribe engaged i n social drama was unique to their culture (the "ritual"), the phenomenon is universal across cultures and subcultures regardless of sophistication. x x x v Turner broke social drama into four main phases: breach, crisis, redressive action, and reintegration (or schism). "Breach" i n Frederick Bailey's words is "a symbolic trigger of confrontation or encounter.' , X X X V 1 The Breach fundamen- tally violates a norm of culture integral to its operation, challenging the status quo. "Crisis" occurs i f the societal stress caused by the Breach cannot be quelled immediately, and thereby "escalat[ing] the crisis ." x x x v i l During crisis, two main parties become unsure and suspicious of their oppo- T H E " O K L A H O M A CITY P L U N D E R " nent. Crisis acts as a crossroads i n the social drama, for it Coverage of Stadium Construction Controversies," he ar- marks the point at which society must consider seriously gues that the scenario i n which team owners create a "Redressive Action" occurs when the society takes action to landscape.x l i v Bishop asserts that the unfolding of a sta- manage the crisis in the form of "adjustive and redressive dium construction conflict constitutes a complete social mechanisms" employed by "representative members of the drama story arc. x l v disturbed social system.' , X X X V 1 1 1 Redressive actions vary from culture to culture and from crisis to crisis, but redres- The stadium construction social drama begins when team sive actions can include personal advice, social mediation, officials state publicly that a new stadium is required (to or formal judiciary intervention. x x x i x Executing redressive keep the team i n the city, to appease fans, to spur economic action often escalates the crisis, as when a dispute is moved growth, etc.) and that those opposing construction do not from a local court to a district or federal court. I f redressive value what is best for their city.x i v i This strategy frames the action fails the crisis intensifies, sometimes resulting invi- public debate as occurring between a group ostensibly i n olent outbursts or—on a larger geopolitical scale—war.xl favor of the city's success and those ostensibly opposed to The fourth and final phase of the social drama consists ei- enjoys economic prosperity, and wants a happier city; ther of reintegration back into society or, alternatively, of group B hates sports, opposes prosperity, and disregards schism from society. When circumstances necessitate the perspective of group A. Opponents—often including schism, the society must split along party lines to prevent public officials and prominent citizens—rapidly attempt to further conflict. ! The door is left open for future reconcil- counter the efforts of the team owners, resulting i n a pub- iation between the two groups, but typically an invitation lie conflict. Crisis manifests i n the rhetorical clash between from one group to rejoin the other can only occur after stadium proponents and opponents taking place i n local some time has past. h The respite of the reintegration or media. Proponents emphasize the old trope, that new sta- schism offers an opportunity to evaluate societal change as diums bring economic opportunity and growth, a result of the social drama. ! Did the drama alter existing Opponents argue that most economists agree that new sta- social mores, add new ones, or drop old ones? Were the diums have a minimal impact on the city economy^v i i and basic structural norms preserved? that the divisive arguments of the owners are designed to tear the city apart for their own gain . x l v i i i Ronald Bishop's characterization of stadium controversies as social dramas between team owners and cities fits well Bishop suggests that journalists are predisposed to sympa- into Turner's paradigm. I n Bishop's article " I f You Build It, thize with the argument of the team owners for a new sta- We Won't Leave: Turner's Social Drama i n Newspaper dium; i f the team moves, local sports journalists wi l l have the threatening implications of the breach. breach by demanding a new, publicly funded stadium is now so common that it has been integrated into the social "Some of professional involve teams leaving sports' most notorious stories behind a city and a legion of that success. More explicitly, group A supports the team, less to report. x l , x Team owners and pro-construction advo- cates, therefore, are likely to receive more media coverage than city officials or protestors. Bishop quietly accuses local journalists covering the stadium controversy of complicity with team owners. Bishop's view is most likely a product of the "political economy" perspective of public controversy reporting, articulated as follows: Public controversy as the manufactured product of profit- motivated institutions of power working together to monop- olize the premises of discourse and interpretation that circu- lates in the media. In this model, the media are nothing more than a means of production that conform to a general type of industrial capitalism. Bishop argues that, as a consequence of this bias i n the news media, city officials start to feel pressure i n favor of publicly funding a stadium project. This perception of pub- lic opinion initiates redressive action to appease the team (and, therefore, the public) before it decides to abandon the city.1' The final phase of social drama, reintegration, ends with the city submitting to the ownership's wi l l and provid- ing them with the necessary funding. This solution re- solves the conflict between the team and the city, restoring social order within the city. The city and the team owner- ship assess after the fact the changes in their relationship as well as the changes i n their respective relationships with the public. h l Bishop agrees with Turner that the two par- ties, having made a deal, now see an alliance where they had once considered one another as opponents.1111 Bishop's analysis, however, is blind to the possibility of schism, the more sensational scenario from a team's choice to move i n response to an unsatisfactory redressive action. Some of professional sports' most notorious stories involve teams leaving behind a city and a legion of adoring fans. These are stories told with a sense of great loss, such as when Walter O'Malley moved the Dodgers to Los Angeles i n 1957 and broke Brooklyn's heart or when a hoard of Mayflower moving trucks carried Baltimore's beloved Colts to Indianapolis i n the middle of a cold night i n 1983 or when despondent fans rioted i n Cleveland i n 1995 at the loss of their cherished Browns. These tragedies have an important place i n American sports lore, which is why it is surprising that Bishop would exclude them from his analysis. Considering the profound sense of loss communities feel as a consequence of team re- location and considering that the frequency of team reloca- tion has risen since 1990, this phenomenon's conspicuous absence i n scholarly literature must be addressed. To begin to meet this deficiency, let us return to the Seattle SuperSonics' transformation into the Oklahoma City Thunder. T H E " O K L A H O M A C I T Y P L U N D E R " : T U R N E R ' S S O C I A L D R A M A A N D T E A M R E L O C A T I O N For much of their history, the city of Seattle and the SuperSonics have enjoyed an excellent rapport. Many i n town genuinely felt that the SuperSonics helped put the city on the map, convincing other Americans that the Pacific Northwest was more than just a backwoods of evergreen trees and geoducts. Together they endured hard times (a heavy recession and population decrease i n the 1970s) and enjoyed good times (the 1990s' tech/coffee/grunge boom). They were the city's first professional sports franchise. The SuperSonics won the Emerald City its first and only mod- ern championship. It seemed as i f they would be together forever. That strong bond started to weaken when long time owner Barry Ackerly sold the team to the Basketball Club of Seattle i n 2002. The Basketball Club of Seattle was noteworthy be- cause it was an ownership group that was comprised of 58 different investors, represented by Mr. Starbucks himself, Howard Schultz. This unprecedented arrangement proved to be an experiment i n ownership organization. They faced a number of difficulties i n management decisions due to their size and—since some of the team's investors did not even live i n Seattle—it proved nearly impossible to get everyone i n the room to vote on critical issues. To facilitate T H E " O K L A H O M A CITY P L U N D E R " FANS PROTEST ATA SUPERSONICS CAME SHORTLY BEFORE THE SCHEDULED MOVE TO OKLAHOMA CITY. this model, Schultz, the ownership's public face, and a select group of the most active owners sent a monthly e-newsletter out to the other investors detailing the team's affairs. l i v Even early on it appeared that this ownership model would prove too delocalized to be effective. One prominent in- stance of the ownership's impotence occurred when they tried to obtain $220 mil l ion i n public financing to renovate Key Arena. These renovations were necessary to make the fan friendly but small arena profitable once again. Despite Schultz's status as the city's beloved coffee-man, SuperSonics' ownership failed to convince city officials or tax payers to help finance the renovations. As described previously, the city had recently completed two stadium projects and was unwill ing to invest any more money into such projects. Both the city and the public had a difficult time believing that 58 millionaires could not raise $220 mil l ion themselves.1- I n addition, the terms of the lease of Key Arena to the SuperSonics were very favorable to the city. The lease entitled the city to a generous percent- age of the arena's vending and luxury box profits, income which usually goes to team owners.1'1 So the Key Arena renovation deal failed, kill ing the Basketball Club of Seattle's biggest push to revitalize the franchise. Soon af- terwards some of the small-stake owners started to com- plain about their financial losses and their emotional dis- tance from the team, and the ownership structure began to disintegrate.1 v u After reportedly having lost a combined $60 mil l ion after five years, the Basketball Club of Seattle's stakeholders put the team up for sale i n 2 0 0 6 . l v m This sale of the team to the Oklahoma City ownership group caused the breach, the first step i n every social drama. The sale of the team to an outside group violated what the fans understood as the norm: what Turner calls "a deliberate non-fulfillment of some crucial norm regulating the intercourse of the parties." : < The foreign ownership group's presence i n Seattle seemed confrontational, and fans and local media quickly filled i n the blanks as to Professional Basketball Club, LLC's intentions. 1' Another element of Turner's concept of breach is that there is always a partially altruistic motive.1 1 This case is no exception, for Bennett and his team of investors saw themselves as bring- ing a team to the deserving basketball fans of Oklahoma City. The crisis—wherein the Professional Basketball Club, LLC made ambitious demands of Seattle while not so secretly arranging to move the team out of the city—can now be put into ful l context. The Oklahoman's demanded of the city twice what the Basketball Club of Seattle was unable to ob- tain not to renovated beloved Key Area. Paired with owner Aubrey McClendon's revelation/confirmation i n an Oklahoma newspaper that Bennett never had any intention of keeping the team i n Seattle, the city felt cheated. To add insult to injury, it was revealed that two members of Basketball Club, LLC were some of the largest contributors i n the country to a conservative organization that supported campaigns to ban same-sex marriage. The unease this rev- elation caused i n Seattle turned to outrage when it was dis- covered that the leaking of that information to local media was a calculated move to alienate the Sonics' liberal fan base.1 1 This incident catalyzed the legal fight between the parties over the lease terms described above ! x i ! and the grassroots organization Save Our Sonics began arranging protests i n the state capital, Olympia, at city hall i n Seattle E L E M E N T S FALL 09 and wherever the ownership was present. The owner- ship's deliberate steps to alienate Seattle and its fans brought about an effort by the city to make the ownership's transition out of the city as difficult as possible, precluding the possibility of compromise. Redressive action began as the loyal fans of the SuperSonics used whatever available means to save the team. To much fanfare, the city's elite stepped forward to keep the SuperSonics i n town. Former owner Howard Schultz attempted to sue the Oklahoma City ownership group for violating the good faith clause of the sale. Microsoft CEO Jeffery Ballmer and the City of Seattle arranged a $300 mil l ion package to renovate the old Key Arena i n March of 2 0 o 8 . K v Bennett and the Oklahoma City group glibly dismissed Ballmer's offer as a P.R. stunt, stating that nothing beyond their lawsuit with the city could halt their transition. Turner notes that the redress wi l l be handled by both the public and its leaders and can take symbolic forms. l x v i Here the public's presence, although at times small (they often protested during business hours on workdays), was repre- sentative of the people's disgust over what was happening "The ownership's deliberate steps to alienate Seattle and its fans brought about an ef- fort by the city to make the ownership's transition out of the city as difficult as possible, precluding the possibility of compromise." to their beloved team. The action taken by Jeffrey Balmer and Howard Schultz represented two of Seattle's benevo- lent benefactors heeding the public's call for action. Their actions were largely symbolic, but, at a basic level, it's clear that people were encouraged by the actions of the city's most powerful and influential. I : Their deeds gave hope to the fans and fueled the effort to save the SuperSonics unti l the end. The final step i n our team relocation scenario occurs when reintegration becomes impossible, resulting in schism with the community. A settlement that allowed the SuperSonics to move to Oklahoma City was reached on July 2, 2008. This was the end for SuperSonics' fans. A l l re- dressive action had failed, and all that there was left to do was evaluate their new situation and mourn. Turner sees this assessment of the new state of affairs as essential not only to reintegration, but also to schism.1 x v i i i Seattle resi- dents since July 2008 have started to examine what can be done to try to lure another basketball team to the city and have discussed plans to renovate Key Arena to NBA stan- dards. l x i x The portion of ownership's settlement with the city allowing Seattle to hold on to the SuperSonics name, colors, logos, and history has also provided some comfort to hurt fans. The team formerly known as the Seattle SuperSonics was rechristened i n Oklahoma City as the Thunder, sporting new jerseys with different colors (a curious combination of black, light blue, and orange). This rebranding represented a complete schism from everything that the team once had with Seattle, from its history, its past and its fans. The sev- erance of the team from its city cut all of the social, eco- nomic, and political ties both parties had once enjoyed, ren- dering each suddenly foreign to the other. C O N C L U S I O N The economic and emotional trauma to a community i n the aftermath of team relocation is poorly understood. I ar- gued that Victor Turner's conception of a social drama—in which two large, influential parties duke it out while the T H E " O K L A H O M A CITY P L U N D E R " public at large is left only to spectate—offers an excellent lens through which to view team relocations. The public represents the second persona, a group formally addressed by the two parties, but with limited influence i n their nego- tiations and limited impact on the outcome of the social drama. v In this context the public depend on the two par- ties to recognize and protect their interests. It chooses to see owners as benevolent stewards of those interests rather than as businessmen (how most owners ultimately see themselves), and when these expectations are not met, the public often feels outraged and impotent. History has seen situations i n which, like that i n Seattle with the SuperSonics, owners show no concern for the public and act instead i n their own interests. Brooklyn infamously fell victim to team relocation when its beloved Dodgers moved to Los Angeles i n 1957. This move resulted from a stadium construction dispute between team owner Walter O'Malley and New York City construc- tion coordinator Robert Moses.1 The drama was repeated i n 1983 as Baltimoreans helplessly witnessed a Mayflower moving truck abscond i n the night with their beloved Colts. S x x" The drama played out once again i n its most in- tense iteration after the departure of the Browns from Cleveland, culminating with the riotous dismantling of old Municipal Stadium by Browns fans after the last game of the 1995 NFL season. l x x m Fans i n these situations are pow- erless and often depend heavily upon their unelected repre- sentative, the local sports columnist, to articulate their ob- jections i n a way that wil l be heard by the parties involved i n the dispute. Unfortunately, it's the fans that are hurt the most when a team relocates. Organizations ask them to pass along the stories of franchise legends down to each subsequent generation, f i l l i n the stadiums seats at every home game, and invest i n merchandise like the jerseys made to make them feel close to the team. I n reality, how- ever, fans appear to be painfully distant from organizations interested i n turning profits first and foremost. As long as this is true, Turner's social drama i n the form of team relo- cation wi l l occur again, resulting yet again i n the victimiza- tion of the most innocent party, the loyal fans. E N D N O T E S i . Tramel 2008 i i . Chapin 2008 i i i . Pollack 2006 iv. Condit 1994 v. Bishop 2001 vi . Boje 2003 vi i . Bishop 2001 v i i i . Ibid. ix. Chapin 2002 x. Andriesen 2008 xi . Ibid. x i i . Sports Reference LLC 2008 x i i i . Moody 2003 xiv. ESPN 2003 xv. Pollack 2007 xvi. Schoenfeld 2008 xvii. Theil 2006 xviii . Robins 2007 xix. Schoenfeld 2008 xx. Thiel 2006 xxi. Brunner and Thomas 2007 xxii. Brunner, May 2008 xxii i . Associated Press 2007 xxiv. Johns, Greg 2007 xxv. Brunner, Apr i l 2008 xxvi. Allen 2008 xxvii. Neel, Eric 2008 xxviii. Williams, Eric 2008 xxix. Chan and Brunner 2008 xxx. Beane 2008 xxxi. Associated Press 2008 xxxii. Turner 1974 xxxiii. Ibid. xxxiv. Ibid. xxxv. Ibid. xxxvi. Ibid. xxxvii. Ibid. xxxviii. Ibid. xxxix. Ibid, xl . Ibid, x l i . Ibid, x l i i . Ibid, x l i i i . Ibid. xliv. Bishop 2001 xlv. Ibid, xlvi. Ibid. xlvii. Chapin 2008 xlvi i i . Bishop 2001 xlix. Ibid. 1. Hanczor 1997 l i . Bishop 2001 Hi. Ibid. ELEM ENTS : : FALL 09 l i i i . Ibid. liv. Weinbach 2006 lv. Ibid lv i . Schoenfeld 2008 lv i i . Ibid. lv i i i . Bucholtz and Woods 2008 lix. Turner 1974 lx. Theil 2006 lxi . Turner 1974 lx i i . McGann 2007 lx i i i . Brunner 2007 lxiv. Save Our Sonics 2008 lxv. The City of Seattle 2008 lxvi. Turner 1974 lxvii. Robinson 2008 lxvii i . Turner 1974 lxix. Bell 2008 lxx. Lynch 2005 lxxi. Nasaw 2003 lxxii . The Indianapolis Star 2008 lxxii i . Banks 2005 REFERENCES Allen, Percy. "Howard Schultz plans to sue Clay Bennett to get Sonics back." The Seattle Times. 15 Apr. 2008. . Andriesen, David. "Sonics: How it all began." Seattle Post- Intellegencer. 10 July 2008. . Associated Press. "Owner: Okla. City chosen destination i f no arena deal is reached." USAToday.com. 19 July 2007. USA Today, . Associated Press. "Sonics truck into Oklahoma City." SI.com. 29 Aug. 2008. Sports Illustrated. 8 Dec. 2008. . Banks, Don. "Dazed and Confused: Emotions of Browns move still raw 10 years later." SI.com. 11 Nov. 2005. Sports Illustrated. 11 Dec. 2008. . Beane, Darrin. "The official Sonics' press release." Weblog post. Post-Sonics Watch. 2 July 2008. 7 Dec. 2008. . Bell, Gregg. "Seattle mayor still eyeing NBA's return." USA Today. 21 Oct. 2008. . Bishop, Ronald. " I f You Build It , We Won't Leave: Turner's so- cial drama i n newspaper coverage of stadium construction con- troversies." Journalism Studies 2.3 (Aug. 2001): 378. Communication e[ Mass Media Complete. EBSCO. O'Neill Library, Chestnut H i l l , MA. 8 Dec. 2008. Boje, David M . "Victor Turner's Postmodern Theory of Social Drama: Implications for Organization Studies." Victor Turner - Postmodern Theory of Social Drama - Boje. 1 Aug. 2003. New Mexico State University. 9 Dec. 2008 . Brunner, Jim, and Ralph Thomas. "Sonics choose Renton." The Seattle Times. 13 Feb. 2007. . Brunner, Jim. "Council votes 8-0 to enforce Sonic's lease." The Seattle Times. 11 Sept. 2007. . Brunner, Jim. "E-mails reveal Sonics owners intended to bolt from Seattle." The Seattle Times. 17 Apr. 2008. . Brunner, Jim. "Breach of contract alleged i n Sonics suit." The Seattle Times. 21 May 2008. . Bucholtz, Andrew, and Mike Woods. "Should the SuperSonics leave Seattle for good?" The Journal. 14 Mar. 2008. . Chan, Sharon Pian, and Jim Brunner. "Sonics, city reach settle- ment." The Seattle Times. 2 July 2008. . Chapin, T i m . "Identifying the Real Costs and Benefits of Sports Facilities." Dec. 2002. Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. 6 Dec. 2008. . Condit, Celeste M . Decoding Abortion Rhetoric : The Communication of Social Change. Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1994. 8-9. Decoding Abortion Rhetoric - Google Book Search. Google Book Search. 10 Dec. 2008 . ESPN. "NBA Attendence Report - 2003." NBA Attendence Reports. ESPN. 12 Dec. 2008 . Hanczor, Robert S. 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"Hey Howard, we're not morons." Seattle Post- Intellegencer. 19 July 2006. . Turner, Victor. Dramas, Fields, and Metaphors: Symbolic Action in Human Society. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1974. 33- Weinbach, Jon. "Bad Sports." The Wall Street Journal. 5 May 2006: W i . Williams, Eric. "Rally at the courthouse." Seattle News-Tribune Weblog post. Post-Sonics Watch. 16 June 2008. . 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