DO:
Join the Save Our Sonics & Storm Volunteers mailing list
Click here to have your e-mail address added to the Save Our Sonics & Storm Action Alert mailing list. We’ll keep you up to date on upcoming events and volunteer opportunities. Remember, even small contributions of your time could help us keep the Sonics & Storm in the area.
Click here to volunteer.
DO:
Communicate with local representation
Your local elected officials have a responsibility to represent your interests and take your opinions into account when they make policy decisions. One of the most important things you can do to help keep professional basketball in the Puget Sound is to make sure the Seattle mayor, city council, and local representatives know your stance on this issue.
If an official has been a positive force for keeping the Sonics & Storm in the Greater Seattle Metro area, please be sure to thank them for the time and effort they have put into their past and future support.
On the other hand, if the official you are communicating with has been negative about keeping the Sonics & Storm in the area, do not insult them or be rude if you want them to consider your opinion. Express disappointment at their stance, make some well-reasoned points, and tell them you hope they will re-examine their stance.
Even if you do not live in Seattle, communicating with Seattle politicians can still have a positive effect. Telling a politician that you are willing to attend events and spend money in their city can be an excellent gesture of support regardless of where you live.
Click here for contact information.
DO:
Communicate with state representation
Keeping professional basketball in the Puget Sound area is not just a local issue; it is of importance to the State of Washington. Governor Chris Gregoire and members of the Washington State Senate and House of Representatives have been very supportive so far in this effort.
Please be sure to thank the Governor and your elected state representatives for their support and express to them how important this issue is to you.
Click here for contact information.
DO:
Approach local small businesses and ask for their support
The effort to save the Sonics & Storm must be made on two levels—to show the level of interest and support for keeping the teams here, and to demonstrate that it makes no economic sense for local business or the area’s tax base to lose the region’s two professional basketball teams. This is especially true for small businesses; many businesses in the region benefit either directly or indirectly from the money spent by professional sports fans.
Small businesses can be powerful allies on both fronts. Even a sign supporting the Sonics & Storm posted in a shop front window can help raise awareness of this issue; a call to a city official from a small business wary of losing Sonics & Storm-related revenue may also carry a great deal of weight.
DO:
Let the new ownership group know how important it is to you to keep the team here
A supportive and vocal community is a very difficult community for a professional sports franchise to leave. The new ownership group has said it would like to run the franchises in the large Greater Seattle market if the teams are supported—your e-mails, letters, enthusiasm, and attendance will help make the case that Seattle is the right market for the teams.
On the other hand, apathy and a lack of support will prove to the new ownership that Oklahoma City is a better home for the Sonics & Storm.
Click here for contact information for the Sonics & Storm.
DO:
Continue to attend Sonics & Storm games
The best way to communicate your eagerness to keep the Sonics & Storm around is to continue to attend the games—it’s the easiest, most effective, and most fun political statement you can make.
Click here for Sonics & Storm ticket information
DO:
Write letters to the major newspapers
Writing letters to the newspapers accomplishes two things—it helps make our case directly to large numbers of people, and it helps demonstrate to the editors and reporters that this continues to be a hot topic in the region, worthy of space and coverage.
We can’t dictate what the newspapers write about this issue, but we can help ensure reporters and editors are well-educated on the facts and ensure that the issue receives the amount of coverage it deserves.
It’s certainly a good idea to write to the major papers that contribute the majority of Sonics & Storm coverage—the Seattle Times, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and the Tacoma News-Tribune—but don’t ignore other area papers such as the King County Journal, The Olympian, and The Everett Herald. Weekly alternative newspapers such as the Seattle Weekly and The Stranger can also be very influential.
Use the hotlinks above to e-mail the major local newspapers.
DO:
Call into the major news and talk radio stations
Voicing your opinion on talk radio can help bring information and visibility to the effort to keep the Sonics & Storm in Seattle.
Sports Radio 950 KJR is an obvious outlet, but don’t forget that losing the Sonics & Storm would have serious business and political repercussions as well. Calls in to non-sports radio, such as KOMO, KIRO, KVI, or KTTH, can be just as influential.
Use the hotlinks above to find contact information for the local news and talk radio stations.
DO:
Get help from Mariners and Seahawks fans
Mariners and Seahawks fans are natural allies in the effort to keep the Sonics & Storm in the Seattle area, Not only are they likely to enjoy all professional sports and be willing to fight for their future here, but they have seen first-hand the fruits of keeping their teams in the region.
Both the Mariners and Seahawks nearly left the Puget Sound region in the last decade, both without the winning history of the Sonics & Storm. The Mariners and Seahawks fans won their relocation fights; had they failed, Seattle-area sports fans would have missed the 116-win Mariners season in 2001 and the 2005 Seahawks season that culminated in a Superbowl appearance.
What will all Seattle-area sports fans miss over the next several decades if the Sonics leave?
DO:
Get excited, have fun, and talk about the Sonics & Storm
Remember, this is all about enjoying our professional basketball teams. The best way to convince friends, co-workers, team ownership, and the region that basketball is worth keeping is to help remind everyone you know how much fun professional basketball really is. Sometimes fun and excitement can convince even more effectively than facts and logic.
Get excited about the upcoming Sonics season, support the Storm during their stretch run, and enjoy yourself.
DON'T:
Feel like the battle is already lost
We’ve been told repeatedly by the media that the sale of the Sonics & Storm means the teams are certainly now moving to Oklahoma City. The worst thing we can do is buy into that line of thinking—if we do so, and give up hope, the teams will certainly leave.
The new owners have repeatedly said their preference is to operate the teams in the Seattle Metro area; if we take them at their word and help create an environment in which they can succeed here, it makes excellent business sense for the teams to stay.
Defeatism is poisonous. On the other hand, your hope and enthusiasm is contagious and can help inspire positive attitudes and action in others.
DON’T:
Assume others will carry the load
Save Our Sonics & Storm has had a strong response so far, but none of us can safely assume that we can lay back and wait for others to save professional basketball in Seattle. The battle has not already been lost, but neither has it already been won.
The opposition has had a head start and is a well-organized political movement; we must be similarly organized and motivated.
We have a very real chance to keep the teams in the Seattle area, but we need maximum effort from as many dedicated Sonics & Storm fans as possible. There is certainly no room for complacency—the political process is set up so that defeating new initiatives is much easier than creating them.
DON’T:
Focus on anger, placing blame, or being rude to those who disagree
It’s easy to be angry and to place blame for this situation; there is certainly enough blame to go around.
However satisfying being angry and placing blame can be, it won’t help keep the Sonics & Storm in the Pacific Northwest. At best, it’s a waste of time and effort; at worst, it’s counterproductive, alienating people who might help us in this fight.
A rude or abrasive argument will do us more harm than good. To succeed, we must persuade, not alienate. The opposition is made up of people doing what they think is right and making their voices heard; so must we.
DON’T:
Fixate on the Sonics’ win/loss record
There will be a great deal of scrutiny on the Sonics’ win/loss record this season and its impact on keeping the Sonics & Storm in the Seattle Metro area. That is inevitable but misguided.
A strong start to the season by the Sonics would certainly be helpful and exciting, but it is important to remember that the Sonics’ record this year, good or bad, does not define their value. Always remember that ownership groups, team management, players, and win/loss records vary year by year – that’s the cyclic nature of sports.
Our fight is to keep the Sonics in the region for decades—decades of winning, losing, excitement, triumph, and heartbreak.