The Seattle Sounders Football Club, an MLS team, likely benefited from the departure of the Seattle Supersonics when they set up shop in America's North West. While The Weekly Herald's John Boyle believes the professional soccer team would have succeeded in Seattle with or without the NBA as competition, he did say that the departure of the Supersonics to Oklahoma City, where they're now the Thunder, probably helped the Sounders because "sports fans with a little extra money and time on their hands."
Now it seems that there is a real chance that Seattle could be the home of either a new NBA team or possibly an NHL team. If that's the case, Sounders general manager and part owner Adrian Hanauer would support it.
"I don't know, but that's not in my hands," he said. "Generally as a Seattle guy, anything that improves the quality of life in the region, development in the city, I'm in favor of. If there is competition, we just have to rise to the occasion and be good competitors and good partners."
The Sounders attracted 38,000 fans per game in 2011 and that number is expected to rise in 2012. Hanauer said he has not been a part of the conversation with Vulcan Sports, a company that oversees the Sounders, the Seahawks and the Trailblazers, but he believes that, "everybody wants development and quality in our community."
For more on the Sounders, go to Sounder At Heart.