Oklahoma City's NBA season closing in

Journal Record, The (Oklahoma City), Sep 2, 2008 by Jerry Shottenkirk

The Oklahoma City NBA entry is on a dead sprint toward the season.

Even so much that at last, it will lose the less-than-romantic title of Oklahoma City NBA entry.

At 5 p.m. Wednesday, the team will disclose its name and also will open its team store on the first level of Leadership Square's south tower.

All the while, the franchise continues to fill the south tower's third floor with business personnel.

"The relocation process is going very well and at a good pace, both on the basketball side and the business side," said franchise spokesman Dan Mahoney. "There's a lot of work to do leading up to the preseason and the regular season."

Mahoney said the team has moved 50 staff members and players from Seattle. By the time the season begins, the team will have filled about 60 more jobs.

Fans who applied for season tickets will soon be finding out if their requests will be met.

"We are going through the ticket process and will have a Select- a-Seat process to get everybody their tickets and get ready for the season," he said. "For the past 1.5 weeks we've been contacting those who signed up for the ticket request list and letting them know their date and time to come to the Ford Center to pick out their season tickets and the seats they want. That process is going well; we're getting enthusiastic support from people. The demand is high, which we think is terrific, not only for our business but for the city."

He said the Select-a-Seat process will begin on Monday, Sept. 8.

"We know fans are looking forward to that tangible benefit which is having the season tickets in their hands and every day we move closer to that," he said. "We know that's something people are eagerly anticipating. It's a great step."

The original list of ticket requests rolled up to over 16,000 names. Some wanted more than one ticket or other options, such as single-game tickets or mini-plans, which are 10-game sets of tickets.

Mahoney said there will be a couple of ways fans can find out the name of the team. And those will come late Wednesday. KOCO reported a few weeks ago the team would be named the Oklahoma City Thunder, but the club has held off for an official announcement.

The name will be revealed on its Web site, which currently is www.nba.com/oklahomacity.> "After 5 p.m., we'll switch to the new name of the site and we'll have a simulcast unveiling event at Leadership Square and that will be followed immediately by brand-new team merchandise with name and logo, colors, shirts, hats, on sale in our team store," he said. "The doors of the team store will be open and the wraps will be off the windows and people can come in and start buying merchandise. It will be the exclusive place for merchandise for the first 24 hours before any retail outlet has it."

Mahoney said the franchise will have its main offices at Leadership Square until a permanent team office is built at the Ford Center. He added the move likely would be in at least a couple of years.

Currently, the team is updating the practice facility it purchased in north Oklahoma City.

"Before training camp starts in late September, some of our players are coming to town, looking for homes," he said. "They are professional athletes, so they need a place to work out. We have an arrangement with Southern Nazarene University which allows them to shoot around and stay in shape. There will be no formal practice."

The franchise also will have auditions for its dance team on Sunday, Sept. 7 at the Cox Convention Center. Women ages 18 and up can try out for the dance squad, which will perform at the 41 home games and make a few appearances in the area. The auditions are closed to the public but the dance team finals will be open and will be contested Thursday, Sept. 11 at Toby Keith's I Love This Bar and Grill in Bricktown.

The NBA season will open Oct. 29 as Oklahoma City will host the Milwaukee Bucks at 7 p.m.

Copyright 2008 Dolan Media Newswires

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