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So, as you have probably heard, the Seattle Supersonics are officially moving to Oklahoma City. They are just the 4th team in American major sports history to relocate after spending more than 40 years in one city. The Sonics have one of the strongest fan bases in the NBA, and now are left teamless. And who is this terrible person who hijacked a sports franchise to move it to his hometown? Well none other than Clay Bennett! And ya know, watching this reminds me a lot of a similar situation for one of those other 3 teams to leave a city after 40 years, and this one is close to my heart. In 1995, Art Modell betrayed the city of Cleveland and moved the Cleveland Browns to Baltimore. He is also very evil. But who is worse, Modell or Bennett? I think this calls for a breakdown.

First, lets look at Art Modell. In 1961, Art bought arguably the most sucessful franchise in the NFL, the Cleveland Browns, for $4 million. He started his illustrious career by firing the Browns legendary coach Paul Brown in 1963. The next season, the Browns won the title. Since then, they haven't won a single title, nor has the other teams in the city. In 1973, he became the landlord of Cleveland Municipal Stadium, the Browns home stadium, because the city could no longer afford it. The Browns were still a very sucessful franchise up into the 1990s,  with many winning seasons, and many close calls in Super Bowl runs. But in 1990, Art's evil side began to show. Modell began to become concerned with the Indians' poor attendance, who weren't bringing in much money for their co-tenants, and the Browns didn't recieve money for the Indians luxury suites. Modell was also upset because of rock concerts during the season damaging the Stadium's playing field. Finally, the major thing happened that really pis$ed of Modell. The Cleveland Indians and Cavs joined the Gateway Project, which would move the teams to new stadiums on the South Side of Cleveland. Modell declined to join them, instead asking for improvements to his stadium. The Indians and the city declined to make improvements to the stadium, and Modell was not pleased. So he got together with his fellow villains and decided to move one of America's most storied sports franchises to Baltimore. Despite his wishes to name the new team the "Baltimore Browns", he was forced to keep the name, uniforms, and history in Cleveland. In a Sports Illustrated poll of the state of Ohio, despite the fact that the Browns only has about half of the football fans in Ohio, the state voted Art Modell as the most hated figure in the state, with a whopping 52%, with second place being 8%. He is truly and evil man.

So how does he compare to Clay Bennett? in 2006, Clay Bennett bought the Supersonics franchise for $350 million from Starbucks CEO and Seattle native Howard Schultz. After not getting the renovations he asked for for Key Arena, Bennett announced, seemingly simpatheticly, that he would have to move the team to his hometown of Oklahoma City. Many people cryed foul. But Bennett sweared that he bought the team with the intention of keeping it in Seattle. On August 13, 2007, minority owner Aubrey McClendon said that Bennett and his group bought the Sonics jsut to move them to Oklahoma City. Bennett denied these accusations, and McClendon is probably dead in a river somewhere. Earlier this year, Howard Schultz sued Bennett for the team back, saying that Bennett broke the deal by not trying in good faith to keep the team in Seattle, and also sued saying that the group practiced fraud and impersonation. Sadly, the efforts failed, and again, despite his best efforts, he had to leave the name and uniforms in Seattle. So basically, instead of trying to get an expansion franchise in Oklahoma City, Bennett hijacked a team with a long history and moved them there. Which sounds a lot like ARt Modell. 

So who is most evil? Well, one had a team for years, and then betrayed the city that loved him and moved the team. One lied to get a storied franchise, and then with complete disregard for the fans, moved the team to his home city. And both are very evil acts. So I'm calling this one a push. But the real question to ask yourself is, who is most evil of these three? 

PS Read this article. It was written in 2006, when Clay Bennett bought the Sonics.