SEATTLE -- The Sonics' 41-year run in Seattle ended Wednesday with a legal settlement that will let owner Clay Bennett take the team immediately to Oklahoma City in exchange for a $45 million payment -- and Seattle gets no promise of a replacement team.
The deal came together just hours before U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman was scheduled to issue her ruling in the federal lawsuit Seattle had filed to try to force Bennett to play out the final two seasons on his KeyArena lease.
The settlement, announced at simultaneous news conferences in Seattle and Oklahoma City, requires Bennett to pay Seattle $45 million immediately and $30 million more in five years if the city doesn't get a new team.
"We made it. Congratulations," Bennett said to applause at a news conference in Oklahoma City. "The NBA will be in Oklahoma City next season, playing their games." He added: "The transition and move of the operation of this team begins tomorrow morning."
The Oklahoma team will play under a different name, with the Sonics history and colors to remain in Seattle.
One major complication remains: the separate lawsuit filed by former Sonics owner Howard
Schultz, who has accused Bennett of violating a promise to try to keep the Sonics in Seattle. Schultz wants the team restored to local ownership.
"Our lawsuit is separate," said Richard Yarmuth, Schultz's attorney. "We are not a party to the settlement and in fact, we chose not to participate."
But Wednesday's settlement could put Schultz's lawsuit at odds with Seattle. If that lawsuit delays or stops the Sonics' move to Oklahoma, Seattle would have to pay back all or part of Bennett's settlement.
Brad Keller, the lead
Seattle attorney for the Sonics, called the Schultz case "a far-fetched legal remedy sought by someone trying to salvage a tarnished reputation." Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels defended the city's settlement -- which was larger than the $26.5 million offered by Bennett in February -- saying it will give Seattle a real chance to secure another NBA team for KeyArena.
The City Council is likely to approve the settlement at its July 14 meeting.
"We'll never know, but we're confident the judge would have ruled in our favor," Nickels said. "But in the end of the day, all that would have given us was two years. At the end of the two years, we would have had a very bad relationship with the league, no team and really no prospects."
He was joined at Wednesday's news conference by Seattle developer Matt Griffin, who said the investor group led by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer would continue to work on purchasing a new team.
But getting another NBA team, Nickels said, will be possible only if the Legislature authorizes money for a $300 million KeyArena expansion by the end of 2009.
"The city is ready to do its part. Local investors have stepped up. Now the state Legislature must act," Nickels said.
If the Legislature fails to authorize $75 million toward the KeyArena project by the end of next year, Bennett will not have to pay the city the additional $30 million.
Gov. Christine Gregoire said in a written statement she was "disappointed that the team is leaving Seattle," and said it was time for the Legislature to "get to work" on an arena plan. A legislative task force will meet later this month to study whether King County taxes can be used for a KeyArena renovation.
Save Our Sonics co-founder Steve Pyeatt supported Nickels and said the city was backed into a corner by Olympia's repeated failure to fund an arena plan.
"The city has done a great job, but they're only able to go so far because of the failures in Olympia," Pyeatt said.
Despite the last-minute settlement, Nickels and other city leaders insisted they were confident in the city's legal case.
The city had argued throughout a six-day federal trial that the value of the Sonics to Seattle could not be compensated by a cash payment to the city.
"For the many thousands of Sonics fans who have been deeply committed to the future of this team in Seattle, this is not a happy day," said City Council President Richard Conlin.
Conlin said while the city has a "good shot" of getting another team, "I don't want to give anyone false hope. A good shot is 50-50." The Legislature has rejected four separate proposals to devote taxpayer money to an arena for the Sonics, and there is no guarantee that will change.
But Nickels said a key element of the settlement for the city was a statement by the NBA that a renovated KeyArena could work for professional basketball -- an idea Bennett had refused to consider. Bennett had demanded a new $500 million arena in Renton, paid for mostly with tax dollars.
NBA Commissioner David Stern issued a statement saying the league believes that "KeyArena could be properly renovated into a facility that meets NBA standards." The NBA also agreed to inform the city and Ballmer when teams come up for sale, but there is no guarantee that a team will be available or that Seattle would get the first shot.
E-mail
Print
Comments
Weather/Forecast
Boys Basketball Scores
