Despite the release of e-mails that SuperSonics owner Clay Bennett exchanged last year with partners about moving the team to Oklahoma City, NBA commissioner David Stern says he is convinced Bennett made a good-faith effort to keep the team in Seattle.
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Bennett and ownership partners Aubrey McClendon and Tom Ward exchanged e-mails in April 2007 in which they discussed whether there was any way to avoid further "lame duck” seasons in Seattle before the team could be relocated.
Bennett, who had promised to negotiate with Seattle for a full year before deciding whether to move the Sonics, responded: "I am a man possessed! Will do everything we can. Thanks for hanging with me boys.”
"I haven't studied them, but my sense of it was that Clay, as the managing partner and the driving force of the group, was operating in good faith under the agreement that had been made with (previous owner) Howard Schultz,” Stern said on a conference call Monday. "His straight and narrow path may not have been shared by all of his partners in their views, but Clay was the one that was making policy for the partnership.”
Stern fined McClendon $250,000 last August after he told an Oklahoma City newspaper that "we didn't buy the team to keep it in Seattle; we hoped to come here.” The e-mails released last week as part of the city of Seattle's efforts to enforce the SuperSonics' lease at KeyArena shed further light on the ownership group's thought process prior to Bennett's self-enforced Oct. 31 deadline to determine the team's eventual home.
After purchasing the team from Schultz in July 2006, Bennett promised to spend one full year after the purchase was approved to seek a viable home for the Sonics in Seattle. The NBA approved the sale of the Sonics in October 2006.
Stern repeatedly has said that Seattle's KeyArena is not a suitable home for the Sonics, and rejected a recent attempt led by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to renovate the arena to keep the team in Seattle. That effort subsequently fell apart when it wasn't backed by the city or the state legislature.
Stern said it's too late at this point to seek other owners who would keep the Sonics in the city where they've played the past 41 years.
"I think it's fair to say that extraordinary efforts were made to seek ownership interests when Howard sold the team, including from people who became involved in the effort — the recently unsuccessful effort — to get the state to extend the sales tax for the purposes of retiring the arena debt,” Stern said.
"It happened already. There was no one who was interested in buying the team, including the very people who stepped forward at the last minute.”
NBA owners will vote Friday on Bennett's proposed relocation to Oklahoma City. A subcommittee of three owners visited Oklahoma City last month and recommended league approval.
During that visit, Stern suggested that Oklahoma City — when combined with the presence of Tulsa less than 100 miles away — could be a viable market even though Seattle has a higher population and television audience. On Monday, he downplayed Seattle's role as an entry into Asia.
"I would say that we don't ever like to leave a city,” Stern said. "We don't like to leave a city as robust as Seattle, but the Asian cities that we're tending to focus more on have names like Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong and Guangzhou.
"It's disheartening simply to leave the city, as it would be to leave any city.”
A June trial is scheduled concerning the city of Seattle's lawsuit to enforce the lease and keep the team at KeyArena through 2010.
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Okie shopping list:
-1 Seattle NBA franchise
-1 Leaning Tower of Piza
-1 Great pyramid
-1 Seattle Space Needle
-1 Saint Louis Arch
Where we gonna put all this stuff?
Wonder if they would sell us that Space Needle to go along with the Sonics. It would probably be a little taller than the one we have at the fairgrounds.
Jill, the plan offered by Bennett at the Renton site was the rejected Orlando Arena design...Big deal and the $100M offer is the estimate for naming rights. Face it, the guy is a total square head. The last thing the league needs is another team in a fly-over State. Ratings are down as it is without a dustbowl division.
"And the claim that we had our chance is getting old. We did not have a chance, Bennett made sure of that with his ridiculous proposals he new would never fly." Seattle's claim that Bennett's proposal was ridiculous is getting old. $450 million for the new Orlando arena. Getting close to a billion for Brooklyn's new arena. The Muckleshoots hired an independent consultant, and they got an estimate of over $400 million for an arena on their land. The Magic are paying only $50 million towards their new arena, and they're paying only one million dollars a year rent. Bennett offered $100 million. What he asked of Seattle would have built a very nice arena, but no nicer and no more expensive than Orlando's. Oklahoma City can spend less because our building costs are clearly far less than yours. A comparable house in OKC costs a third of what it does in Seattle, so i'm not surprised that an arena there would be considerably more expensive.
Jill, www.okcthunderfans.com - Apr 16, 2008 at 1:00 am
"Funny, how except for Travis, this has become a Seattle blog exclusively. And you call yourselves fans?" There's something I learned a long time ago, and keep forgetting. "Don't feed the trolls." This isn't where most of the fans post anyway.
Jill, www.okcthunderfans.com - Apr 16, 2008 at 12:52 am
Even the Seattle Times writers are dismissing it as pure PR ...**After consuming the drink, however, reality settled. Schultz's dire attempt to right his wrong is the longest of all shots. And though he probably won't admit it, he's motivated in part by a desire to suppress fan anger. If Seattle becomes an NBA ghost town, he doesn't want to walk around fearing for his coffee beans.*
"much more than a PR move for Schultz's rep."...Not really...Those two letters sum up this lame stunt pretty well...Trying to save face with his community is all...Seattle is pulling out all stops to try and persuade the vote...Won't work
Schultz dumped the Sonics because they were losing money. A large part of the blame can probably be dumped in his lap because of mismanagement (including alienating players), but from what I read, the lease terms weren't particularly favorable either. As I understand it, the problem isn't so much attendance (though it has been in the bottom third of the league since the 2002-2003 season) as the money made -- or not made, in this case -- from concessions, restaurants and other ancilliary revenue sources.
MartzMimic, Oklahoma City - Apr 15, 2008 at 8:07 pm
The cool thing about the Schultz lawsuit is that very likely Stern will be asked to testify if not an outright co-defendent. He will be pulled away from his safety zone and made to answer questions about those "love" emails. Very interesting. Just listened to an interview on our sports radio show with a minor owner with Schultz and he said that they are all behind the effort...much more than a PR move for Schultz's rep. There are some angry folks up here..."Sic 'em!"
Bennett & Gaylord entertainment were co-owners of the Spurs in the '90s. Gaylord Entertainment had a nice new arena built in Nashville and was hunting for a franchise to move way back then. This is part of the continued building of the Gaylord empire, which Clay married into.
Bennet was part owner of the Spurs a while back and Bennett bailed the NBA out when they needed a place for the Hornets to play. This is Sterns way of paying Bennett back for his loyality to the NBA.
Is it true that Stern and Bennett are long time friends? I saw that on ESPN.com, but haven't heard anything more about it. If that's the case, why does it matter what Stern says about Bennett's "good faith"? It's all a bunch of horse excrement. They're doing it simply because (they think) they can. There isn't any economical incentive, and every show on ESPN is ripping the NBA apart. The reputation of the NBA is going to suffer along with the city of Seattle. And you know what else, forget about Tulsa. You have to drive 100 miles to reach a total fan base of half a million people. We have that in downtown Seattle alone. Hasn't Clay noticed that people are leaving that part of the country? And guess what else! They're moving to the northwest. No one can win here.
Travis, Bennett said a Key Arena remodel was out of the question. He was offered free land by one of our Indian tribes to build an arena, he never called back. He never spoke to our mayor, despite countless calls from the mayors office. He would only approve the Renton site (the $500 million). 18 months ago Stern asked the state to consider remodeling Key Arena when Schultz owned the team. So apparently, Key Arena has become obsolete in 18 months. I can not substantiate this, but I heard that the arena plans Bennett said he paid for were in fact plans for an arena in Orlando that didn't pass down there. Our legislaotor did pass on the arena plan Bennett proposed, but only because it was so ridiculous.
Chris, I hear you and I understand you but I don't think it changes anything. At the end of the day it's the little guy (fan) that gets shyted on. No I wouldn't want to fund another large arena (I didn't want to fund this measly 100M) but that's what Stern wanted. You got shafted in 1995. The city should sue whoever decided upon those renovations. It sounds like somebody got rich. The NBA is holding cities hostage and they have to choose to pay the piper, or not. We do not have two other arenas/fields or a billion dollars worth of bond funds so we can compete. There is absolutely no way in hades that Stern would let the Sonics move from Seattle to OKC if they had a "first class NBA arena", whatever that is.
urworthless, Oklahoma City - Apr 15, 2008 at 2:21 pm
Travis, et al...the arena issue has always been a smoke screen. The citizens passed a tax on hotel and taxi's to help pay for Safeco field. The bonds are being paid off quicker than predicted. They could be paid off in just a couple of more years. Schultz and even UW have eyed that money stream for their own projects. The arena became an issue only so far as the greed to get what they thought was "free" money. It takes a legislative bill to extend the tax beyond it's proscribed target...Safeco. No legislator was willing to risk the wrath of his district voters to even put it up for debate, let alone a vote. You need to remember that Seattle funded two large projects over 1 billion dollars and a stadium fatigue is quite natural. We are still paying down bonds on the imploded Kingdome and the suddenly "obsolete" Key Arena that was rebuilt new in 1995. Arenas and stadiums have been the hostage child for owners for many years, but that doesn't mean that their arguments are true and rational. Don't buy the arena b.s.- Bennett is using it as leverage to take his new toy home with him to play...period. He has been caught in his lie and is in a bit of a squeeze. Story in a nutshell.
I agree with Phillip, the fans of Seattle have done nothing wrong. You can let up on calling us okies, hicks, etc. They have always supported the Sonics. Question: Was there not ever another option than a 500 mil new arena outside of Seattle? Has the City or State ever offered taxpayer money to renovate the Key or has the NBA (Stern or Bennett) ever proposed/considered that option? Sure they wanted an new arena and they would obviously start there. When that failed, did they move to renovate the Key with taxpayer money? Right or wrong, that's what it takes to keep/attract an NBA team. I am under the impression that the dirks in your legislature have refused all taxpayer money.
urworthless, Oklahoma City - Apr 15, 2008 at 1:39 pm
According to Schultz, his defineition was not "good faith" but "best effort". I am not a lawyer, but a laywer on local radio here said that is a big difference. Could be more bad news for Bennett.
I wonder how long the NBA and Stern are going to be willing to be drug through the Publicity Storm they are involved in. It seems that everyday some new negative story about Bennett's Group or Stern or the NBA is in the National News. More and more people are speaking up about the move in a negative fashion. With the finals starting, and all NBA owners praying and probably scheming for an LA/Boston final for the ratings this is all bad news. I wonder what the ratings will be if San Antonio and Cleveland will bring this year. Another all time record low? I wonder if Bennett and Stern could have foreseen the mess they would find themselves in and the personal humiliation they are subjecting themselves to they would still repeat the buyout of the Sonics. My bet is that they are both looking for anyway out they can to save what little face and reputation they have left. Expansion team for OKC and the Sonics stay in Seattle. It will be spun as the plan all along and smiles will be in abundance.
Rose, how awsome would it be to have Rose running the point and feeding KD or Wilcox down low? Green and Collison banging down low, grabbing boards and resetting the O? Man, I think I'm gonna cry again.
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-1 Seattle NBA franchise
-1 Leaning Tower of Piza
-1 Great pyramid
-1 Seattle Space Needle
-1 Saint Louis Arch
Where we gonna put all this stuff?
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=keown/080415&sportCat=nba