Interpreting Schultz's lawsuit

AND MARGIRITE IN RENTON HAS BEEN MUZZLED LIL PHILIP!!

philip, seattle doesnt have a arena that meets nba's standards?? why are the sonics still advertising the premium seats @ keyarena as "the best seats in pro sports" on thier website?? starting to sound a lil schizo to me. and NEWSFLASH (just confirmed at the courthouse downtown), the judge is going to grant the request (by the sonics) for a financial damge be accessed at the end of the trial, BUT, she is going to postpone the trial for 6 months which puts us at the beginning of the new nba season. WHAT THE??? philip, when you get confirmation of this news, please, please, reply!!!!! SEE YA'ALL IN ????????? LOL!! MIKE U.

Very good news today!! Now that we have the legal right to Sterns emails, we will find out what he really thinks about this deal. Can you say...sweating bullets! Hahaha!!

How is offering only one option, a taxpayer funded, $500 million dollar arena, that's not ever located in the city of Seattle a good faith effort??? How is stating when the team was bought that a KeyArena upgrade would be an acceptable option, yet later stating that it's not an option, even going as far as to say that it's never been an option, and calling talks with Seattles Mayor on the subject a "waste of time", please tell me how this is a good faith effort??? Now if OKC approved a new $500 million dollar tax funded arena in Tulsa, I wouldn't be so mad, but all they had to approve was a $100 million dollar renovation to the Ford Center. Sound familiar, wow, that's just what we wanted to do to KeyArena, but thats not good enough here. hmmm, a $100 million dollar building renovation, in the 45th largest market in the US = Good, $300 million building renovation in the 14th largest US market, with a 41 year NBA history = Bad. Hmmm, something fishy about that. If Seattle had even been given a chance we could of gotten an arena deal, a fair one for the owners, the NBA, and the city. Yet we only got one option, and I challenge all fans to answer this, would you approve a $500 million dollar arena that's not even located in your city, I think NOT!!!! Nobody would....I LOVE you Clay, and David!!!! There not two other guys on this planet I'd rather have trying to steal our team than you guys, you've brought us all a ray of hope, and I'll never forget you!! Keep in touch via email!!

I personally can't wait for e-mails that go like this: Aubrey - Hey Clay, it's 10 minutes before we have to present our arena proposal to the Washington legislature. Do you have an arena proposal yet? Bennett - I do not. How about we just say the arena's $500 million and it's going to be in a small town outside of Seattle (I can probably find one on a WA map). We'll say that we'll pay $100 million and I'll look for an old Staples Center in my basement and call that the new Sonics arena model. By the way, do you think that $500 million is too little? They might actually go with it and get an arena built. Then we wouldn't be able to move them like we planned all along since we bought the team. Aubrey - Sounds good. I think $500 million is fine. Too high and people might get suspicious. It's a good thing that I can't think of any possible way for the public to get their hands on these e-mails. Otherwise they would know we've been violating that promise to Schultz, which could land us in court, where we would almost certainly have to sell the team. Bennett - Don't worry, Aubrey. David Stern, the NBA comissioner, has our backs. He said he would defend us to the bitter end if these e-mails which he has already looked over several times (according to him) ever get out to the public.

The stonewalling over NBA internal emails is over and the exchange btw Stern and Bennett is evident. Stern steps down and new footsteps come from Dallas to stop the league from its growing slump.

I have been reading the blog to get a different perspective on this whole mess of the law suits. I read a lot about what people were saying about the two law suits and the lawyers who were the brain trusts behind them. My two cents worth here was that Sentor Slade Gorton knows what he is doing when it comes to major league sports. Before Senator Gorton was Senator he was the lawyer that "brought the hammer down" on Major League Baseball when they ripped the Seattle Pilots out of Seattle after one year and through his efforts he is considered the savior of baseball in Seattle when MLB gave us the Mariners, when Seattle dopped thier suit. Don't be fooled about Seattle and their determination when it comes to our sports teams we have been there before and we won then when everybody said we didn't have a chance against MLB.

of course the NBA's owners approved the move, they're looking out for one of their own. and they truly don't care where any of their teams are, they want their money, however they can get it. the NBA is a weak league, growing weaker daily. bennett, while being a total under-handed businessman, is very rich (however he got it, that guy) and david stern isn't in the business of turning away his rich homies. sad but true.

I really don't care if the team stays in Seattle or move to OKC. I have a question though. Please only answer it if you are not a complete retard, thinking that your biased comments will have any effect. So here is the question. The NBA is a franchisee like Little Caesars and Ace Hardware. No if they didn't approve of the direction of the owenrship of one of its franchisee's than I am sure they would remove their name from the store and take other legal action. What if anything can the NBA do to the city of Seattle or the new ownership? I would think that if the NBA doesn't want a franchisee there anymore they could do something about it.

We'll have to wait to find out what the NBA decided and why. I guess that will come out in Court when Stern testifies. Phillip, it's called the Carrot and the Stick. Gordon holds out a carrot. "This is what we want to settle." Shultz raps Bennett on the knuckles. "Here is the latest suit to get back our team and make show the World how dishonest you are.."

Whats the NBA gonna do about the viloation? Punish Bennett? These guys are all in it together. Do you have a link to that NBA ruling on whether there was a contract breach or not? Im sure they simply told him to watch his step. It appears they didnt advise him to eliminate the email evidence that will ultimately be his undoing. Aubrey, is on Seattles side. He appears to be the only honest person in OKC!

"Looks like the NBA front office warned Bennett and co that they were violating the contract agreement way last year!" Actually said they may have and looked into it....Ultimately ruled that it didn't ...Big difference from "were violating"

phil, you were on kjr? im sorry i missed it. and whats the deal with calling people trolls? i dont watch lord of the rings or play dugeons and dragons. so im not sure i get it?

Mark These guys are in such denial that I dont think they have even read the link that you posted revealing new emails from Bennett. Looks like the NBA front office warned Bennett and co that they were violating the contract agreement way last year! These guys will stick with Bennett until he is put in jail for purgery.

Phil, the Email's are material evidence that carry as serious weight, just ask Munson, he was on 950 KJR today and said that Schultz has a 55-60% chance to win based on what they have just now. Just travel over there and listen to the clip, it's up. What's funny is Stern is probably going to have to take the stand in this case. That's just makes things that much better. You can act like the emails don't mean anything, go ahead and keep believing that. Even start believing Munson is biased. I just can't wait to what more evidence they uncover after the get done getting more files from the NBA and finally finish going through all the emails and documents the got from the city of Seattle's lease case.

'nba standards' is an "ininformed" statement. your basing this solely on david stern's opinion. apparently stern has targeted arco as his next arena that is not up to 'nba standards' and would like to use the 'see what i did to seattle' as his impetus. the key doesn't allow owners to take all the revenue from the surrounding area, thus bennett's reason for not considering renovation but demanding a $500 million arena in renton. while the rationale for using public funding for an arena, presumably, is that the city or community also reaps some of financial benefits of the project. the injustice here (which apparently you still fail to comprehend) is that the nba, which is a monopoly, is able to demand endless renovations and steamroll the political process. once again, seattle does not lack the will nor money to fund a new project but city and state officials were held hostage by stern's demands and given a ridiculous timetable in which to publicly fund a project that would lead to excessive and unbalanced profits for the nba. your boy and your city are the puppets in this whole power game. the nba found a market and buyer who are desperate and willing to provide unreasonable accommodations in order to secure a team. every city, especially a small market like okc, should be concerned and bothered by this situation. there's nothing to stop the nba from doing this over and over again as long as they find desperate communities willing to bend over and acquiesce to their every demand. thus, your city comes off as extremely exploitive. the key and arco are two of the loudest arenas in the league. unless you've been to either, you should leave the regurgitated stern statements to the nba. since anti-trust laws are basically obsolete in our country at this point, it's pretty alarming that the nba is attempting to bypass contractual laws as well. it also flies in the face of any free market and actual (adam smith) capitalist principles. the fact that you're shamelessly content with this whole process is pretty pathetic. it's so myopic and definitely doesn't help the stereotypes of your 'heartland' communities. the nba is establishing a very reckless precedent that will inevitably bite them, and okc, in the near future.

If you haven't already heard Oklahoma's Philip on KJR AM radio in Seattle providing his legal analysis Schultz' lawsuit, check it out on the Seattle Times website.

joey, there are only a couple of privately built arenas in the country and they host multiple major league teams to make it work. Seattle is about to have no major league teams to play in there arena. Hold your breath waiting for that private arena. Your going to turn some really cool shades of blue. As far as me posting on the Times, you're guessing but the place to call me out on it would be there. You Seattle trolls posting here are no better than the OKC trolls posting there.

blakedog, when Seattle agreed to do the remodel in the mid ninetys, the Sonics in turn agreed to a 15 year lease. Seattle has decided not to build a new arena and the team has decided not to agree to a new lease. Everyone is getting what they deserve. The Sonics have now signed a 15 year lease with OKC based on OKC remodeling the Ford Center. It would be extremely naive for us to thing we won't need a successer venue at the end of that 15 years if we expect to keep the team.

"the emails are making for interesting reading but in the grand scheme of things they won’t make any difference." Well put. I can only hope the OKC lawyers use the same bulletproof line of reasoning in front of the judge. What's awesome is that Clay was deposed yesterday, and these new emails were released today....think his testimony kept in line with these new facts? If I were an Okie I wouldn't have a lot of faith in Clay's legal acumen.

phil, i know your on the seattle times forum.

when we get a new building it will be all private. and a world class gem. so we will no longer have to sweat that prick chopp. chopp represents madison park. the only way he leaves office, is when he retires. unfortunately. the days of going to city and state govt. for crappy half ass arenas, are over. the future is all private beautiful first class facilitys. i heard some one mention norfolk! and some of the other cities is question made me laugh. i took trip around the country about five summers ago. my goal was to see every aaa baseball park. and most of the cities i went to are currently fighting to become a big league city. not one single park was even close to half full!! NOT ONE!! un-flipping-believable! and its just aaa baseball.come on! okc, your not becoming a big league city. the NBA is becoming a minor league!

joey said..... "you dont hear me lecturing oklahomans on bud wilkinsons legend. you dont hear me lecturing oklahomans on the complexitys of thier state government.(those are the only two things i can think of). of course you dont! and you wanna know why? because its careless,naive and irresponsible." .....and you don't see me going to a Seattle website and running my mouth. That's called being a troll.

Hey Philip, It's true that Seattle doesn't have facilities up to NBA standards, but there are many factors that go into that. Key Arena was remodeled just 13 years ago, after which David Stern praised the building and said that Seattle should be very proud. Then, a mere decade later, he was with Schultz, lobbying the legislature for more remodeling. The amount Schultz was offering toward the proposed remodel was less than 10% of the total. Surely, you can see why that was met with some skepticism. Where it turned interesting for me is when Bennett purchased the team. All of a sudden, the remodel that Stern was lobbying for just two years earlier was no longer sufficient. No! What was needed now was a $500M arena, for which Bennett never indicated how much he was willing to contribute. To me, it's clear that Bennett's goal from the beginning was to bring the team to OKC. He would pledge "good faith", and ask for the world. If, in the worst case scenario, Seattle bent over and gave him EVERYTHING he asked for, regardless of how reasonable that was, then they could just sell the team for a profit. Ballmer's group offered $150M of a $300M Key Arena remodel. And while our inept state legislature failed to act, it had the support of Seattle Mayor Nickels, as well as the support of the King County Council, and other activists in the area who have historically been against public subisidies for arenas. The bottom line is that this is a confluence of events where supposed "leaders" lack vision, and vultures see opportunities and it's the powerless fans who are stuck in the middle. I still contend that you deserve a team, but if Bennett's the owner, you just wait. In 10 years, he'll be coming after you.

mark, the emails are making for interesting reading but in the grand scheme of things they won't make any difference. Seattle has lost the Sonics and continues to further alienate themselves from the NBA with each passing day.

blakedog, As I said initially, Seattle doesn't presently deserve a team because they have chose not to keep there facilities up to NBA standards. We have made that commitment and are therefore getting a team. I'm sure that Seattle will get another team too at whatever time they are willing to get a new arena built. It's going to be much more difficult now that the Sonics are leaving and I wouldn't hold my breath as long as Frank Chopp is in office. Blaming Bennett and Stern for your problems comes across as ignorant and ininformed.

joey - I definitely agree that it's questionable whether or not OKC can support an NBA team, long term. They did a great job supporting the Hornets, but if they get a new team, will they be able to support it after the "new team smell" wears off? Hard to say. But it's also hard to say that they don't deserve a team when they've bent over backwards to do everything they can. They've taxed themselves another $120M, and even approved tax breaks to Bennett's group after they were already coming. donut-lies - The voice of reason!

Phillip, go ahead and just post the link next time. And if you insist on posting stuff that is completely outdated, don't bother. From the Seattle Times today: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004371389_websonics24m.html "In an e-mail last August, Sonics owner Clay Bennett told fellow owner Aubrey McClendon that NBA executive Joel Litvin was "looking into certain documents we signed at closing that may have been breached." i.e. the NBA was probably aware that PBC violated the terms of their contract. Things continue to get worse for David Stern, who is looking ever more complicit in this affair, and who is trying avoid the courtroom. "Bennett also worried that McClendon's comments could land the owners in legal trouble. In an April 13, 2007, e-mail to McClendon, Bennett wrote: "Yes sir, we get killed on this one. I don't mind the PR ugliness (pretty used to it), but I am concerned from a legal standpoint that your statement could perhaps undermine our basic premise of 'good faith best efforts'... " yeah, you should be concerned. Stern is looking dumber and dumber for getting into bed with these dustbowl ego-strokers, which, if I was an Okie, would have me pretty worried. Dear Leader Stern is your only line of support and if these emails continue to make him look like a corrupt moron there will probably come a point where he thinks to himself, "Gee, maybe a broke ass bottom-feeding squad in Okietown just isn't worth my credibility".

be fair joey, the ford center needs a few improvements because it wasn't built for an NBA team, but it did okay as-is. and supporting the weakest professional sports league isn't hard right now. everyone should have a team. maybe two. i'd much rather have a bunch of great concerts than some basketball team. seattle's not undeserving, and oklahoma is deserving, i just don't want bennett involved. let's work together to somehow get him out of seattle AND oklahoma.

everybody seems to think okc is deserving of a team, why? when has okc ever supported anything? they built a half ass cookie cutter arena that already needs improvements, only a few years later. when the hornets were there people were not charged typical NBA prices for admission. to show the NBA they could fill an arena? and they only did that for about year. but now everybody thinks it will be a good NBA town. WHY? did no one learn anything from the memphis move? now on the other hand seattle has supported the club for 40+ years and the seahawks and mariners for 30+years. and now i have to hear oklahomans blather on and on about how okc is ready for the big leagues, and that seattle is undeserving. i dont know? maybe im just dumb? you dont hear me lecturing oklahomans on bud wilkinsons legend. you dont hear me lecturing oklahomans on the complexitys of thier state government.

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