Seattle SuperSonics relocation to Oklahoma City
Encyclopedia
The Seattle SuperSonics relocation to Oklahoma City was a successful effort by the ownership group of the Seattle SuperSonics
to move the team to Oklahoma City
. The team began play as the Oklahoma City Thunder
in the 2008–2009 basketball season
after becoming the third NBA
franchise to relocate in the past decade.
After failed efforts to persuade Washington government officials to provide funding to update KeyArena
, the SuperSonics' ownership group, led by Howard Schultz
, sold the team to Professional Basketball Club LLC
(PBC), an investment group headed by Oklahoma City businessman Clayton Bennett
. After failing to persuade local governments to fund a $
500 million arena complex, Bennett's group notified the NBA
that it intended to move the team to Oklahoma City and requested arbitration with the City of Seattle
to be released from its lease with KeyArena. When the request was rejected by a judge, Seattle sued Bennett's group to enforce the lease that required the team to play in KeyArena through 2010. On July 2, 2008, a settlement was reached that allowed the team to move under certain conditions.
In months prior to the settlement, Seattle publicly released email conversations that took place within Bennett's ownership group and alleged that they indicated at least some members of the group had a desire to move the team to Oklahoma City prior to the purchase in 2006. The city used the conversations to argue that the ownership failed to negotiate in good faith, and as a result, Schultz filed a lawsuit seeking to rescind the sale of the team and transfer the ownership to a court-appointed receiver. The NBA claimed the lawsuit was void because Schultz signed a release forbidding himself to sue Bennett's group, but also argued that the proposal would have violated league ownership rules. Schultz dropped the case before the start of the 2008–09 NBA season.
, sold the Seattle SuperSonics
and Seattle Storm
after failing to reach an agreement with the City of Seattle over a publicly funded $220 million expansion of KeyArena
, which was remodeled in 1995 and was the NBA's smallest venue, with a seating capacity
of 17,098. After failing to find a local ownership group to sell the team to, Schultz talked to ownership groups from Kansas City
, St. Louis, Las Vegas
, San Jose
and Anaheim before agreeing to sell the team to an ownership group in Oklahoma City
, which pursued an NBA franchise after hosting the New Orleans Hornets successfully for two seasons as New Orleans rebuilt from Hurricane Katrina
. The sale to Clay Bennett
's group for $
350 million was approved by NBA owners on October 24, 2006. Terms of the sale required the new ownership group to "use good faith best efforts" for the term of 12 months in securing a new arena lease or venue in the Greater Seattle Area.
On February 12, 2007, Bennett proposed using tax money to pay for a new $500 million arena in a Seattle suburb
. After failing to reach a deal by the end of the legislative session, Bennett gave up his attempt in April 2007. On November 2, 2007 the team announced it would move to Oklahoma City as soon as it could get free of its KeyArena lease. Seattle's mayor, Greg Nickels
, maintained the stance that the Sonics were expected to stay in Seattle until their lease expired in 2010 and said that the city did not intend to make it easy for Bennett to move the team early. Over concerns that the city would accept a buyout of the lease, a grassroots group filed a citywide initiative that sought to prevent the city from accepting such an offer from Bennett's group. The Seattle City Council
later unanimously passed an ordinance modeled after the initiative.
On August 13, 2007, Aubrey McClendon
, a minor partner of Bennett's ownership group, said in an interview that the team was not purchased to keep it in Seattle but to relocate it to Oklahoma City. Bennett later denied such intentions, saying McClendon "was not speaking on behalf of the ownership group". Due to his comments, McClendon was fined $250,000 by the NBA.
On September 21, 2007, Bennett applied for arbitration on the issue of whether the team could break its lease in 2008. Arguing that the lease does not allow for arbitration on the issue of occupancy, the City of Seattle filed for declaratory relief on September 24. The motion asked the King County Superior court to reject the arbitration request and enforce the Specific Performance Clause of the Sonics' lease, which required the team to play at KeyArena through 2010. United States District Court Judge Ricardo Martinez denied the request for arbitration on October 29, saying that the "arguments ignore the clear language of Article II, which states that PBC’s use and occupancy rights with respect to the Premises and the Term of this Agreement shall end on September 30, 2010.”
Two days after Bennett's October 31, 2007 deadline passed for public financing of a new arena, he informed NBA commissioner David Stern
that the ownership group intended to move the Sonics to Oklahoma City as soon as it was legally possible. The timing of the announcement, one day after the Sonics' home opener, drew critical comments from Tom Carr, Seattle's attorney, who said "Mr. Bennett's announcement today is a transparent attempt to alienate the Seattle fan base and follow through on his plan to move the team to Oklahoma City ... Making this move now continues the current ownership's insulting behavior toward the Sonics' dedicated fans and the citizens of the city." Bennett also reiterated that the team was not for sale and dismissed attempts by local groups to repurchase the team.
On February 15, 2008, the Sonics' ownership group gave the City of Seattle a one-day deadline to accept a $26.5 million offer that would buy out the Sonics' lease in KeyArena and pay off what the ownership group claimed was the value of debts on the arena. The city rejected the offer.
The prospect of expanding KeyArena resurfaced on March 6, 2008, when Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer
promised that his investor group would pay half of the $300 million needed for an extensive renovation; the rest was to be provided by the city and county. However, when the state legislature did not give approval for the county to provide funds by an April 10 deadline, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels said that the effort had failed and the city's hopes rested in its lawsuit.
NBA owners gave approval of a potential SuperSonics' relocation to Oklahoma City on April 18 in a 28-2 vote by the league's Board of Governors; only Mark Cuban
of the Dallas Mavericks
and Paul Allen
of the Portland Trail Blazers
voted against the move. The approval meant the Sonics would be allowed to move to Oklahoma City's Ford Center for the 2008–2009 season after reaching a settlement with the City of Seattle.
lease.
The ownership group filed a motion saying that the lawsuit and the release of the emails by the city were meant to drive up the cost of leaving Seattle and force the ownership group to sell the team. The motion requested that all emails and other records be released to the team. Slade Gorton
, lead attorney for the city, responded by pointing out that it was PBC that started the fight that led to the lawsuit when they filed for arbitration to break the lease. The motion was denied by the presiding judge, who said the team failed to make a "good-faith effort" to resolve the dispute and that it failed to show that trial preparations were hindered by the records not being made public. However, the ruling also said the team could bring up the issue again if it could prove the relevance or the confidentiality of the records.
On April 21, 2008, Gorton said he would be open to a settlement if the league promised a replacement team for Seattle. He said it was "highly unlikely" that the Sonics would stay and indicated the city should instead focus on gaining a replacement team, but noted that local governments would need to be willing to fund an expansion of KeyArena first.
When Bennett's group requested that the trial also decide the team's financial obligations to KeyArena should its lease be broken, Seattle's lawyers requested a six-month delay in the trial date in order to prepare for the additional issues, arguing that the ownership group's request would "dramatically change the scope" of the case and would require considerable preparation time to determine damages. The trial's presiding judge denied the motion by Bennett's group on March 6, noting that the team would have needed to make the request at the scheduling conference. A second trial would therefore need to have been held to determine the team's financial obligations.
Attorneys made their closing arguments in the city's case on June 26 and the judge announced that she would issue her ruling on the following Wednesday. On July 2, hours before the judge was to release her ruling, it was announced that the team and city had reached a settlement where PBC would pay the city $45 million immediately in exchange for breaking the lease and an additional $30 million if Seattle was not given a replacement team in five years. According to the conditions of the settlement, the Sonics' name and colors could not be used by the team in Oklahoma City, but could be taken by a future team in Seattle, although no promises for a replacement team were given. The OKC team would retain the franchise history of the SuperSonics, which could be "shared" with any future NBA team in Seattle. The team moved to Oklahoma City immediately and announced it would begin play in the 2008–09 season.
The lawsuit was filed on April 22, 2008 at the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. It sought, among other things, an injunction preventing the Sonics being relocated from Seattle to Oklahoma City. The suit further requested that the franchise be placed in a constructive trust and no longer in the ownership of PBC. On May 20, 2008, Schultz's attorney added alleged a breach of contract
as a third cause of action against Bennett. Chicago-based attorney and ESPN
senior writer Lester Munson said that while the remedies Schultz sought were "without precedent in the sports industry", he did believe that both the Schultz case and Seattle's lease case presented "serious problems" for Bennett.
On May 9, 2008, Oklahoma City officials declared intent to sue for damages and a forced relocation of the SuperSonics if Schultz's lawsuit succeeded and the subsequent ownership did not relocate. In a legal letter to Schultz, Oklahoma City's attorney said that the Sonics were legally bound to relocate to Oklahoma City at the end of the KeyArena lease regardless of who owned the team. The letter stated that the city had "valid and enforceable agreements with the Team requiring it relocate to Oklahoma City at the end of the current lease with the City of Seattle." Schultz's attorney replied to the letter saying the lease agreement was with PBC, not BCOS, and that the city began improvements on Ford Center at their own risk prior to conclusion of the pending litigation.
The NBA filed a motion to intervene with Seattle's federal court on July 9, 2008, claiming that Schultz's lawsuit would interfere with the stable operation of the franchise and the transfer of ownership would violate NBA regulations unless the team was put under control of NBA Commissioner David Stern. The league also claimed that Schultz signed a release forbidding him to sue Bennett's ownership group as a condition of the NBA's approval of the original sale. Weeks later, Schultz requested that two separate trials be used to determine whether Bennett's group committed fraud and subsequently determine a remedy. On August 29, 2008, shortly after the court denied his request and ruled that the NBA could intervene in the case, Schultz said his legal team no longer believed the case could be won. He announced he would drop the lawsuit, saying in a prepared statement, "The prevailing wisdom of many in the Seattle community and the advice of key members of the BCOS is that Seattle's best chance for a professional basketball franchise is to end this litigation and allow the City, State Legislature and other parties to begin the necessary fence mending with the NBA." Schultz also apologized to Seattle fans for selling the team.
Seattle SuperSonics
The Seattle SuperSonics were an American professional basketball team based in Seattle, Washington that played in the Pacific and Northwest Divisions of the National Basketball Association from 1967 until 2008. Following the 2007–08 season, the team relocated to Oklahoma City, and now plays as...
to move the team to Oklahoma City
Oklahoma city
Oklahoma City is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma.Oklahoma City may also refer to:*Oklahoma City metropolitan area*Downtown Oklahoma City*Uptown Oklahoma City*Oklahoma City bombing*Oklahoma City National Memorial...
. The team began play as the Oklahoma City Thunder
Oklahoma City Thunder
The Oklahoma City Thunder are a professional basketball franchise based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. They play in the Northwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association ; their home court is at Chesapeake Energy Arena....
in the 2008–2009 basketball season
2008–09 NBA season
The 2008–09 NBA season was the 63rd season of the National Basketball Association . The 1,230-game regular season began on Tuesday, October 28, 2008, and ended on Wednesday, April 15, 2009...
after becoming the third NBA
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...
franchise to relocate in the past decade.
After failed efforts to persuade Washington government officials to provide funding to update KeyArena
KeyArena
KeyArena at Seattle Center , is a multipurpose arena, in Seattle, Washington. It is located north of downtown in the entertainment complex known as Seattle Center, the site of the 1962 World's Fair, the Century 21 Exposition...
, the SuperSonics' ownership group, led by Howard Schultz
Howard Schultz
Howard Schultz is an American business magnate. He is the best known as the chairman and CEO of Starbucks and a former owner of the Seattle SuperSonics...
, sold the team to Professional Basketball Club LLC
Professional Basketball Club LLC
Professional Basketball Club LLC is an investment group headed by Clayton Bennett that owns the Oklahoma City Thunder and Tulsa 66ers....
(PBC), an investment group headed by Oklahoma City businessman Clayton Bennett
Clayton Bennett
Clayton "Clay" Ike' Bennett is an American businessman and chairman of the Professional Basketball Club LLC, the ownership group of the Oklahoma City Thunder NBA franchise that was formerly the Seattle SuperSonics...
. After failing to persuade local governments to fund a $
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
500 million arena complex, Bennett's group notified the NBA
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...
that it intended to move the team to Oklahoma City and requested arbitration with the City of Seattle
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
to be released from its lease with KeyArena. When the request was rejected by a judge, Seattle sued Bennett's group to enforce the lease that required the team to play in KeyArena through 2010. On July 2, 2008, a settlement was reached that allowed the team to move under certain conditions.
In months prior to the settlement, Seattle publicly released email conversations that took place within Bennett's ownership group and alleged that they indicated at least some members of the group had a desire to move the team to Oklahoma City prior to the purchase in 2006. The city used the conversations to argue that the ownership failed to negotiate in good faith, and as a result, Schultz filed a lawsuit seeking to rescind the sale of the team and transfer the ownership to a court-appointed receiver. The NBA claimed the lawsuit was void because Schultz signed a release forbidding himself to sue Bennett's group, but also argued that the proposal would have violated league ownership rules. Schultz dropped the case before the start of the 2008–09 NBA season.
Sale of team
On July 18, 2006, the Basketball Club of Seattle, led by Howard SchultzHoward Schultz
Howard Schultz is an American business magnate. He is the best known as the chairman and CEO of Starbucks and a former owner of the Seattle SuperSonics...
, sold the Seattle SuperSonics
Seattle SuperSonics
The Seattle SuperSonics were an American professional basketball team based in Seattle, Washington that played in the Pacific and Northwest Divisions of the National Basketball Association from 1967 until 2008. Following the 2007–08 season, the team relocated to Oklahoma City, and now plays as...
and Seattle Storm
Seattle Storm
The Seattle Storm is a professional basketball team based in Seattle, Washington, playing in the Western Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association . The team was founded before the 2000 season began...
after failing to reach an agreement with the City of Seattle over a publicly funded $220 million expansion of KeyArena
KeyArena
KeyArena at Seattle Center , is a multipurpose arena, in Seattle, Washington. It is located north of downtown in the entertainment complex known as Seattle Center, the site of the 1962 World's Fair, the Century 21 Exposition...
, which was remodeled in 1995 and was the NBA's smallest venue, with a seating capacity
Seating capacity
Seating capacity refers to the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, both in terms of the physical space available, and in terms of limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that seats two to a stadium that seats...
of 17,098. After failing to find a local ownership group to sell the team to, Schultz talked to ownership groups from Kansas City
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
, St. Louis, Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
, San Jose
San Jose, California
San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...
and Anaheim before agreeing to sell the team to an ownership group in Oklahoma City
Oklahoma city
Oklahoma City is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma.Oklahoma City may also refer to:*Oklahoma City metropolitan area*Downtown Oklahoma City*Uptown Oklahoma City*Oklahoma City bombing*Oklahoma City National Memorial...
, which pursued an NBA franchise after hosting the New Orleans Hornets successfully for two seasons as New Orleans rebuilt from Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
. The sale to Clay Bennett
Clayton Bennett
Clayton "Clay" Ike' Bennett is an American businessman and chairman of the Professional Basketball Club LLC, the ownership group of the Oklahoma City Thunder NBA franchise that was formerly the Seattle SuperSonics...
's group for $
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
350 million was approved by NBA owners on October 24, 2006. Terms of the sale required the new ownership group to "use good faith best efforts" for the term of 12 months in securing a new arena lease or venue in the Greater Seattle Area.
On February 12, 2007, Bennett proposed using tax money to pay for a new $500 million arena in a Seattle suburb
Suburb
The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...
. After failing to reach a deal by the end of the legislative session, Bennett gave up his attempt in April 2007. On November 2, 2007 the team announced it would move to Oklahoma City as soon as it could get free of its KeyArena lease. Seattle's mayor, Greg Nickels
Greg Nickels
Gregory J. "Greg" Nickels was the 51st mayor of Seattle, Washington. He took office on January 1, 2002 and was reelected to a second term in 2005. In August 2009, Nickels finished third in the primary election for Seattle mayor, failing to qualify for the November 2009 general election, and...
, maintained the stance that the Sonics were expected to stay in Seattle until their lease expired in 2010 and said that the city did not intend to make it easy for Bennett to move the team early. Over concerns that the city would accept a buyout of the lease, a grassroots group filed a citywide initiative that sought to prevent the city from accepting such an offer from Bennett's group. The Seattle City Council
Seattle City Council
The Seattle City Council is committed to ensuring that Seattle, Washington, is safe, livable and sustainable. Nine Councilmembers are elected to four-year terms in nonpartisan elections and represent the entire city, elected by all Seattle voters....
later unanimously passed an ordinance modeled after the initiative.
On August 13, 2007, Aubrey McClendon
Aubrey McClendon
Aubrey Kerr McClendon is the chief executive officer, chairman, and co-founder of Chesapeake Energy Corporation . He is an outspoken advocate for natural gas as a cleaner and safer alternative to oil and coal fuels...
, a minor partner of Bennett's ownership group, said in an interview that the team was not purchased to keep it in Seattle but to relocate it to Oklahoma City. Bennett later denied such intentions, saying McClendon "was not speaking on behalf of the ownership group". Due to his comments, McClendon was fined $250,000 by the NBA.
Relocation effort
Two days after Bennett's October 31, 2007 deadline passed for public financing of a new arena, he informed NBA commissioner David Stern
David Stern
David Joel Stern is the commissioner of the National Basketball Association. He started with the Association in 1966 as an outside counsel, joined the NBA in 1978 as General Counsel, and became the league's Executive Vice President in 1980. He became Commissioner in 1984 succeeding Larry O'Brien...
that the ownership group intended to move the Sonics to Oklahoma City as soon as it was legally possible. The timing of the announcement, one day after the Sonics' home opener, drew critical comments from Tom Carr, Seattle's attorney, who said "Mr. Bennett's announcement today is a transparent attempt to alienate the Seattle fan base and follow through on his plan to move the team to Oklahoma City ... Making this move now continues the current ownership's insulting behavior toward the Sonics' dedicated fans and the citizens of the city." Bennett also reiterated that the team was not for sale and dismissed attempts by local groups to repurchase the team.
On February 15, 2008, the Sonics' ownership group gave the City of Seattle a one-day deadline to accept a $26.5 million offer that would buy out the Sonics' lease in KeyArena and pay off what the ownership group claimed was the value of debts on the arena. The city rejected the offer.
The prospect of expanding KeyArena resurfaced on March 6, 2008, when Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer
Steve Ballmer
Steven Anthony "Steve" Ballmer is an American business magnate. He is the chief executive officer of Microsoft, having held that post since January 2000. , his personal wealth is estimated at US$13.9 billion, ranking number 19 on the Forbes 400.-Early life:Ballmer was born in Detroit, Michigan to...
promised that his investor group would pay half of the $300 million needed for an extensive renovation; the rest was to be provided by the city and county. However, when the state legislature did not give approval for the county to provide funds by an April 10 deadline, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels said that the effort had failed and the city's hopes rested in its lawsuit.
Oklahoma City's preparations
In anticipation of an NBA team, Oklahoma City voters approved a $120 million renovation of the Ford Center on March 3, 2008, including construction of a new NBA practice facility. After a tour of downtown Oklahoma City, a subcommittee of three NBA owners recommended that the league approve the move. On March 14, Bennett reached a preliminary agreement with Oklahoma City on a 15-year lease of the Ford Center that was finalized by the Oklahoma City Council and the Sonics’ ownership group two weeks later. The Oklahoma State Legislature later approved a bill to provide tax breaks and other incentives if the team relocated.NBA owners gave approval of a potential SuperSonics' relocation to Oklahoma City on April 18 in a 28-2 vote by the league's Board of Governors; only Mark Cuban
Mark Cuban
Mark Cuban is an American business magnate and investor. He is the owner of the National Basketball Association's Dallas Mavericks, Landmark Theatres, and Magnolia Pictures, and the chairman of the HDTV cable network HDNet....
of the Dallas Mavericks
Dallas Mavericks
The Dallas Mavericks are a professional basketball team based in Dallas, Texas. They are members of the Southwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Basketball Association , and the reigning NBA champions, having defeated the Miami Heat in the 2011 NBA Finals.According to a 2011...
and Paul Allen
Paul Allen
Paul Gardner Allen is an American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. Allen co-founded Microsoft with Bill Gates...
of the Portland Trail Blazers
Portland Trail Blazers
The Portland Trail Blazers, commonly known as the Blazers, are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. They play in the Northwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association . The Trail Blazers originally played their home games in the...
voted against the move. The approval meant the Sonics would be allowed to move to Oklahoma City's Ford Center for the 2008–2009 season after reaching a settlement with the City of Seattle.
Popular opposition in Seattle
In 2006, a group of Seattle residents created Save Our Sonics and Storm ("SOS") to rally support for a permanent professional basketball presence in Seattle. The "and Storm" portion of the name was dropped when the WNBA team was sold to local ownership. On June 16, 2008, the group organized a well-publicized rally, which reportedly drew over 3,000 participants, at the U.S. Federal Court House in Seattle to protest the proposed relocation of the team. The rally was held on the first day of the City of Seattle's lawsuit against the P.B.C. to enforce the remaining two years on the KeyArenaKeyArena
KeyArena at Seattle Center , is a multipurpose arena, in Seattle, Washington. It is located north of downtown in the entertainment complex known as Seattle Center, the site of the 1962 World's Fair, the Century 21 Exposition...
lease.
City of Seattle v. Professional Basketball Club LLC
Seattle filed a lawsuit on September 23, 2007 in an attempt to keep the Sonics from leaving before the end of their lease in 2010. The trial was set for June 16, 2008. On April 10, 2008, Seattle asked the Federal District Court to order the NBA to release documents related to the financial situation of each team, the claim that the SuperSonics' lease with KeyArena was financially unworkable, and the league's involvement in requiring PBC to make a good-faith effort to stay in Seattle. On April 28, the trial's presiding judge, Loretta Preska, ruled that the NBA must supply the internal documents about the possible relocation of the Sonics that the City of Seattle had requested. In addition, the judge said that Stern could be deposed at a later day should the need arise. The city hoped the documents would aid in building its legal case, and cited an email conversation among members of the ownership group that suggested they were privately discussing intent to move the team while publicly insisting that they would not attempt to do so.The ownership group filed a motion saying that the lawsuit and the release of the emails by the city were meant to drive up the cost of leaving Seattle and force the ownership group to sell the team. The motion requested that all emails and other records be released to the team. Slade Gorton
Slade Gorton
Thomas Slade Gorton III is an American politician. A Republican, he was a U.S. senator from Washington state from 1981 to 1987, and from 1989 to 2001. He held both of the state's Senate seats in his career and was narrowly defeated for reelection twice as an incumbent: in 1986 by Brock Adams, and...
, lead attorney for the city, responded by pointing out that it was PBC that started the fight that led to the lawsuit when they filed for arbitration to break the lease. The motion was denied by the presiding judge, who said the team failed to make a "good-faith effort" to resolve the dispute and that it failed to show that trial preparations were hindered by the records not being made public. However, the ruling also said the team could bring up the issue again if it could prove the relevance or the confidentiality of the records.
On April 21, 2008, Gorton said he would be open to a settlement if the league promised a replacement team for Seattle. He said it was "highly unlikely" that the Sonics would stay and indicated the city should instead focus on gaining a replacement team, but noted that local governments would need to be willing to fund an expansion of KeyArena first.
When Bennett's group requested that the trial also decide the team's financial obligations to KeyArena should its lease be broken, Seattle's lawyers requested a six-month delay in the trial date in order to prepare for the additional issues, arguing that the ownership group's request would "dramatically change the scope" of the case and would require considerable preparation time to determine damages. The trial's presiding judge denied the motion by Bennett's group on March 6, noting that the team would have needed to make the request at the scheduling conference. A second trial would therefore need to have been held to determine the team's financial obligations.
Attorneys made their closing arguments in the city's case on June 26 and the judge announced that she would issue her ruling on the following Wednesday. On July 2, hours before the judge was to release her ruling, it was announced that the team and city had reached a settlement where PBC would pay the city $45 million immediately in exchange for breaking the lease and an additional $30 million if Seattle was not given a replacement team in five years. According to the conditions of the settlement, the Sonics' name and colors could not be used by the team in Oklahoma City, but could be taken by a future team in Seattle, although no promises for a replacement team were given. The OKC team would retain the franchise history of the SuperSonics, which could be "shared" with any future NBA team in Seattle. The team moved to Oklahoma City immediately and announced it would begin play in the 2008–09 season.
Basketball Club of Seattle LLC v. Professional Basketball Club LLC
The release of email conversations between members of Bennett's group prompted former Sonics' owner Howard Schultz to file a lawsuit that sought to rescind the sale of the team and alleged that Bennett's group used fraud and misrepresentation to purchase the Sonics without making a "good faith best effort" to keep them in Seattle as mandated by the original sales contract. Bennett said the emails were misinterpreted and that he had spent millions of dollars in attempting to keep the team in Seattle.The lawsuit was filed on April 22, 2008 at the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. It sought, among other things, an injunction preventing the Sonics being relocated from Seattle to Oklahoma City. The suit further requested that the franchise be placed in a constructive trust and no longer in the ownership of PBC. On May 20, 2008, Schultz's attorney added alleged a breach of contract
Breach of contract
Breach of contract is a legal cause of action in which a binding agreement or bargained-for exchange is not honored by one or more of the parties to the contract by non-performance or interference with the other party's performance....
as a third cause of action against Bennett. Chicago-based attorney and ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
senior writer Lester Munson said that while the remedies Schultz sought were "without precedent in the sports industry", he did believe that both the Schultz case and Seattle's lease case presented "serious problems" for Bennett.
On May 9, 2008, Oklahoma City officials declared intent to sue for damages and a forced relocation of the SuperSonics if Schultz's lawsuit succeeded and the subsequent ownership did not relocate. In a legal letter to Schultz, Oklahoma City's attorney said that the Sonics were legally bound to relocate to Oklahoma City at the end of the KeyArena lease regardless of who owned the team. The letter stated that the city had "valid and enforceable agreements with the Team requiring it relocate to Oklahoma City at the end of the current lease with the City of Seattle." Schultz's attorney replied to the letter saying the lease agreement was with PBC, not BCOS, and that the city began improvements on Ford Center at their own risk prior to conclusion of the pending litigation.
The NBA filed a motion to intervene with Seattle's federal court on July 9, 2008, claiming that Schultz's lawsuit would interfere with the stable operation of the franchise and the transfer of ownership would violate NBA regulations unless the team was put under control of NBA Commissioner David Stern. The league also claimed that Schultz signed a release forbidding him to sue Bennett's ownership group as a condition of the NBA's approval of the original sale. Weeks later, Schultz requested that two separate trials be used to determine whether Bennett's group committed fraud and subsequently determine a remedy. On August 29, 2008, shortly after the court denied his request and ruled that the NBA could intervene in the case, Schultz said his legal team no longer believed the case could be won. He announced he would drop the lawsuit, saying in a prepared statement, "The prevailing wisdom of many in the Seattle community and the advice of key members of the BCOS is that Seattle's best chance for a professional basketball franchise is to end this litigation and allow the City, State Legislature and other parties to begin the necessary fence mending with the NBA." Schultz also apologized to Seattle fans for selling the team.
Distribution of assets
According to the settlement, items associated with the SuperSonics' history in Seattle, including trophies, banners, and retired jerseys, stayed in the city and it was placed in the Museum of History and Industry. Other items such as televisions, radios, headphones, CDs, chairs, and equipment were shipped to Oklahoma City after the Seattle Storm finished the 2008 WNBA season.See also
- Cleveland Browns relocation controversyCleveland Browns relocation controversyThe Cleveland Browns relocation controversy was the decision by then Browns owner Art Modell to move the National Football League team from its longtime home of Cleveland, Ohio to Baltimore, Maryland for the 1996 NFL season...
- SonicsgateSonicsgateSonicsgate: Requiem For A Team is a 2009 educational feature documentary film chronicling the rise and demise of the Seattle SuperSonics NBA franchise 1967-2008, having left Seattle after 41 years to move to Oklahoma City and become the Thunder. ...
, a 2009 feature documentary film that explores the controversy