Oklahoma City . . . Sonics?

[OMMF]

Would there be any chance that the Sonics' departure opens up the market for an NHL team? Or are the markets just too different for it to have any affect?

Key Arena is not really NHL compatible. So they would end up having to build a new arena if they wanted a NHL team.

KeyArena isn't even WHL-compatible. I don't know that this region has a huge hankering for hockey, but I've been to a couple of WHL games and they seem to be decently attended. However, that does include shutting off the entire upper deck and a third of the lower bowl, so perhaps not. We'll see how well the ThunderBirds do next year in their hockey-specific arena in Kent, WA (a Seattle suburb). However, it being in Kent means I'll never go, but we'll see.

Seriously? Everyone makes Kent out to sound like this far away place. I live near the north city limit and I'm keeping my season tickets.

[LMU]

As an outsider in this whole situation, Stern could have put this whole debacle to bed by pushing for the tax used to finance Quest and Safeco to be extended for a Sonics arena, since there wouldn't be any new taxes put into place. The argument has been made that the city was fed up with building new stadiums, but the decision to build them for MLB and the NFL really has no bearing in the minds of the NBA. Also, I don't see the Griz being moved to Seattle to compensate afterthefact, since they got their arena and have a future star in Gay to build around.

It's a shame to see the team leave, especially with Oden returning next season and the possible Oden/Durant rivalry in the Northwest. Yet, the only thing we have to thank is the new sports economic structure where governments are strongarmed into building multimillion dollar facilities.

[Jimmy!]

Would there be any chance that the Sonics' departure opens up the market for an NHL team? Or are the markets just too different for it to have any affect?

Key Arena is not really NHL compatible. So they would end up having to build a new arena if they wanted a NHL team.

KeyArena isn't even WHL-compatible. I don't know that this region has a huge hankering for hockey, but I've been to a couple of WHL games and they seem to be decently attended. However, that does include shutting off the entire upper deck and a third of the lower bowl, so perhaps not. We'll see how well the ThunderBirds do next year in their hockey-specific arena in Kent, WA (a Seattle suburb). However, it being in Kent means I'll never go, but we'll see.

Seriously? Everyone makes Kent out to sound like this far away place. I live near the north city limit and I'm keeping my season tickets.

I think his commentary is more on the city rather than the location.

[BrySmalls]

Now the divorce is starting to get nasty (again):

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/24125526/

[Jimmy!]

Beat me to the punch.

While I doubt this solves anything, it's ironic that the man who started this whole screwjob may turn out to be the savior.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

Boy has this story been fun.

My comment on Kent is simply that as someone without a car and who makes a feeble attempt to rely solely on mass transit, Kent is too far away from the central city to be accessible to me. That's all.

Oh, and it's a pit. Ha!

[rams80]

Beat me to the punch.

While I doubt this solves anything, it's ironic that the man who started this whole screwjob may turn out to be the savior.

The problem here is that I think "good faith effort" is both a rather vague wording and is very much a subjective, rather than objective phrase. Bennett could simply claim that he sent those emails in the height of frustration with the process of getting a new arena, and how could he reasonably be proved wrong?

Of course, I'm not a legal scholar by any stretch, so I'm sure someone will come by and tell me that I am wrong.

[Jimmy!]

Beat me to the punch.

While I doubt this solves anything, it's ironic that the man who started this whole screwjob may turn out to be the savior.

The problem here is that I think "good faith effort" is both a rather vague wording and is very much a subjective, rather than objective phrase. Bennett could simply claim that he sent those emails in the height of frustration with the process of getting a new arena, and how could he reasonably be proved wrong?

Of course, I'm not a legal scholar by any stretch, so I'm sure someone will come by and tell me that I am wrong.

The only thing that might disrupt that argument is McClendon's August $250,000 comments about moving the team. I know he's not the main man in the group, but he is a member of it.

Again, I know it probably won't solve anything. The team will probably leave...whether it's now or in 3 years. But it shouldn't be an easy move. No franchise should be able to move under the premise, "Build me a $500-million arena or I'm leaving town."

[RyanB06]

Now the divorce is starting to get nasty (again):

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/24125526/

Just finished reading the whole thing: apparently the NBA Board of Governors is voting on the proposed relocation Friday. What are the odds enough owners vote against the move to block it? Slim-to-none?

[McCall]

Now the divorce is starting to get nasty (again):

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/24125526/

Just finished reading the whole thing: apparently the NBA Board of Governors is voting on the proposed relocation Friday. What are the odds enough owners vote against the move to block it? Slim-to-none?

The Relocation Committee that visited OKC are recommending approval of the move. Now in light of these recent e-mails and lawsuits, they perhaps might change their minds, but I doubt it. And you can't really prove that Bennett was acting against the Good Faith Agreement. It's to big of a gray area. It could perhaps delay the move, but in the long run, I don't think it's gonna prevent it.

[Jimmy!]

Now the divorce is starting to get nasty (again):

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/24125526/

Just finished reading the whole thing: apparently the NBA Board of Governors is voting on the proposed relocation Friday. What are the odds enough owners vote against the move to block it? Slim-to-none?

The Relocation Committee that visited OKC are recommending approval of the move. Now in light of these recent e-mails and lawsuits, they perhaps might change their minds, but I doubt it. And you can't really prove that Bennett was acting against the Good Faith Agreement. It's to big of a gray area. It could perhaps delay the move, but in the long run, I don't think it's gonna prevent it.

Well, our esteemed Governor Gregoire sent a letter to the committee asking them to delay their vote until all this legal/financial stuff was settled. I'm not optimistic that Stern's boys will bow to Chrissy's demands, but we'll see.

As for Bennett's alleged breach, wouldn't it depend heavily on the wording of the contract?

[Gothamite]

Sure will.

But anything that "depend(s) heavily on the wording of the contract" takes a while to sort through in court....

[ivan26278]

Does anyone think that the WNBA's Seattle Storm will even survive in a city such as Oklahoma City?

i guess they won't

[lilgump]

Considering the Storm were purchased by a group of business-persons and are staying in Seattle, I dont think they will have to worry about surviving in Oklahoma City.

Its a good thing too because a lot of the players (ie Sue Bird and Lauren Jackson) had stated they did not want to play in OKC.

[Sodboy13]

Considering the Storm were purchased by a group of business-persons and are staying in Seattle, I dont think they will have to worry about surviving in Oklahoma City.

Its a good thing too because a lot of the players (ie Sue Bird and Lauren Jackson) had stated they did not want to play in OKC.

They'll definitely have to worry about surviving in Seattle, though. Consider the fate which befell the Charlotte Sting.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

Man, this is some incredible stuff.

Even if the Oklahoma-based owners managed to work an arena deal to keep the Sonics in Seattle, they were ready to do a "sweet flip" and leave town, according to an owner's e-mail cited in a lawsuit filed Tuesday by previous owner Howard Schultz.

The Starbucks mogul said Sonics chairman Clay Bennett lied to him, "never intended to own a team that would continue playing in Seattle" and "fraudulently induced" the sale, according to a 12-page lawsuit asking that the sale be rescinded so Schultz could do what he said he intended to do all along: Sell to someone who would keep the team in Seattle.

The city of Seattle, which has a separate federal lawsuit against the Sonics, released several embarrassing e-mails weeks ago, but Schultz's suit disclosed a new potentially damaging e-mail written by Bennett two days before the sale in July 2006.

"Mr. Bennett confided to his co-owners that he was comfortable with the Purchase Agreement's good-faith provision because, in the event a Seattle arena deal could be negotiated, the Oklahoma City group could simply sell the team in a 'sweet flip,' and leave Seattle and the Oklahoma City group 'would still be in good shape for something in OKC,' " according to the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle.

"They were willing to lie, and did lie to complete the deal," the lawsuit says.

Attorney Richard Yarmuth, of the Seattle-based law firm Yarmuth Wilsdon Calfo, filed the lawsuit on behalf of The Basketball Club of Seattle, the former ownership group headed by Schultz, seeking to void the $350 million sale.

Seattle Deputy Mayor Tim Ceis said Schultz's action could help the city's federal lawsuit, which seeks to bind the Sonics to the team's KeyArena lease through 2010. NBA owners last week approved Bennett's bid to move the team to Oklahoma City for the next season.

"We're glad Howard is following through and he's back on the team," Ceis said. "It strengthens our case to have him coming at it from this other angle."

Schultz's sales agreement includes a July 18, 2006, "side letter" in which Bennett writes: "It is not our intention to move or relocate the teams so long, of course, as we are able to negotiate an attractive successor venue [to KeyArena] and lease arrangement. Our commitment to you to use our good faith best efforts over the coming year to negotiate such a venue and lease arrangement in the Greater Seattle Area provides further concrete evidence of this intention."

[Ez Street]

Seattle should focus on getting another team. It's obvoius this guy has the backing to move this team. They are as good as gone.

All of these lawsuits will amount to nothing.

[McCall]

I read that now that the NBA has approved the relocation to Oklahoma City, they are legally bound to move once they are finished with the lease at Key Arena (whether they are able to buy out or finish it through 2010.) So if the courts were to, for some reason, void the sale and return the club to Schulz or a new owner, wouldn't they still be obligated to move anyway? Or could that be changed? I'm not sure, which is why I'm asking. If they'd have to move at the end of the lease anyway, why the hell not let them go and focus on trying to get another team in there? This is just pissing the NBA off even more. If Seattle let them go now, they'd be more inclined to award them a future team based on the way they handled the loss of the Sonics, but fought to keep them. As is now, however, all they see is Seattle throwing a fit and trying to keep them here just to finish out the lease so they can say, "you can't move until we say you can, or in 2 more years." They keep this up, the NBA will for sure never look their way again.

[rams80]

Man, this is some incredible stuff.

I think legal proof of "lying while they were negotiating the sale" needs something more than a couple of emails from after the completion of the sale.

Of course, I am not a legal scholar either.

I'm also too lazy to check, but didn't Schultz also threaten to sell the team to someone who might move it back when he couldn't get an arena deal?

[Ez Street]

Man their move will screw things up divisionally.

You have to keep them in the Northwest. But that seems so weird.