When I drifted off to sleep at 8:00 pm PDT last night (or 2000 hours, as I am wont to call it), not a whole lot new and different was going on in Seattle. The Mariners were losing...AGAIN. The NBA Board of Governors was planning to vote affirmatively on the request to relocate the Sonics to OKC.
A lot can change in seven short hours. I awoke at 0300 (that's 3:00 am to you non-military, non-healthcare types, AKA O'dark thirty) to find that this man
Starbucks founder and CEO Howard Schultz, had announced last evening that he has retained legal counsel to litigate for nullification of the sale of the Sonics to Professional Basketball Club, LLC of Oklahoma City.
This came almost immediately on the heels of two other daily news articles regarding the Sonics move; a) Daniel Stern's disingenuous claim that he felt that Clay Bennett had negotiated in good faith, despite the fact that he hadn't even read the incriminating e-mails yet and b) the Oklahoma State Legislature ponying up huge, ginormous tax breaks for the Sonics as an incentive for them to complete the relocation.
The new litigation (to be added to the city of Seattle's suit for specific performance of the Key Arena lease (to be heard in June 2008) and the season ticket holders' class action lawsuit (planned to be heard in March 2009)) seeks to nullify the sale of the team and return ownership to Schultz and the previous ownership group, on the basis of breech of contract by PBC related to their failure to honor the side letter commitment to negotiate in good faith with all applicable parties (city, county, state and any/all private parties who would present plans) to keep the Sonics in their home of 41 years. Said side letter/codicil to the sales contract was required by the previous ownership group as a condition of the sale.
It is this side letter that would have appear to have been violated by all of the e-mails recently (partially) released by the city of Seattle's legal team, led by former Senator (R-WA) Slade Gorton, and which indicate that the PBC was actively negotiating with OKC (and Kansas City) during the time that they were required to be negotiating solely with the Seattle area.
Does this mean that the Board of Governors will fail to rubber stamp approval of the relocation request this Thursday and Friday during their meetings? Not necessarily, but Clay Bennett and PBC had darn well better think twice about immediately running out and signing that arena lease with the City of OKC, or they could find themselves being sued--AGAIN--for specific performance, but this time by OKC if the team reverts to Schultz and the former ownership group. And that could cost him a pretty penny, in addition to all of the money they recently spent to push through the sales tax in OKC that would pay for the renovations to Ford Center (reportedly over one half of the monies received by the committee pushing for the tax were received from PBC).
Speculation has it that, if the team is returned to Schultz, he will immediately sell to the local investment group headed by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, so that they can proceed with the planned $300MM re-renovation of the Key Arena.
If I am a member of the BOG, I vote to table the relocation request pending the outcome of all filed and planned litigation, in an effort to protect what little dignity and credibility the NBA has in this issue (but then, me being me, I probably also ask David Stern for his immediate resignation as commish, too).
I dont understand, trying to keep a failing team in a city with failing support from fans. At this point I hope they get it done and the Sonics stay in Seattle.It would be quite a pain to undo the damage that Seattle has done to the sonics anyway.
We had discussed this possibility in your previous blog, but it was hard to tell if anything would come of it.
FANTASTIC NEWS!
Stern is an excellent robot mouthpiece, as predictable as the sun coming up in the morning. Good faith that the team would move just as all the insiders had planned.
daddywarbux, this team has a lot of potential due to the numerous draft picks. An owner wishing to put competitive product on the floor will be repaid by fan support. It's just that simple, ask the Hornets!
These are all gazillionaires who are used to litigation and million dollar retainers are part of their usual lives. None of this matters to any of the parties except for one. David Stern. His job is protect the NBA image and the ship is starting to leak.
To table everything until litigation is settled because there is a lease until 2010 is the only safe course of action for Stern. Watch it happen.
Nique: I couldn't agree with you more. Either that or the NBA might be more embarrassed than they choose to be. Hopefully, the owners will see it that way, too.
I am a 50 something health care professional transplanted to Seattle from SoCal in 2001 (and, before you ask, no, I don't want to go back). My tastes in sports are pretty eclectic, but in order of preference, I guess they would be baseball, hockey, basketball, football--col lege and pro/men and women alike. Teams I "HATE": USC (I went to UCLA); University of Michigan (born and raised in Columbus OH to a large family of OSU alumni/alumna e), and--probably most of all--the d***ed Yankees. I have worked in a variety of capacities at the MLB, NBA and NFL venues here in Seattle and at UW (hey, what true sports fan could pass up the possibility of getting paid to do something you would have done anyway (and had to pay for it)?)
