In today's episode of "As the Stomach Turns," dear readers, we will debate the issue of whether or not lies were told,, to whom and when, and whether or not there will be consequences for the prevaricators who spun the whoppers.
I'm sure most of you are aware that there will be TWO sideshows going on in the National Basketball League in June.
One of them, the NBA Championship Finals, is an event that the league most fervently hopes that you will watch, enjoy, participate in, and increase their coffers thereby.
The other, the case of the City of Seattle versus the Professional Basketball Club (AKA the Seattle SuperSonics), is one that they would rather no one were aware of, much less interested in, for fear it might take away from sideshow number one, as mentioned above.
In the latest round of pre-trial discovery, it has been determined that at least three members of the current ownership group--Clayton Bennett, Aubrey McClendon, and Tom Ward--were openly exchanging e-mail messages planning to move the team from Seattle to Oklahoma City during the time period that had been established for the city to come up with a viable plan to keep them here, and that, in fact, there was NEVER any intent to keep the team in Seattle, despite all of Bennett's public comments to the contrary.
From the article referenced above, it appears that Bennett not only lied to the citizens of Seattle and our local and state lawmakers, but he also lied to his good buddy, Commissioner David Stern, in this e-mail, when he said that McClendon had strayed from the farm (more or less) when he made his comments that there was never any intention to keep the Sonics in Seattle. Comments for which the commish later fined him $250K.
If the city's team of attorneys, of whom the lead is former Republican Senator from the state of Washington Slade Gorton, are able to prevail in their subpoena for league records, including records of all teams within the leagues (financial and otherwise), one or more of the league's "dirty little secrets" is likely to become a matter of public record in just over two months from now.
Mark Cuban, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks, is the only member of the NBA Board of Governors to have come out publically to say that he will vote against the request by Bennett to relocate the team to OKC next week. I wonder, though, how many others of the 30 owners might be inclined to rethink their votes in light of these developments.
Mayor Greg Nickles of Seattle has already said that the city fully intends to pursue this litigation to its logical conclusion, that any further buyout offers will be as summarily rejected as the first (and last) one for $26.5MM, a figure that looks to be increased as the owners and the league attempt to avoid the potential embarrassment coming their way in court.
My only regret at this stage is that Court TV doesn't exist any more. This could be a good one, and it would certainly show other NBA cities that they don't have to lie down and take the league's ever increasing demands for public money without a whimper of complaint.
Stay tuned, my friends, for the next episode of As the Stomach Turns, coming soon to a blog near you.
Among the other "off the cuff" things that Sonics owner Clay Bennett (pictured above) has said in the past week or so are veiled intimations that one option for the new ownership group is to sell the team again already.
Before I discuss this any further, let's look at some of the other things that have been going on leading up to this supposition.
In Kansas City, back on Monday (21 May 07), Mr. Bennett spoke at an International Economic Development Council meeting, then gave an interview to the Kansas City Star, in which he said that said city was "very much in the mix" for a relocation venue for the team, due to their new Sprint Center, which would potentially be a better revenue source for than Oklahoma City's Ford Center, where the Hornets played for the past two seasons.
He additionally said that he was, basically, very disappointed in what he characterized as a lack of response by the Seattle community to his last arena proposal, for which the team would have only supplied 20% of the funding. He cited (and I quote) “No hue and cry, no letters to the editor, nothing by the media or talk on the call-in shows, or no new ideas on how to get it done. No private ideas on the table.”
Hmmm, isn't that interesting?? Methinks he doth protest too much, to quote the Bard. And I can, more or less, prove that theory.
Well known Seattle developer Dave Sabey has indicated a willingness to provide land for a multipurpose convention/events center, and to assist with obtaining private funding to construct it. The Muckleshoot Tribe have also indicated an interest in participating (perhaps near their White River Ampitheater). The article linked above in this paragraph is also the source for the information that the Bennett investment group might be considering selling the team.
Because of these new developments, several organizations and individuals who have been supportive of Bennett et al in their attempt to get the legislature to provide those public funds have now changed their collective minds.
The blog owner at Supersonicssoul.com has decided that Bennett is a jerk. Sonicscentral.com has discovered that the team has opted out of the lease at their current headquaters and is moving, perhaps to somewhere from which they can more easily pack the vans and sneak out of town. Even the 5,000+ member group Save Our Sonics and Storm has become somewhat disillusioned with Mr. Bennett.
A ballot initiative measure is also in the works in an attempt to restrict the group's ability to buy its way out of the lease with Key Arena, that runs through 2010. The city of Seattle has already said that they fully intend to fight the attempt at an early escape from the city, as well.
None of this sounds much like citizen apathy to me.
According to NBA rules, he is supposed to make a "good faith effort" to keep the team here before a move can be approved. How much good faith is it when, in response to a reporter's recent question if the ownership group would be willing to put more than the planned $100MM into the new arena project, he said "Why should I?"
All of that having been said, some people are beginning to think that Howard Schultz and his Starbucks empire weren't such a bad deal after all, not that I am advocating his buying the team back (not that he would, anyway). But, if there is someone else out there who is committed to keeping the team in Seattle, and doing what it takes to accomplish that goal (including putting in at least 51% of the money it would take to build a new arena, and finding private financing for a significant amount of the balance), I could easily see myself being supportive of him/her/them.
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)?)
