Howard Schultz Suing Clay Bennett

Doomed to fail. Stern has this right. What the minority partners had to say has no weight in this suit. What the main guy did does. He will be able to show a number of actions that showed a good-faith effort even if his heart-of-hearts was never in it.
 
Yeah, you have to make it look like you want to do right by the current city. But Bennett still owns it and the league approved the move. That's a big hill for Seattle.
 
Sorry, but the ownership group didn't pledge "good faith' regarding efforts to get a new stadium deal--it was good faith efforts to keep the team in Seattle.

So, insisting there can be no renovation of the Key Arena, insisting a new stadium had to be built, refusing to pony up a significant amount of money to fund construction, spending hundreds of thousands to campaign for $100M improvements to OKC arena (compared to the demand for a $550M new arena in Seattle), deciding to break a lease and leave town a couple of years early, and asking the NBA to approve the early move, coupled with getting Stern to threaten the city that the NBA will never return if Seattle fights the relocation. . .

If I was a juror, I would have a hard time seeing that as "good faith."
 
f Stern. Threatening Seattle shows he's obviously on OKC's side. You really want the nba in Seattle, then leave the Sonics there and let okc get the expansion team. I mean seriously, why okc and not KC?
 
Bennett and his group tried to get an arena deal in Seattle a lot harder then Schultz. The only reason they tried (in my opinion is to fulfill the good faith clause) This is a P.R. move by Schultz who knew from the begining when the group from OKC bought it they probably were going to move. Hell who on this board didn't think that when after the hornets moved from OKC back to N.O. and the OKC group bought the Sonics that it wasn't inevitable. Espeically with the Financial problems with the arena and the Sonics.

I overheard a radio interview with a Seattle sports writer that said pretty much the same thing. Schultz screwed over Seattle and even though they don't believe anything that comes from Bennet at least Bennet is being more loyal to OKC then Schultz to Seattle.
 
I think where Seattle went wrong is somewhat where Houston went wrong with the Oilers. They did a facelift on a facility, instead of building new. Sometimes that has something to do with the owner (Bud Adams) and sometimes it doesn't.

Bottom line is that when Bennett took over, Seattle was out of money to do new. Whether Bennett was reasonable in his demands, well, that I doubt. Stern is going to stand up for his owners regardless of the view of the city -- that's his job.
 
The first of the two trials starts Monday. This trial will determine whether the Sonics have to play the next two seasons in Seattle, which was part of the contract when Schultz sold to the Okies. If Seattle wins, even an Okie appeal would probably take long enough that they'd have to play here in 2008-09. If the Okies win, Schultz will likely file an injunction to keep them here until the next trial, which isn't likely to start until October or November.

The Okies plan to argue that they intended to honor the lease, but the city and potential new local owners conspired against them on the new arena deals, trying to bleed them with $60 million in losses over the next two years if they have to play in Seattle. The city will argue that they have a signed contract from the Okies to play here through 2010. Plus, much of the Okies' losses are due to a series of moves that can be viewed as intentionally alienating the fanbase--trading Ray Allen, letting Rashard Lewis go to Orlando, moving their radio broadcasts to a station that has a small fraction of the broadcasting range that the former Sonics station does, and prohibiting players and coaches from radio interviews. I mean, what professional sports franchise does that?

The second trial will determine whether the Okies committed fraud, never intending to keep the team in Seattle despite their assurances to Schultz that that was the plan. Schultz supposedly passed up a bigger-money offer from a San Jose group headed by Larry Ellison of Oracle, because they told him up front if they bought the team they'd move it to San Jose. Schultz said that his ownership group was leery about selling to the Okies, but they did get the assurance that they intended to keep the team in Seattle. With this assurance, Shultz's ownership group voted 5-4 to proceed with the sale. The Okies also promised to make a good-faith effort for 12 months to get a venue in Seattle.

In addition to the "sweet flip" e-mail, there's supposedly evidence that Bennett (long before the 12-month good-faith period was complete) told the management of the Ford Center in OKC to hold dates for the team in 2008-2009. Also, the $500 million arena he proposed in Renton was supposed to be on property that Boeing owned. Boeing said they never talked to the Okies, nor did they have any plans to sell the land. When the Okies were asked how much they planned to contribute to the new arena, they never gave a figure. In fact, Bennett told the other owners in e-mail to stay far away from any commitment to any funding requests.

If Schultz wins the second trial, the team would be put into a constructive trust (or something like that), which would enable a local group in Seattle to step forward and assume ownership. Schultz wouldn't be buying the team back himself. Supposedly, Steve Ballmer of Microsoft would be interested in buying if the city agrees to help fund a KeyArena refurbish and can give the new ownership a decent deal on the lease.

Of course, if the constructive trust does return control to a Seattle group, the Ford Center in OKC says they'll take them to court to ensure that whoever owns the team makes them play in OKC because Bennett's group signed a lease deal with the Ford Center. Now, if Bennett's group loses the team because of a verdict of fraud, I don't know whether the Ford Center would be able to go after the Seattle owners or whether they'd have to seek compensation from Bennett's group.

Anyway, there's lots of interesting stuff on both sides. This off-season will end up being far more interesting than the Sonics' '07-'08 campaign.
 
Stern can still fix this. Broker a sale of the Sonics to parties willing to do a stadium deal in Seattle. Move Memphis (a failing franchise) to OKC. Problem solved.
 
Cuban voted against the move for purely selfish reasons. A team in OKC hurts him as much as any other franchise.

Paul Allen is the only guy that I think saw through this whole thing.
 
Though this trial is showing Bennett for the true asshat he is the most the city of Seattle can hope for is to fleece his crew for as much money as possible, unfortunately. I'd wager that Bennett and crew probably already realize they'll have to write a BIG check and now the question becomes how big?
 
Well, if Bennett has done any more damaging things besides this, Schultz's suit might have a shot. If Bennett can get this easily caught in a lie, then the good faith effort to keep the Sonics here was a lie too.
 
Why are you guys so interested in this situation? Honestly?

If the owner of a franchise wants to move the team, it should be in his right. Who cares? It's the Seattle Supersonics! Whoopty-doo!
 
I've been a Sonics fan since '90 (shortly after moving here). I managed to scrounge enough scratch for 6 game ticket packages while in college. I was a season ticket holder earlier this decade. Most of all, I live in Seattle and am a huge sports fans. That explains my interest.

Mac lives the Seattle area too. Though the trial is getting ZERO national play it is getting a significant amount of publicity in Seattle.
 
Yup. I live in the area and and until 1982, lived about 4 hours south of here (more in Trailblazer territory but still local enough.)

I have no problem with teams moving in general. But this ownership group lied when they bought the team. They never intended to leave the team in Seattle, contrary to their public statements.
 
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