Bennett: KeyArena Lease Won't Prevent Sonics From Moving

[flamingyouth]

SEATTLE -- Seattle SuperSonics majority owner Clay Bennett said Tuesday that the NBA team likely will not play in Seattle beyond the 2007-08 season.

Bennett said Gov. Chris Gregoire won't call lawmakers into special session so the team can continue to push for taxpayer money for a new $500 million arena. And he said the Sonics will honor their KeyArena lease that runs through 2010 -- but most likely only through "a legal exercise."

"That may or may not mean the team will play there," Bennett said, knowing Seattle's NBA team for the last 40 years is obligated to stay in the city only for one more season.

"I'm not sure it makes sense to play there if relocation (is imminent)."

Bennett, whose investor group bought the team last year from a local group headed by Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz, is a prominent Oklahoma City businessman, and the sale prompted widespread fear among Sonics fans that the team would be moved to Oklahoma. Bennett promised to keep the team in the Seattle area if a deal could be struck for a new arena.

http://www.kirotv.com/sports/12313447/detail.html

[maxsolomon]

1. i still don't get how you can break a lease 2 years early

but not 3 years early.

what a half-assed effort from all concerned:
city of seattle (you could have thrown them a bone - a 50 million practice facility & offices where the NW rooms are moldering away now)
howard schultz (you could have steamrolled licata if you were half the marketing genius you claim)
clay bennett (the "i'm hurt you don't think i'm sincere" act is insulting)
the yahoos in state government (can seattle secede?)
the NBA (you really think oklahoma city is a better market than seattle? we're 3.5 million people!)

250 million remodel for a 10 year old facility? what were the plans? what was the program? the sonics never said.

and fuck you oklahoma city. i hope you choke on their demands for a new arena.

[pscot]

4. NBA bylaws apply here

In order to move a team, owners must notify the league by March preceding the season in which they want to move. As far as the move goes, the number of years left on the lease don't seem to matter.

[ManiacJoe]

2. If Bennet had spent the time

lobbying private business, instead of the state, for a new stadium then he might have gotten one. The state should not be in the business of building and running sports stadiums. That is the job of private business. Made that mistake twice now, a fast third is not needed.

[LisaM]

3. I think municipalities should have some ownership rights in the teams

that they've supported for years. I personally am not against some public financing of stadiums, because I use them (and I support financing for other public arenas, too, including the art museum, the symphony, the schools, parks, and the opera house - I think shared public use spaces are important)- but the voters actually gave the Sonics money not too long ago to re-do their arena! That should have purchased some rights for the city of Seattle, IMO.

Sports team owners don't want this, of course. The business model that scares them the most is the Green Bay Packers.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

5. They're not going to break the lease

It's sabre rattling.

The reason David Stern gives for sending the Hornets back to New Orleans is because they have 5 years left on their lease. He's going to let the Sonics break theirs?

I'd love to see them defend that one in court.

[Pierzin]

6. Thank God!!! No More Corporate Welfare for Sports Millnaires!!!

Good Lord Sweet Christ I am just freaking THRILLED by this news y'all! You mean a Sports team is threatening to Leave Town and no one in state government or the city is out there kissing their feet and fawning them and begging them to stay? Oh but why NOOOOOOOOT????

They might just have backbones after all! Praise Jesus! !!!! Yes!!! wooooohooooooooo!:toast: :toast:

now we just have another 20-30 years until the twin sports arenas are paid off!