Seattle had very little remaining hope of a happy end to its battle with Clay Bennett and friends over the Sonics franchise. Moments before a judge was set to decide several weeks ago whether the Sonics would be forced to remain in the Emerald City for two more years, the city settled with Bennett for a package including some cash, maybe some more cash later, and a case of Lil' Smokies.Only the lawsuit of Howard Schultz, Starbucks CEO and former Sonics owners, remained in Bennett's way ... and only barely in play, at that. Schultz claimed Bennett broke a significant clause of his purchase agreement by not making "good faith efforts" to get a new arena built in Seattle. Schultz was almost surely right: all signs have pointed to the fact Bennett wanted out of Seattle from the day he began discussing a purchase of the team.
But Friday, according to The Oklahoman, Schultz dropped his suit, citing the belief his case would fail as a reason.
That seems plausible. Also plausible: Schultz heard David Stern's threats of making things very expensive if the lawsuit stayed alive, or the whole thing was a temporary face-saving, PR maneuver in the first place. Who knows? Honestly, who cares? The Un-Sonics are now the Thunder. Hopefully, Seattle gets the team it deserves soon. But the damage, as they say, has been done.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-30-2008 @ 2:03AM
George B Vieto said...
It is just a matter of time before the NBA will award the city of Seattle to make up for the SuperSonics leaving for Oklahoma City.
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8-30-2008 @ 3:10AM
Chris Green said...
I'm not so sure. The city and the state will probably have to fork over, at minimum, tens of millions of dollars of the taxpaers money to completely renovate Key Arena in ways that would satisfy Stern. Key Arena, formerly the Seattle Center Colliseum, was substantiallyr renovated during the 1994-95 season, during which time the Sonics played at the Tacoma Dome.
8-30-2008 @ 4:48AM
Senor Audacity 2 said...
RIP, Seattle SuperSonics. I was hoping that Schultz would see this through in light of all the threats by Stern.
Thing is, Seattle deserves the *SuperSonics*. If they fork over the millions of dollars in corporate welfare in order to land another team (something I can see them not doing, for good reason) I don't see Seattle embracing them. Just look at Charlotte: It remains a great basketball city, but after the Hornets were stolen from them by that philandering crook Shinn, the Bobcats haven't convinced the city to embrace an interchangable team. Why in the hell would the city want the likes of Stern back in their community?
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