Sonics Fight Turning Ugly Fast

Well that didn't take long. Just 2 days after Clay Bennett filed for arbitration to help him get out of the lease 2 years early, the City of Seattle files suit against the Sonics in King County Superior Court.

This is going to be a very ugly and dirty fight in the next 3 years. Bennett insists that he is still willing to keep the team in Seattle if an arena is built, but he sure doesn't act like it. The fact of the matter is that he and his ownership group never wanted to keep the team here. They always wanted to move the team to Oklahoma City so they could become local heroes. Of course if Seattle was willing to give them the world, a new $500 million arena, a favorable lease and all at no cost to them, they would have took it. But they knew that realistically that was not going to happen.

The thing I don't understand is where the hell is David Stern? He is hiding away, not getting involved when you have an ownership group from another city attempting to steal the team of a city that very clearly shows that it still cares. I do not disagree that the current lease may be the worst in the league, but the fact of the matter is they bought a team that agreed to that lease and therefore they must fulfill it. Bennett has already said that Oklahoma City will need to build a new arena within a matter of years in order to be successful as an NBA city. Why doesn't he look at the fact that cities similar to OKC are failing with NBA teams? New Orleans, Charlotte, Memphis are not have profitable teams. What makes him think that OKC will be any different.

The best chance OKC has of getting an NBA team is to hope that New Orleans bombs this year and their owners remember how they were treated in the 1st year of their stay in OKC. (Remember the 2nd year they were there they couldn't sellout on a consistent basis, hint hint) That way its a smooth transition up the road to OKC and Bennett will then be able to sell the team to a local buyer who will do things the right way.


Today the City of Seattle told Bennett to bring it on, well, he better be packin' cause the Sonics aren't leaving without a fight.

City files suit against Sonics to enforce lease [Seattle PI]
Seattle files lawsuit to keep Sonics in town [The Oklahoman]