If we've learned anything over the past week about the future of the Seattle SuperSonics, it's that they aren't moving to Oklahoma City without a fight.
Through the first four days of the lawsuit by the City of Seattle against the Sonics and its ownership — most notably managing partner Clay Bennett — we've heard in the courtroom from economists, a passionate fan, management of the team and management of the city, all chock full of trivial pursuits and a fair amount of unabashed lies.
The most noise, though, came on the first day when anywhere from 2,000-3,000 fans rallied on the steps of the downtown U.S. District Court, attempting their own plea bargain with presiding Judge Marsha J. Pechman to make the Sonics stay for the final two years of its lease with KeyArena on the grounds of the Seattle Center. Transcendent generations of fans were wearing hats, T-shirts and jerseys ranging from Kevin Durant of today to Gus Williams from the 1979 NBA champion Sonics, with their feelings jumping over their sleeves.
At the heart of the rally were two local businessmen and lifelong Sonics fans, Brian Robinson and Steve Pyeatt. The duo organized the rally and have refused to let down with their grassroots "Save Our Sonics"
group that has kept hope alive for the retention of the first professional sports franchise in the Pacific Northwest. They even got former Sonics Gary Payton and Xavier McDaniel as guest speakers for the rally, while Seattle native and Sacramento Kings rookie Spencer Hawes surprisingly showed up in a Payton jersey and grabbed the microphone as well. All the while local sports talk show host Dave Mahler instigated the crowd into a boisterous reaction at every opportunity.
The crowd was not only filled with vitriol for Bennett, who snuck out a side door after the day's proceedings, but NBA commissioner David Stern, with signs such as, "Does the NBA really care?"
and "Clay: Owners come and go, e-mails are forever,"
in reference to the damaging e-mails that have made it clear that ownership always intended to move the franchise from the day it bought the team in July of 2006.
"We knew a lot of people were going to be here — the city cares passionately about the team,"
Robinson said. "What David Stern would call 'scored-earth,' we would call fans that desperately want NBA basketball in Seattle."
Then again, it still comes down to a lease/tenant agreement, and a lot of experts believe a cash settlement is inevitable, although Pechman could force the Sonics to stay.
More interesting is a second suit over which Pechman is also expected to preside. Former owner Howard Schultz is suing the Bennett consortium for failure to live up to the purchase agreement, which included a side letter that it would seek a local solution to the problem of the KeyArena lease and sub-standard facility for at least one year.
Six months into the ownership, Bennett began an ill-fated run of e-mails that prove their intentions. His demand for a $500 million building on Lake Washington with the promise of ownership paying no more than $5 million and no cost overruns was eschewed. And this week, exhibits of e-mails between Bennett, his partners and even NBA president of basketball operations Joel Litvin for directions on how to prompt a move two years early proved they already were attempting to move six months before the one-year agreement.
In other words, it's a long and binding road Pechman must sort through over the next few weeks. The city has already rested its case, and next Thursday the two sides will present their closing arguments. Pyeatt has his own metaphor as to why Pechman really has no choice in the matter.
"Just because you left your garage door open, your car unlocked and left your keys in the ignition doesn't mean it's OK for someone to come in and steal the car,"
he said.
"As long as we can keep the team here for the final two years, we'll get a deal done to bring KeyArena up to NBA standards. If you're going to put forward an effort to get a new arena, that means you have to do it within the framework of the system or it's not going to happen. This group understood the system in Oklahoma City and got it done. It doesn't work the same way here and they knew it, so they could present a deal precisely the right way to make sure it didn't happen."
Whereas Bennett refused to deal with the city's desire to ramp up KeyArena following the purchase of the team in 2006 and demanded "Taj Mahal on the Lake,"
what we have learned is the initial negotiator from the OKC group Edward Evans said his first meeting with Seattle deputy mayor Tim Ceis went "amazingly well."
The starting point of negotiations with the options for renovation offered to the Schultz group got him excited, as was reflected by his e-mail, but Bennett and the other partners immediately balked at that. Evans promptly left the group when it was apparent they didn't like his direction and had their own agenda.
Consequently, it was surprising city attorneys never included Evans in their witness list. Perhaps that will come in the Schultz suit. For now, it is apparent that Pechman must decide if all of this contradictory evidence is worthy of upholding the lease, or just laying financial damages on the Sonics ownership group, while allowing them to bolt early.
The team's complaint that it'll make money in OKC this season while losing some $60 million over the next two in Seattle appears to be baseless, if only because it has stripped the team of talent (five key players were moved over the past year and played deep into the playoffs while the Sonics won a franchise-low with 20 wins) and announced it will leave after the lease if not sooner.
Gee, and they wonder why support of the team has dwindled?
Former Seattle Center director Virginia Anderson, under whose leadership the lease and first renovation was praised during the wild success of the 1990s, drew the direct correlation between the city and team being profitable, with achievement on the court that led to runs into the playoffs as recently as 2005. Her testimony may end up being the most vital for the city's cause.
Yes, the lease has become outdated as has the building since its renovation in 1995, but this group refused to enter into any discussions of a new lease once Evans left the group. Besides, a redo such as the $300 million reconstruction that is on the table with state legislatures in Olympia for the January session would more than double the footprint of the present building. Half of that $300 million would come from a group including Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and Costco CEO Jim Sinegal, and it would be under the assumption there would be a long-term lease and local ownership.
Nonetheless, it would presumably change the perception to Stern and the NBA Board of Governors, who did approve the move of the Sonics to OKC by a 28-2 vote in April. But that vote becomes null and void after one year.
So that's where the situation lies, so to speak, as we head into the second week that will determine the validity of the lease agreement to Pechman. The Schultz suit that will have all documents filed with the court by the end of next month is more complicated.
Most experts believe the evidence that has already come out in this trial has provided Pechman with enough information to seriously consider his contentions. The problem is instead of Schultz just taking the team back and selling it again, the terms of his suit include putting the team into a trust — with the assumption that the Ballmer group would then surface. What appears to be an unnecessary complication could prevent the team from being reclaimed from Bennett's faction and damages awarded to Schultz and partners instead.
And that's the shame of it all, because many believe Schultz has what could be a landmark case that could prevent professional sports teams from continuously holding cities hostage for new venues. Instead, the Starbucks chairman who sold the team and the fans down the river could end up just reaping more money and the team moves anyway. That's why the hope is that Pechman will rule in favor of the city and uphold the lease.
That buys two more years for Sonics fans, with the hope that the prospective financial losses will produce a sale to Ballmer and Co., and Bennett, with the help of Stern, seek another franchise that is in distress and for sale, such as the Memphis Grizzlies.
But for now, the players, fans and everyone else involved in the 41-year history of the Sonics — the first professional sports franchise in the Pacific Northwest — are being held captive by one Judge Marsha J. Pechman, local resident, non-sports fan.
