RealGM

SuperSonics owner Clay Bennett could end up paying $75 million to move the NBA franchise to Oklahoma City this year, and he won't be taking the team's name or colors with him.

Bennett agreed to settle a lawsuit with the city of Seattle, bringing an end to a contentious relationship that resulted in a trial in which the judge was due to issue her ruling Wednesday.

"We believe this is a fair and appropriate resolution to the litigation involving the Sonics and the City of Seattle," Bennett said. "We are pleased that the uncertainty is lifted for our players, staff and Oklahoma City fans who can now make plans for the immediate future."

Oklahoma Hillbillies Prepare for Sonic Boom

Seattle SuperSonics fans suddenly feel that its franchise has the same history as the Baltimore Colts and the Cleveland Browns. Fine. Lie to yourselves then. Other than one NBA Championship in 1979, what else have they done? Got drilled by the Chicago Bulls in the NBA Finals in the mid-90s? If they want to keep the SuperSonics name and its 25 uniform changes over the past 20 minutes, more power to them.

Key Arena was built in 1995, with a capacity of 17,098. How could the fans of Seattle not see this coming? Why build something and not make it up to NBA standards? Why not build a facility of at least 20,000 fans? Had Seattle had done that; this potential move is a dead-issue.

The franchise originally played in Boston as the Boston Braves. In 1953, declining fan support precipitated a move to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where they played in County Stadium until 1965. They then moved to Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium and became the A-Braves.

The Boston Braves was the name of the Braves from 1913 to 1952. A World Series was won in 1914. Prior to being the Boston Braves, they were known as the Boston Beaneaters, from 1889 to 1912. The Boston Red Stockings is the original name for the Atlanta Braves, coming into existence during the first year the National League began, 1877.

The Washington Redskins franchise was formed in 1932 in Boston, Massachusetts, under George Preston Marshall, where they were called the Braves. The Braves were quickly renamed in 1933 to the Redskins, after they moved to Fenway Park, and in 1937 they moved to Washington D.C. right after their first winning season in 1936 where they lost to the Green Bay Packers in the NFL Championship Game. The primary motivating factor for this move was Marshall's disgust with Boston's football fans - or rather, the lack of fans. In the final home game of the 1936 season, only 4,800 fans showed up to see the Redskins kick the crap out of Pittsburgh. In Washington D.C. the Redskins sold-out every single game at R.F.K. Stadium between 1966 and 1996, and the waiting list was in the thousands.

LucerneStDoggz wrote:RIP LarBrd33

GuyClinch wrote:Meh. It's still a screw job for the Seattle fans - IMHO. I feel bad for them. I wouldn't want to lose my NBA franchise..

Pete

"They can't complain about a new arena because they're not winning enough games, period," Kemp says. "They need to put up or shut up. When I got into the NBA, the thing of it was, if you won, you got a new arena. But if you lost, you had to work to get the arena.

"You can't be a losing team and get a new arena. That's not fair. That's not fair! That's how I see it."

Kemp won't allow too many thoughts of the Oklahoma Raiders winning this case. He assumes the city will win the lawsuit, assumes Judge Marsha Pechman will do what's right on Wednesday and enforce the KeyArena lease, assumes the Sonics will be here for at least another two years.

Optimism is his shield. Kemp prefers to look at these next two years and make a demand of the current owners: Win. Or at least try.

Stop demolishing the team. Stop building for a future Seattle may never see. Stop torturing a distressed fan base.

"This is what I think, man," Kemp says. "I'm afraid that if they bring the Sonics back, what kind of team are they going to put on the court? Are they going to put the effort out?

"If they bring the team back, are they going to really put a good team out there? Or do we just want any team? You've got to at least try."

Kemp references one of the most infuriating aspects of losing the Sonics. It's like NBA basketball hasn't existed here for two years. The Sonics have a 51-113 record with Clay Bennett and Co. as the owners. They've lost nearly 70 percent of their games, traded Ray Allen, let Rashard Lewis bounce in free agency and made no significant free-agent acquisitions.

But Schultz, who sold the franchise to Bennett's group in 2006, does hold out hope of ultimately overturning the process and getting the Sonics back to Seattle by 2009-10 as he proceeds with his legal attempt to reverse the sale on the basis of fraud and breach of contract. "Our lawsuit is separate," said Schultz's attorney, Richard Yarmuth. "We are not a party to (the city's) settlement and, in fact, we chose not to participate in it."

A source close to Schultz's former ownership group said the Starbucks chief will not file an injunction seeking to prevent the immediate move of the team to Oklahoma City, which would require convincing U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman that Schultz had a legitimate chance of winning his case right now as well as posting a significant bond to cover any potential losses suffered by the PBC's inability to move. Instead, Schultz will let the team transfer to Oklahoma City and seek a trial by next spring, at which time his lawyers would have full opportunity to present their case and seek a reversal, while also giving the city and the Steve Ballmer group the opportunity to line up an arena solution.