Storm may stay even if Sonics go

The branch linking the Sonics and Storm may be splintering.

Primary owner Clay Bennett notified NBA Commissioner David Stern on Friday that he intended to move the Sonics to Oklahoma City. But that's not necessarily the case for the Storm.

"We have not made a decision regarding the future location of the Seattle Storm," Bennett said in his statement. "We appreciate the deep local interest and support for the Storm and have begun to evaluate a future course of action for the team."

In all of the WNBA's discussions of expansion, including when it announced this fall that Atlanta would be joining the league for 2008, Oklahoma City has never been broached as a potential location.

Divided ownership isn't uncommon. Although the WNBA's Charlotte Sting franchise recently folded, former owner George Shinn moved its brother team in the NBA, the Hornets, to New Orleans and left the Sting behind for the WNBA to operate.

"Oklahoma City is just not a viable WNBA city," said Scott Engelhardt, co-founder of Stormfans.org and a season-ticket holder since 2000.

"Bennett being vague about where the Storm might go is him bowing to reality of the market forces and how they are going to play out for that team.

"It heartens me that he's listening that much and is at least saying that they are going to look into it further. ... This is about the first real piece of information that kind of turns that around."

KeyArena ranks last among NBA venues because of its capacity and inability to generate enough money from parking and concessions in relation to the Sonics' budget, which includes a player payroll of about $63 million.

But the Storm had a salary cap of $728,000 last season, pays less than $500,000 to rent KeyArena and spends less than $1 million on marketing.

Attendance has fluctuated since the Storm drew 8,912 per game in its inaugural season in 2000 to 8,538 last summer.

"This confirms my suspicion that [Bennett] has to look at these two teams differently because the scale is completely different and the feelings in this town are completely different," said Ann Hudspeth of Redmond, a season-ticket holder since 2002. "This is a top market in the country for the WNBA, and it's not for the NBA."

Some Storm fans refuse to renew their ticket packages out of anger at the news. Some hope recent reports of local investors wanting to purchase the teams are true, including rumors tying in Karen Bryant, the Storm's chief operating officer.

Bryant was unable to comment on Friday and in the past has denied any such involvement. Bennett continues to say the teams are not for sale.

Jayda Evans: 206-464-2067 or jevans@seattletimes.com