Sonics group spent bundle on arena vote in Oklahoma

Owners of the Sonics provided almost half the funds in a successful campaign to get Oklahoma City taxpayers to pay to renovate that city's Ford Center, according to campaign reports released Friday.

The project was designed to attract the Sonics to Oklahoma City.

In March, Oklahoma City voters approved the tax proposal. The Big League City campaign spent $843,000 on backing the measure, which will pay for $120 million in improvements to Ford Center and construction of an NBA practice facility.

According to campaign-expense reports, the Professional Basketball Club, the ownership team led by Oklahoma businessman Clay Bennett, gave $385,000.

The Greater Oklahoma City Chamber ran the campaign and contributed $268,000.

The Bennett group's contributions were made well after expiration last fall of its "good faith" promise to try for one year to keep the team in Seattle.

Bennett's spokesman, Dan Mahoney, declined to comment on the campaign-expense report. A representative from the Oklahoma Chamber of Commerce could not be reached.

Oklahoma City resident David Glover, who has long opposed tax subsidies for the Sonics, said he was surprised at how much Bennett's group contributed.

"We knew they had spent a lot of money, but we didn't know they had spent that much," Glover said.

The voter-approved sales tax expires in June 2009 if an NBA team does not come to Oklahoma City.

At a meeting this week, the NBA Board of Governors is expected to discuss Bennett's proposal to move the Sonics to Oklahoma City. Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels has vowed to continue his efforts to keep the team in town.

Reporting by Seattle Times staff reporter Lauren Vane and The Associated Press was used for this story.