Originally published May 9, 2008 at 12:00 AM | Page modified May 9, 2008 at 8:32 PM
Oklahoma City stakes claim for Sonics
OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma City officials want Starbucks chairman Howard Schultz to know they expect the Seattle SuperSonics to relocate, regardless of who owns the team.
The Associated Press
OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma City officials want Starbucks chairman Howard Schultz to know they expect the Seattle SuperSonics to relocate, regardless of who owns the team.
An assistant municipal counselor sent a letter on behalf of Mayor Mick Cornett and other city officials informing Schultz, the team's former owner, that Oklahoma City's lease with the SuperSonics will be enforced no matter how pending lawsuits in Seattle are resolved.
"We expect that any subsequent owner or owners would join hands with the city, and its citizens, and honor the OKC NBA agreements, made in good faith, and perform as good corporate neighbors to make NBA basketball a success in Oklahoma City," Assistant Municipal Counselor Wiley Williams wrote in the letter, dated Thursday, that was released to reporters on Friday.
Schultz has filed a lawsuit seeking to reverse his 2006 sale of the SuperSonics to Clay Bennett, claiming that Bennett failed to make a good-faith effort as promised to keep the team in Seattle. Bennett has defended his attempts to negotiate for a new arena in Seattle and claimed that Seattle officials are trying to force him to sell the team.
Schultz's lawsuit and one filed by the city in an attempt to keep the Sonics in Seattle through the end of their lease in 2010 are pending in federal court in Seattle.
Oklahoma City officials believe that their own lease with Bennett requires the SuperSonics to relocate at the end of that lease, or earlier if Bennett is able to buy his way out.
"We are unaware of a legal theory that would render the OKC NBA agreements voidable, regardless of the outcome" of the Seattle litigation, Williams wrote in the nine-page letter addressed to Schultz attorney Richard Yarmuth.
Williams' letter lays out the process by which Oklahoma City became involved with the Sonics, dating back to the building of the Ford Center arena and leading up to formal discussions following Bennett's decision to file for relocation in November.
It also references the SuperSonics' lease with Oklahoma City that requires the team to play home games at the Ford Center and prohibits it from extending its lease in Seattle.
"The team is coming," Cornett said after NBA owners approved the Sonics' relocation request on April 18. "The lease kicked in at the moment the Board of Governors made it official. That was the last stumbling block."
Copyright © 2008 The Seattle Times Company
NEW - 09:00 PM
NBA | D'Antoni didn't bench Nate Robinson for poor shot
NBA | Martell Webster propels Trail Blazers
Bremerton's Marvin Williams helps lead Hawks to win
Jazz gets rare win in San Antonio
NBA | Brandon Roy scores 20 as Trail Blazers hold off Pistons

Raw Video | Real Salt Lake receives the MLS Cup trophy
Real Salt Lake is handed the 2009 MLS Cup trophy at Qwest Field, November 22, 2009.
nwjobs

Post a comment

Michelle Goodman blogs about work/life balance.
How to tell your office you're gravely ill
Post a comment
nwautos

Choosing a new sedan? Weigh the impact of your choice on your wallet and on the planet.
Post a comment
- 'The Road' takes Viggo Mortensen to Mount St. Helens and Astoria, Ore.
- Tugboat sinks at Seattle waterfront pier
- Child-support error costs nearly $21,000
- Craigslist adoption ad: A plea by young mother-to-be? A scam?
- Chase shrugs off loss of CD investors
- Vikings easily beat the Seahawks
- Denny Triangle gains skyline, but tenants slow to come
- Snow piles up on Cascade slopes
- Woman stabbed by stranger in North Seattle
- Husky Men's Basketball Blog | Saturday's Pac-10 games in review
- Vikings easily beat the Seahawks
134 - Child-support error costs nearly $21,000
129 - Palin excitement builds in Tri-Cities
123 - Tight Senate vote launches health care over hurdle
122 - Cutting through breast-cancer confusion
90 - Prosecutor requests life in prison for Amanda Knox
89 - Historic health care bill clears Senate hurdle
83 - Game thread
70 - New York terror trials will restore faith in rule of law
64 - Chase shrugs off loss of CD investors
54
- 'The Road' takes Viggo Mortensen to Mount St. Helens and Astoria, Ore.
- Child-support error costs nearly $21,000
- It's possible to recover a life lost to hoarding
- Washington state wines make annual best-of list
- Banff: powder, peaks & purity
- Chase shrugs off loss of CD investors
- Protect yourself from baggage loss
- Denny Triangle gains skyline, but tenants slow to come
- Northwest Living | On Whidbey, a unified home from multiple recycled parts
- Rediscovering Moab, 'the most beautiful place on Earth'





