Seattle council terminates Sonics' KeyArena lease

The Seattle City Council on Monday terminated the KeyArena lease with the Seattle Sonics, allowing owner Clay Bennett to take the team to Oklahoma City in exchange for a $45 million payment to the city.

Canceling the lease by Monday was a condition of the settlement agreement hammered out hours before U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman was scheduled to issue her ruling on July 2.

The city, which owns and runs the arena where the Sonics play, had filed a federal lawsuit to prevent the Sonics from leaving before the lease ends in two years.

"This is not the optimum solution anyone was hoping for," council President Richard Conlin said. "The optimum solution would have been for the team to stay here, but that did not seem to be an option."

While the National Basketball Association has agreed to notify Seattle of any league changes that could bring a team back to Seattle, the league has not guaranteed a new franchise. The settlement calls for Bennett to pay the city an additional $30 million if Seattle does not get a new team in the next five years.

Some council members Monday said they felt they had no choice but to end the lease. "The City Council is basically put [between] a rock and a hard place on this," said Councilmember Bruce Harrell. "If we don't terminate the lease by today, then we walk away from $45 million."