[bigboydan]

looks like Oklahoma City will be getting a team after all

SEATTLE (AP) -- A group from Oklahoma City has agreed to buy the NBA's Seattle SuperSonics and the WNBA's Seattle Storm.

The new owners have set a 12-month deadline to reach a new arena deal with Seattle officials -- something the previous owners didn't accomplish in two years. After that, the new owners gain the option to move the team to Oklahoma.

Until then, Seattle, come support your teams!

That's the conflicting message Seattle fans took away from Tuesday's announcement that the Basketball Club of Seattle, headed by Starbucks Corp. chairman Howard Schultz, will sell the teams for $350 million to the Professional Basketball Club LLC, headed by Oklahoma City businessman Clay Bennett.

"This isn't how we wanted to go out," Schultz said of the decision to sell to an out-of-towner.


He said he turned down higher offers from potential buyers that he felt would move the team immediately. Some earlier offers were known to have been from San Jose, Calif., and Kansas City, Mo.

Bennett is the president of Oklahoma City investment firm Dorchester Capital. He was key to temporarily moving the New Orleans Hornets to his city following Hurricane Katrina. He told a Tuesday afternoon news conference at his new team's training facility that whether the Sonics remain in Seattle beyond 2007 would depend on whether the team can reach an agreement with the city to replace or renovate KeyArena.

The arena was remodeled in 1994-95 and the Sonics have a lease until 2010 with the city. The team and NBA commissioner David Stern both have said that lease is the league's most unfavorable to a team and must be changed -- or better yet, a new place must be built with a new lease -- for the teams to remain viable in the region.

"It is not our intention to move or relocate the teams -- as long, of course, as we are able to negotiate a successor venue to the current basketball arena and arrangements to ensure the Sonics and Storm can succeed," Bennett said.

He was asked what would happen if he and his partners, who have no known Washington ties, can't reach an agreement in 12 months with local politicians.

"If we weren't able to find a successor facility and relative lease by then, we have the option contractually to ... evaluate our position," Bennett said.

To many Seattle fans, that spells Oklahoma City.

In February, upon the formation of his investor group in Oklahoma City, Bennett declared: "The bottom line is, we want a team for this market."

A seemingly dejected Schultz said he came to realize he had to sell the team in the last 30 days. But he used the words "in Seattle" at least a dozen times while discussing the team's long-term future under Bennett.

With Seattle's famous Space Needle in the background, Seattle SuperSonics fans Aaron Morse, and Ben Conway, both 18, protest the sale of the NBA basketball team Tuesday, July 18, 2006 to Oklahoma City businessman Clay Bennett, head of the Professional Basketball Club LLC group. The group purchased the Sonics and the Seattle Storm on Tuesday. They hold signs that read "39 years out the window," and "Don't sell my childhood to OK City."

When asked what he would tell a Seattle kid who loves the Sonics, Schultz said: "I told my children, and children of those I know, that I did this obviously with concern and trepidation. But I believe strongly this new group has a commitment to staying, provided elected officials meet him halfway.

"I do not believe the team is moving."

Even Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett joined the cautious chorus.

"It's presumptuous to assume they're going to move that franchise to Oklahoma City," Cornett said. "I understand that people are going to say that seems to be a likely scenario, but that's just speculation."

Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels pledged to work with Bennett.

"We're going to try and work with Mr. Bennett and his group," Nickels said. "I think they're going to see Seattle is a great place to do business. And hopefully their team will do well on the court and the combination of those will allow us to have an extension of the lease beyond 2010.

"We have been providing very specific offers to the Sonics. We think it's an important part of our community. Those are still on the table."

And Gov. Chris Gregoire said in a statement, "I am encouraged that the new owners want to stay in the state. I have worked with Mayor Nickels and the City Council and hoped that the teams would stay in KeyArena because I have been concerned about the long-term viability of the Seattle Center."

Schultz said city and state officials should realize now that the Sonics really may leave Seattle.

"If the city didn't believe we'd potentially move the team, we obviously have a group now that does have an out," Schultz said. "But that's not what (the new owners) want to do."

AP Sports Writer Jeff Latzke in Oklahoma City contributed to this report.

[Dark Horse]

Wow. Big news.

Didn't Washington recently ban online gambling??

[FairlySquarely]

don't EVEN get me started on what's been going on around this area. there's no doubt that they're planning to move this team. bennett told oaklahoma city that he would deliver them a team and he goes out and buys the sonics telling us he'd "like" to keep them here. but everyone knows we have the worst nba arena contract in the league and haven't done anything to improve it. stern hates us, and now it's just a matter of time before we don't make any renovations and get the sonics taken away.

on another note, it's been speculated that if the sonics do move, paul allen might move the blazers to seattle. the jailblazers haven't been doing great in portland and allen already lives in this area and owns the seahawks. but i'd still rather keep the sonics history here.