Seattle’s best case
I’ve sat around wondering how Seattle possibly could keep the Sonics, came up with no ideas, and then Mister Coffee provided me an answer. Starbucks czar Howard Schultz, who sold the Sonics to Clay Bennett’s ownership group two years ago, says he is filing a lawsuit to rescind the sale of the Sonics. He wants the franchise back.
Now, it’s possible that Schultz’s declaration is pure publicity stunt, of which there have been quite a few in Seattle lately. When the smoke clears, the Sonics are in Oklahoma City and the good basketball fans of Seattle start looking around at the real guilty parties in the exodus of their team, they will refocus their disgust away from Bennett.
The guilty will remain in Seattle. Schultz suddenly would be fingered as the guy who sold the franchise to the Oklahoma City carpetbaggers. Shouldn’t he have known that Bennett and the boys would pilfer the franchise off to OKC? Well, yes, without a quick resolution to the arena problem. It wouldn’t be a blow to Schultz’s Starbucks empire — he’s got dazed customers addicted to paying $3.95 for a cup of coffee, not just in Seattle but across the globe, including The Oklahoman’s very own sports staff. But it would be a blow to Schultz’s social standing. Long after Kevin Durant is an NBA all-star in OKC, Schultz would become the goat of this story. Can anyone say, uncomfortable cocktail parties?
And NBA commissioner David Stern himself this week pointed the finger — a different finger — back at Seattle, reminding the city that when Schultz put the team up for sale, no one from that corner of the country wanted the Sonics. Not Steve Ballmer, the Microsoft CEO who recently expressed interest in buying the franchise and developing a renovation plan for KeyArena. Not anyone. Hey, said Stern, where was everyone two years ago?
Now that the move of the Sonics seems imminent, the guilty in Seattle — which includes government leaders — are scrambling to save face.
Of course, this could be beyond publicity stunt. The crux of the question revolves around, who owns the team? Without the lease — which expires in 2010 — an owner is free to move wherever the league will let him, so either now or in 2010, the Sonics are doomed for Seattle so long as Bennett owns the franchise. Even if you accept that Bennett ever was interested in working out a Seattle arena deal, we know now that no way would he ever want a business in that city.
So Seattle’s only hope is that someone else owns the team. Seattle already has tried an offer, or at least put together a group that yapped about making an offer. But Bennett and Aubrey McClendon aren’t interested in selling. That seems clear.
The last-ditch hope is that Bennett’s ownership of the team be rendered fraudulent. And Schultz has an argument, thanks to the damning emails in which Bennett’s partners ask, in April 2007, if there’s any way for the team to come to Oklahoma City immediately, and Bennett responds with “I am a man possessed! Will do everything I can…”
Bennett will argue in court that while his partners obviously wanted to move, he did not, that he wanted a Seattle arena deal and that was his reference in the email reference. I don’t know who will believe him in Seattle, including the judge, but I know that Bennett will be the most uncrackable witness you’ve ever seen.
This is Seattle’s best hope, though. Only hope, really. Get ownership back. Try to prove the sale a fraud and start over. I don’t blame Seattle. This is big-stakes stuff, and when negotiations and dialogue don’t work, you start scratching and clawing. And if such an effort saves face for some of the people who created this mess in the first place, all the better for Mister Coffee.
Berry Tramel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1. You can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter @BerryTramel.
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Comments
Gosh, Gerry’s response is so elequent and to the point it leaves little to be said by the rest of us. I can add that your statement of, “ownership rendered fradulent”. should be flatulent. It stinks. Now more tax breaks for the rich by a state body that is looking for free tickets and popcorn from good old Clay. Throw the taxpayer to the dogs and let the super rich have more! Even the players are not that enthused to come to OKC from Seatlle. Of course big money and stupid adoring sport fans, wearing their jerseys, salve a lot wounds.
And they are paying you guys too much if you can spend $3.95 for a cup of coffee.
After reading your offensive, and ignorant, rant published in the Seattle PI it was clear your job with Bennett is to whitewash his fraud.
First, calling the lawsuit by Schultz, and the ownership group led by Ballmer, “P.R. Stunts” shows either ignorance or dishonesty. Both of these people have kept a very low profile through all of this because they did not want public attention. The group, worth $35 Billion, has much better things to do than get involved in a P.R. Stunt. Those stunts are reserved for David Stern who will do anything for his bromance buddy Bennett.
The lawsuit by the old ownership group has legs. It is not because Bennett violated the “Good faith, best effort” agreement. There is no doubt that he broke that deal (and for the record the Senate DID NOT vote out a bill last year). It is because Bennett was operating in bad faith from the begining. The emails clearly show that there was NEVER an intention to keep the team in Seattle. Because of that there was fraud at the time of signing the contract. This is a very clear violation of the law and grounds to recind the deal. Since the team was not for sale to any group that intended to move it, and the league required every member of the ownership group to “expressly affirm” that they had no intent to relocate the team before approving the sale, Bennett had to defraud Schultz in order to buy the team.
The key here is that without the emails that document the bad faith Schultz could not sue because Bennett could always claim he made an effort and the situation changed allowing him to try and move the team. With the emails he can have no defense and on THAT basis is likely to lose that suit.
The one thing that the suit will do is prevent the move of the team if the city should somehow lose the lawsuit. No court will allow a situation to get out of hand while a case is pending. To allow a move when the team may be given back to the old owners, would create a legal nightmare. OKC would be on the hook for the remodel of Ford Center and the team would have to leave giving them an empty building and zero chance of getting another team.
Until this suit came out the relocation vote had a little meaning only because of the slim chance Bennett could break the lease but now it has no meaning whatsoever because the Schultz case can drag on for years keeping the Sonics in Seattle the entire time.
This deal is getting so messy that Sonicsgate might just cost Stern his job and OKC any chance of getting a team. The smart move would be for OKC to put the brakes on this deal and not make any commitment to Bennett until he has a team that is free to move. To do otherwise would lock up your market and prevent any other team (Hornets or expansion) from coming to OKC.
This is what happens when you covet something that belongs to someone else so much that you fail to look at the big picture.
On item that has not been mentioned throughout this whole debacle is the comment by your Mr. Bennett at his press conference prior to his departure from Oklahoma City to Seattle. If I remember right his statement was, “I am going to Seattle and bring back a NBA Team.” Doesn’t sound like he intended to make any effort to keep the team in the Seattle area at all. Also, one of the main reason’s the people in the Seattle area balked on funding a new arena was that they had recently had the current facility refurbished fior a multi-million dollar price tag. Howard Shultz is still a putz, however.
Hey Berry,
Good columns and blogs lately as usual. I liked your idea for a new name for the Sonics, T-birds.
The day before yesterday it was so windy I thought Wind might be a good name, but could’t dream up a mascot outfit, so how about this one?
OKC Americans – We’re proud of who we are here, and it might play alright with the Native Americans, too. And since the Dems in Seattle are so anti-American anyway, they would enjoy cheering against the Americans, wouldn’t they. This IS a bit tongue in cheek, but I’ve given up trying to come up with anything OK related except for your suggestion. I like the name Chiefs but we know that’s out. We’re left with animals , PC incorrect cowboy and Indian names, the weather, or an attitude, or something as meaningless as Raptors or Memphis Grizzlies.
Allow me to ramble a bit -
OKC is the little guy who gets no respect. Seattle is behaving like a jilted husband who wants to kill, insult or sue his ex-wife’s new lover.
Please save us from anything like the YardDawgz or River Kings or Golden Spikes or Mudbugs. I preferred 89ers to Redhawks, still do. May be we could buy the NAME Hornets from Shinn and let him rename New Orleans. Maybe they could get the name Jazz back from Utah (Utah Jazz? what is that?) and then Utah could figure something better out for them than Jazz.
We all know everyone here really wants the Hornets back anyway, not this mess with Seattle. Cliff Hudson might like the name Sonics, I suppose.
Hornets
Thunderbirds
Americans
Plainsmen?
Cougars?
Frontier
Spirit, isn’t bad, same mascot question.
Eagles? Maybe… Ponies? Mustangs?
Maybe we could get an Indian tribe or tribes to let us use their name for a fee like the FSU Seminoles? Nope, Congress might pass a law against it…
Stars? Might upset Cuban & that would be nice
Nirvana, with a Kirk Cobain zombie mascot, JK!!!
By george I think I’ve got it!!
The Flaming Lips!!!!!!
ps – I hope you ignored the post from Andy Simon, he doesn’t have a clue, does he?
All Seattle has left is lawyers and insults.
One more p.s.
Are you going to cover the Sooners football game in Seattle in September? The prospect of the atmosphere in that game is more than a little scary…
Hi Berry, I live in the Seattle area and have been reading your articles for a while now. I think your writing is pretty balanced and has helped me see both sides of this ordeal. From the day that Mr. Bennett purchases the Sonics I was very skeptical about his group’s truthfulness in trying to make a deal in Seattle work. When the Mr. McClendon’s mail came to light last fall and was subsequently fined by the league, it made the things all too clear on the group’s intentions to move the team to Oklahoma.
I haven’t read the terms of the original sale contract and have to admit that proving Mr. Bennett did not act in good faith while negotiating for a new arena will be a difficult endeavor. What bothers me most about this whole thing, is Mr. Bennett’s insistence that he genuinely made a good faith effort, even in light of all the emails that have been surfaced. Not once has he admitted that any of his actions and communications were disingenuous. He totally believes that he is squeaky clean in the whole matter. He’s probably a hell of a poker player too, but in this instance it’s quite clear to me that Mr. Bennett is lying about his true intentions.
Mr. Bennett has been good for the league, really helped out with New Orleans and deserves some special treatment when it comes to league matters. But Commissioner Stern has gone way overboard in his love affair with Mr. Bennett. The commissioner has basically threatened the City of Seattle with never getting a franchise again.
I think Seattle has done a fairly good job in keeping any hope alive during the course of the new ownership. The State has done absolutely nothng, but that is how they operate, they take their time, are fiscally conservative and won’t be bullied into making a decision.
Some of the posts I’ve read have suggested that Seattle be nice, humble and let the NBA have their way, then the league would be more apt to give us a franchise. It’s ironic that we initially had a good faith clause in the sale contract to keep the team in Seattle, yet now we’re left with a non-binding empty promise to be nice to Commissioner Stern in hopes the league will throw us a bone. Listening to the Commissioner the past week, I can assure you that will not happen in the near future. Unfortunately with their strategy fully implemented, Mr. Bennett and Commissioner Stern are no longer talking to anyone in Seattle. When they were talking I have never heard Commissioner Stern say one positive word about granting a franchise to Seattle.
Seattle is certainly open to other creative suggestions, unfortunately the way things have progressed, the only viable option remaining is litigation. Seattle doesn’t hold any ill will towards the good people of Oklahoma, our concern is directed towards Mr. Bennett’s ownership group and the two-faced way we were dealt with.
Best Regards,
John
Interesting comments from ESPN Attorney who after reviewing the lawsuit initiated by Schultz offered that Seattle has a better than 50 percent shot at winning. Hmmm, and even more emails are popping up just today.
Should be fun to read what else will be found.
Exactly how ignorant are these professional business types to put down on Email what they really wanted. Willingness to lie outside of court is one thing, can’t wait until the depositions start.
Getting a little flop sweat there Oklahoma?
Interesting, isn’t it? Mr. Coffee by the way, will always be Joe D. Please don’t throw his name in the sewage-treatment facility with the real doots! All these lying millionaires are now about to thow millions more into the odious fray in order to take control of one of the worst teams in the NBA. Such fine, upstanding role models for the nation’s youth. Mr. Starbuck – call him Ishmael? – trying to save a little face with a futile expenditure of another million here and there; and the Clay Pigeon, whose nose is so far up David’s stern that he can’t write an email w/out wearing a miner’s helmet and a condom. Throw a little Jell-O on them and we’ve got a genuine Pay-Per-View feature!