It has been my understanding from reports written at the time of the original Ford agreement and think it was an article written by you shortly after their Seattle issues were resolved, that the “clock HAD started ticking” on the renegotiation of naming rights. Can’t recall the time frame allowed but it didn’t appear to be at the Team’s discretion when the “clock started”? Even the phrase “clock started ticking” implies it was time-limited.

Interesting that the Thunder said in their press release that they apparently unilaterally had terminated the Ford agreement. Again, according to what I recall reading, the terms of renegotiation were:

1) IF the Arena secured a pro-team tenant (NBA or NHL), that the arena operator (SMG), on behalf of the City, could renegotiate.

2) There was a time limit for those negotiations (sorry, can’t recall with any certainty what the time frame was, but was relatively short and long since expired at this point).

3) After talking to others, the Ford Dealers group had an additional time-limited period to match the highest offer and could retain their naming rights (if they chose to do so). Unless and until a new naming rights agreement was reached (with others or Ford), the existing agreement is in full force and effect.

4) If all of the above criteria wasn’t met, then the Ford Dealers have the valid remainder of the 15 year lease. Don’t see how the lease can be terminated unilaterally by the Team (unless Ford didn’t fulfill terms of the agreement and there hasn’t been any indication that is the case).

As a side note, there were a few articles stressing that the Team was ensuring that the City would continue to receive the $409K/year under the Ford terms. Yet the Ford agreement was valued at $8.1M for 15 years. That works out to $540K/year. Means the City is losing $131K/year (as opposed to the “breaking even” the Mayor and City Manager both bragged about?

Any clarification is appreciated!