By Darnell Mayberry
Staff Writer

Here's the state of Seattle SuperSonics' talks as the countdown to a deadline dips under two months: Seattle officials are focused on doing what it takes to ensure the team stays and plays at KeyArena.

Sonics chairman Clay Bennett has said he'll apply for relocation to Oklahoma City if there's no deal on a new arena by Oct. 31. Seattle officials are vowing to make that move "very expensive and very difficult.”

In the city council, an ordinance is scheduled to be introduced this week that, if passed, would prohibit Seattle's professional teams from getting out of its leases early.

In the mayor's office, officials are unwavering on their opposition to securing public funds to build a new arena.

In the governor's office, there's a history of thwarting the relocation of a pro sports franchise.

While most Seattle officials have publicly stated their desires to keep the franchise in the city, the consensus is that renovations to outdated KeyArena — opened in 1962 and last renovated in 1994 — would be the only way it will happen.

Bennett, meanwhile, has maintained that an upgraded KeyArena is not an option and that a modern facility is necessary to keep the team economically viable in Seattle.

With negotiations stalled, Seattle leaders are now banking on the team's lease, which runs through 2010, to force the franchise to stay. The Seattle Times reported last week that the Sonics' lease contains language known as a "specific performance” clause that could force the team into staying.

But if Bennett does attempt an early buyout?

"We are going to make it very expensive and very difficult for the Sonics to get out of the lease early,” said Marianne Bichsel, a spokeswoman for Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels. "The mayor is very interested in a partnership to have the Sonics stay here in Seattle at KeyArena past 2010. We'd love to talk with him about that.”

Nickels is on record of saying the Sonics would need to put up $100 million for renovations to KeyArena.

Seattle City Attorney Thomas Carr, however, said the city isn't interested in working toward a buyout. .

"We're not in this for the money,” Carr said. "The city, I believe, loses money on that lease. And the benefit is we have another basketball team here."

So if they paid whatever it is that they owed under the lease, that wouldn't make us whole at all. That would leave us without the benefit of the bargain that we got when we renovated the arena, which was the Sonics were going to play here for 15 years and maybe more.”

Seattle Councilman Richard McIver, one of nine city council members and the chairman of the finance and budget committee, explained his reasons for not supporting a new arena by saying it wouldn't make sense economically.

"My basic premise, and one I think even Oklahoma needs to be worried about,” McIver said, "is if you're building a new stadium ... you have a 30-year bond and you have leases that last about 10 years. Then you find that the facility is determined to be inadequate. Over a 10-year lease, you still have a 20-year debt left.”

Bennett's asking price for a proposed state-of-the-art multipurpose facility is about $500 million, an amount Carr said is unrealistic.

Calls to Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire were unsuccessful. Gregoire has shown interest in keeping the Sonics in Washington. Under what terms, however, is unclear. As a state attorney in 1996, Gregoire used an anti-trust lawsuit to block former Seattle Seahawks owner Ken Behring from moving to Los Angeles.

Clark C. Griffith, a Minneapolis-based attorney who specializes in business, antitrust and sports law, said cities typically can block a professional team from relocating in cases like the Sonics', when the host city isn't interested in a buyout of the lease.

"And the NBA will not move a team if a court so rules that you have a use agreement and the team is enjoined from departing,” said Griffith, a former owner and front office executive with the Minnesota Twins.

With the Oct. 31 deadline drawing closer, and both sides seemingly as far apart on an agreement as ever, no other options seem feasible for keeping the Sonics in Seattle.

"Ideally, for me, we'd get together with Mr. Bennett and his group to do some remodeling on the existing facility to keep them in Seattle,” Carr said. "Otherwise I think we'll just try to free some air until the lease is over, then he has the right to do what he wants to.

"But the question is how much money can he lose?”

(From the DOK)