The NBA in OKC Megathread

[HOT ROD]

Hi good people of Oklahoma City.

Taking Solitude's suggestion for a new thread that could be appended to: I'd like for us to post any and all NBA in OKC issues here. This includes Sonics, Storm, Hornets, what people are saying and/or doing about getting the NBA to OKC and even those who are against.

for starters, I will update everyone on the current deal.

Oklahoma City successfully hosted the New Orleans Hornets for two years, for the 2005-06, and 2006-07 seasons. The Hornets were renamed in honour of their temporary host and the team did very well, as judged by the NBA and most of the nation. David Stern is on record stating his satisfaction with OKC and that the city is at the top of the relocation for NBA franchises.

Clayton Bennett was instrumental in getting the Hornets a temporary home in OKC. He was a former minority owner and NBA board member of the San Antonio Spurs, and receives credit with building a strong franchise in that market. Bennett has consistently expressed his desire to purchase a team and move it to Oklahoma City. Bennett assembled many of the Hornet's corporate sponsors together and the group, known as the Professional Basketball Club, LLC purchased the Seattle Supersonics and Storm franchise on July 2006, with the deal closing in October. As part of the deal, Bennett agreed not to seek relocation of the franchise until after Oct 31, 2007 - giving Seattle some time to work out a new arena deal.

As such is the case, Oct 31 has come and gone and there has not been any movement on the arena situation. Bennett is in town and is expected to announce on Friday, Nov 2 the team's next moves. Most experts expect him to announce that he has filed for relocation, with the date to be as early as 2008 season but could be as late as 2010. This is due to side attempts by the city of Seattle to hold the team to the lease with Key Arena, thereby holding off the relocation for two more seasons. The case has gone to a Federal Judge in Washington state, who seems to be quite apathetic toward the city. He has ruled in favor of hearing the case in his court and not allowing the Sonics case to be settled by a group of arbitrators. Once again, the actual merits of the case still must be worked out and litigation is forthcoming, afterwhich the judge will rule whether the lease is enforceable and therefore must be honored by the Sonics. If he rules against the city, then the Sonics can relocate - however terms would then need to be discussed.

Let us now carry forward with any and all NBA in OKC issues with this thread.

Happy posting and GOOD LUCK to the NBA in Oklahoma City!!

[HOT ROD]

It's Done!!!

Local News | Bennett files to move Sonics to Oklahoma City | Seattle Times Newspaper

Friday, November 2, 2007 - Page updated at 11:47 AM

Permission to reprint or copy this article or photo, other than personal use, must be obtained from The Seattle Times. Call 206-464-3113 or e-mail resale@seattletimes.com with your request.

Bennett files to move Sonics to Oklahoma City

By JIm Brunner
Seattle Times staff reporter

Sonics and Storm owner Clay Bennett announced today he is filing with the NBA for permission to move the Sonics to his hometown of Oklahoma City.

In a written statement, Bennett said the lack of support for a new arena and ongoing financial losses gave team owners "no option but to commence the NBA relocation process."

Bennett's statement was unclear on exactly when the team would relocate. It could be next season if he wins the ongoing court battle to get out of the KeyArena lease, or it could be at the end of the lease in 2010.

Bennett also indicated the Storm might stay in Seattle.

Jim Brunner: 206-515-5628

Copyright © 2007 The Seattle Times Company

[Nixon7]

Yaaa!!

[Misty]

I haven't really been following the Sonics threads, so this may have been discussed (and if so I apologize) but how do the players feel about coming here? I would think most of them wouldn't want to leave Seattle.

[PUGalicious]

You mean, Misty, you didn't take the time to wade through 1,000 posts to see if someone happened to mention it?

[Misty]

I'm lazy. What can I say. I like immediate gratification and answers. So answer me PUG! NOW!

[HOT ROD]

And now from the PI.

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
Bennett says he's moving Sonics to Oklahoma

Bennett says he's moving Sonics to Oklahoma
Last updated November 2, 2007 12:12 p.m. PT

By GREG JOHNS
P-I REPORTER

Clay Bennett and the Sonics ownership group made it official on Friday, notifying NBA commissioner David Stern that they intend to relocate the team to Oklahoma City as soon as they can get out of their KeyArena lease.

"We notified Commissioner Stern that we intend to relocate the Sonics to Oklahoma City if we succeed in the pending litigation with the City, or are able to negotiate an early lease termination, or at the end of the lease term," Bennett said in a statement.

"We have not made a decision regarding the future location of the Seattle Storm. We appreciate the deep local interest and support for the Storm and have begun to evaluate a future course of action for the team."

Meanwhile, Dennis Daugs, a small investor in the former Howard Schultz ownership group, sent a letter to Bennett on Thursday saying he represents a collection of local businessmen interested in purchasing the team.

Bennett said two months ago that he'd received several inquiries, but the team was not for sale. Bennett's statement on Friday made no mention of selling the team.

Friday's news was no surprise. Bennett said from the time his group purchased the Sonics and Storm from Schultz on July 18, 2006, that he'd file for relocation if a solution for a new arena in the area wasn't in place by Oct. 31, 2007.

Rather than conflict with his team's season opener on that date or Thursday's home debut at KeyArena, Bennett waited until Friday to drop the news. But the results are the same, with the announcement starting the clock ticking on the team's potential departure.

However, there is one large hurdle already in place. The city of Seattle's lawsuit against Bennett's Professional Basketball Club, LLC, currently is in U.S. District Court awaiting the announcement of hearing dates from Judge Ricardo Martinez.

The timing of that suit appears critical now. Under NBA rules, once commissioner David Stern receives the application, he has 10 days to form a relocation committee comprised of at least five NBA Board of Governor members.

That group then has 120 days to file a report to the full board of owners and make a recommendation of whether or not to accept the move.

That time frame gives the league until early May to make a decision, but there's no assurance the federal court case will be resolved by then.

City attorney Tom Carr said last week that federal cases often last 12-18 months and include a discovery period of up to six months, but that the Sonics' lawyers could move for "summary judgment," in which case the process could move much quicker.

Summary judgments can be made in cases where there is no dispute of the facts, but merely a disagreement of interpretation.

"It's going to be an interesting discussion," Carr said.

Martinez overruled Bennett's attempt to take the lease debate to arbitration last week, saying the city has the right to pursue their lawsuit in court. The city has requested a jury trial, but that decision also lies with Martinez.

The threat of relocation has been Bennett's hammer in arena negotiations since his purchase from Schultz, who failed in his own efforts to gain much political traction toward public funding for a KeyArena makeover.

At the press conference announcing the sale, Bennett made his position clear.

"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 at that time.

He has continued to say the region needs a "world-class multipurpose arena," but his bid to get funding for a $500 million facility in Renton didn't get out of the state Legislature last spring.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

P-I reporter Greg Johns can be reached at 206-448-8314 or gregjohns@seattlepi.com.

© 1998-2007 Seattle Post-Intelligencer

[BG918]

I think as a consolation to Seattle the Storm should stay there. When the time is right the city can either build them a new arena/renovate KeyArena or move them to OKC (or another market). Meanwhile the Sonics are playing to packed houses at the Ford Center.

So with all the talk about KeyArena not being nice enough, what will happen to the Ford Center? Do we pump $100+ million into it and make it really nice or start from scratch and build a new arena downtown? The OU 5th Year architecture studio is working on schematic designs for a NEW arena where the Cox currently sits, assuming a new convention center is built south of the blvd. between Robinson and Shields. I think a huge renovation of the Ford Center would be sufficient, and then redevelop the Cox site into something more mixed-use with the Sonics HQ and practice facility across from the Ford Center on Reno. The only problem with that would be when the Big 12 comes back we won't have an arena for the women's games unless they both can use the Ford Center somehow. Maybe OCU (or even UCO) builds a new basketball arena and that can be used?

[Karried]

Woot Woot!

[Pete]

I agree that leaving the Storm in Seattle would be a good compromise and might also help with the lease situation at Key Arena.

I doubt many people in Oklahoma care much about the WNBA anyway.


But the decision to formally file for relocation is fantastic news. We all knew it was coming but no all the energy can be placed into making this happen and the owners and others and OKC can finally be above-board with the plans to bring the team to Oklahoma.

I would bet good money the Sonics will be playing in Oklahoma City next season. And Kevin Durant could be the league's next superstar!

[HOT ROD]

* agree Midtowner.

But I dont think we OWE seattle any consolation. just because OKC might not be interested NOW in the WNBA, that might change in a few years as OU players graduate (and assuming they'd get snapped up by the Storm), it could be very very successful! Who cares that Lauren whoever from Aussie doesn't want to leave Seattle. She can stay, she just wont be playing basketball - that's what i say. You wanna play bball, ,then yougotta move - you wanna play for the Storm, you gotta move to OKC.

As for Ford Center, dont get too bent out of shape on that right now. Clay will work with the city to get the improvements in place. Im sure Clay will use all means necessary to make it happen, including substantial private investment.

Of course, he would not do the same in Seattle, since we are so full of millionaires and billionaires - we should be able to fund this stuff ourself; Im sure was his thinking (and mine). But OKC is his home, so Im sure he'd do whatever it took to help make it happen and Im sure the NBA will be successful in OKc with that type of ownership.

Go OKC Sonics!!!

[Karried]

Front page CNN.. I wonder what the fallout is going to be like?

[Karried]

The Seattle Times | Seattle Times Newspaper

Here we goooo........

The Seattle Times: View Forum - Sonics

[HOT ROD]

OKC, this was posted on the SeaTimes forum. I think WE need to counter and let Stern know that OKC is ready to support the Sonics!! See the corrections I made!

This is the phone number for NBA Commisioner David Stern, 212-407-8300. Do your civic duty and give him a call to let him know that the Seattle Supersonics belong in Seattle, and not in Oklahoma City with a bunch of .......

I.P.

The NBA belongs in Oklahoma City. PERIOD!



Seattle is yesterday's news. They'll get over it!

[Kerry]

$100 say the Storm goes to the new BOK Center in Tulsa.

[HOT ROD]

Kerry, I'd probably win that bet.

Im thinking Bennett probably might use the Storm to get out of the lease. In his audio, it looks like he might leave that as room for negotiation, along with the name.

First and foremost, he wants to move the Storm to OKC along with the Sonics - a package deal. I hope and want this to be the case. I hope Bennett doesn't get 'suckered' into thinking that he OWES something to Seattle and therefore leaves the Storm. I dont give a crap that two of the WNBA players said they wouldn't leave Seattle - if they want a job, then they will have to leave Seattle (either to OKC or some other market). ..

Now, Bennett might arrange a home game (or i definitely think exhibition game[s]) in Tulsa;s BOK. I can see that, both teams having exhibition games up there in fact. Probably also an exhibition game in Wichita, and wherever else OKC's expanded market will be.

But the teams will either be in OKC or Seattle, during the regular season.

I hope OKC really shapes up, so the NBA All-Star game comes to town. Wouldn't that be something!!!!! And hopefully the team gets better and OKC makes it into the playoffs!!!!!!!!!

Good times ahead!

[Intrepid]

From an ESPN.com blog:

ESPN - Save Our Sonics: This Game is FAR from Over - TrueHoop

Save Our Sonics: This Game is FAR from Over

November 2, 2007 5:57 PM

By Henry Abbott

I just got off the phone with Steven Pyeatt, who is the co-founder of the Save Our Sonics and Storm movement.

I wanted to get his reaction to Clay Bennett's announcement that he is applying to the NBA to move the team. His reaction was very interesting.

For starters, even though this man has been living this project for ages, and knows all the key players, he was so unconcerned by today's news that he hadn't even bothered to read the press release.

"Clay Bennett is like the guy robbing the convenience store," says Pyeatt. "He has to convince the clerk that he has a real gun, it is loaded, and he's willing to use it. Otherwise, he's not going to get any money out of register. This is just one more step in that process."

Pyeatt is convinced that while this might be a big public relations moment, nothing has changed in assessing the power stuctures at play. And he thinks there is an excellent chance Seattle will hold onto its team.

"People have been talking like this is crunch time," he explains, "but I don't even think this game has reached halftime yet. The way I describe it is that we have a lot of hand grenades in the bucket. And we keep lobbing them at Clay Bennett, and he keeps throwing them out the window. But eventually, one of them is going to blow up in his face."

Pyeatt and I talked for the better part of an hour, during which time he recited countless reasons for Seattle basketball fans.

--- The local political situation has shifted dramatically. The comments of Aubrey McClendon, a report showing that the Seattle Center development without an NBA team, and the discovery of the "specific performance" clause in the lease -- seemingly a legal way to bind the team to Seattle into 2010 -- have made it so that on the Seattle City Council, according to Pyeatt, there is now unanimous support for the efforts of Save Our Sonics.

--- The region itself is booming in such a profound way that the NBA can't really want to leave. Pyeatt cites a study saying the population in Seattle region -- which includes, by one estimate, 70,000 millionaires -- will grow by as many people in the next decade as live in all of Oklahoma City. Also, as Clay Bennett pointed out when he first bought the team, a lot of those people will be high wage-earners working for Microsoft and the like. What's more, Seattle is a gateway to the Pacific Rim and Asia -- the key growth area for the NBA overseas.

--- The state-wide political scene has changed dramatically, too. Pyeatt: "The governor of Washington won or lost her office -- depending who you ask about the recount -- by about 130 votes. Sonic fans have let her know that there are more than 130 of them who would like her to keep the team here. And if the team is playing its first game in Oklahoma City next November 2, that won't be good for her re-election effort on November 4."

--- Pyeatt has not heard specifics, but has heard through back channels that the city and state governments have agreed in principle to a plan that they are both happy with to fund an arena.

--- A dark-horse candidate to build an arena, the Muckleshoot Tribe, has the land, the cash, and the will to get a stadium done, and has contributed mightily to Washington state politics.

--- It is very expensive for Clay Bennett and his co-owners to keep fighting for this team, against the obstacles they are now facing. They paid, says Pyeatt, more than the team was worth. They are losing millions a year. They are facing a class action lawsuit from shareholders, and another lawsuit enforcing the lease. Relocation fees would be in the tens of millions.

The people at Save Our Sonics have a lot of angles left to work. Pyeatt outlined some of them. For instance, Pyeatt and others from Save Our Sonics are traveling to New York next week to meet with David Stern, and Pyeatt hopes, Billy Hunter.

They have messages for each. To Stern, they want to recommend that the NBA and its relocation committee not act on Clay Bennett's request until pending litigation has resolved, which could be the better part of a year from now. "If David Stern and the NBA votes to allow relocation, by our understanding of the law, the NBA and its owners who vote for relocation could be named as defendants in the lawsuit to enforce the lease," says Pyeatt. "That would be a big mess. On the other hand, if the NBA sits this one out, then they can wide in wearing their white hats to encourage some kind of compromise deal when this is all over."

If the people from Save Our Sonics can meet with Billy Hunter, they will ask the head of the Players Association to examine the current collective bargaining agreement. "We believe there is a clause stating that if NBA revenues decline, the Players Association can re-open negotiations of the CBA," says Pyeatt. "Believe me, no one wants that. But if you move a team from Seattle to Oklahoma City, guess what, revenues are going to decline."

Pyeatt is also aware of some conditions of the sale from Howard Schultz's group to Clay Bennett's group. Apparently Schultz and his partners could have sold for more money to a group from California, but took less with the condition that the new owners would make a good faith effort to stay. (The terms are expressed, Pyeatt says, in a confidential "side letter" that has not been made public, but may be part of discovery in the upcoming trial.) If Bennett's group does not make a good faith effort to stay, one of the possible remedies, Pyeatt speculates, is that the previous owners may be entitled to buy the team back -- and while Schultz may not be interested, many from that group are.

Pyeatt also suggests that the local government might flirt with using eminent domain to simply claim the team. It's bold and has never made it to a court before. But in cases where it has been threatened, it has prompted negotiations. "No way any sports league wants that case to make it to court," explains Pyeatt. "They might say it's 99% likely they'd win, but once it gets to court, you never know what's going to happen. And if that 1% prevails, no team in any league can ever strongarm a city again."

When you put it all together, though, what is Pyeatt's best guess as to what will happen? He points out that the Mariners and Seahawks were way further down the road to leaving than the Sonics are, but similar forces conspired to keep them in town. He's betting the same thing will happen this time: the NBA will not want to abandon the burgeoning Seattle market, and some kind of compromise will be reached. Perhaps Bennett and company will take the team to Oklahoma and another franchise like the Grizzlies will come to Seattle, or perhaps the Grizzlies or another team will be given to Bennett and company to take to Oklahoma City.

One way or another, he suspects there will be NBA basketball in Seattle for years to come, and Clay Bennett's announcement today did nothing to dissuade him.

[solitude]

I don't know about that SOS guy, He sounds like he has some major problems with accepting what appears to be the inevitable. However, I found two things of interest:

Pyeatt is also aware of some conditions of the sale from Howard Schultz's group to Clay Bennett's group. Apparently Schultz and his partners could have sold for more money to a group from California, but took less with the condition that the new owners would make a good faith effort to stay. (The terms are expressed, Pyeatt says, in a confidential "side letter" that has not been made public, but may be part of discovery in the upcoming trial.) If Bennett's group does not make a good faith effort to stay, one of the possible remedies, Pyeatt speculates, is that the previous owners may be entitled to buy the team back -- and while Schultz may not be interested, many from that group are.

I find that that interesting and makes McClendon's comments look like a true gaffe.

Pyeatt also suggests that the local government might flirt with using eminent domain to simply claim the team. It's bold and has never made it to a court before. But in cases where it has been threatened, it has prompted negotiations.

That's just nuts. While they're at it, why not invoke eminent domain and take Microsoft while they're at it? Oh, they're in Redmond. But I think Boeing is in Seattle proper aren't they? Heck, grab 'em and run! That idea is just so ludicrous that this Pyeatt guy lost all credibility with me.

[betts]

I'm with Mick Cornett and still only "cautiously optimistic", but I think we're past halftime here. The Muckleshoots were willing to donate land, not money for an arena. Clay Bennett said he not only has to have arena plans shortly in Seattle, but "acceptable" lease terms, which makes a private arena agreement difficult. It's hard to believe if the legislature were to approve a tax measure for a new arena, it would not have to pass a vote of the people. And the piece de resistance is that David Stern seems only mildly interested in this issue. He's clearly annoyed with Seattle, and I'm beginning to think he thinks moving the team may be the only way to ultimately get an arena there. Leave the name and the Storm there and the Sonics will have technically never left Seattle.

[HOT ROD]

Solitude,

Boeing WAS in Seattle, now our hq is in downtown Chicago in a skyscraper we bought.

It's funny that Seattle didnt use eminent domain on our (Boeing) Hq, oh - wait, that's because they can't. Boeing, like the Sonics, is a private business.

Oops, I guess this Pyeatt guy is stretching, sounds like a disgruntled fan. I agree Solitude, very ludicrous and very preposterous were his suggestions!

Betts, I agree. But I dont agree that Bennett should leeave the WNBA Storm. OKC is a growing market and surely it can support the WNBA, especially with promising local talent that will become available after the 2008 WNBA season. If the Storm were to pick up one or both of the Paris girls from OU and other talent there, IM positive OKC would embrace the WNBA at a level higher than Seattle has. Furthermore, it only makes sense to have entertainment options year round in Oklahoma City, to cement the major-league ness of the city and 'jump' the citizens into believing that they and the city ARE major league. Having major league sport options year round is a big covet and look how easy it is with pro basketball to lay this claim.

OKC would be in effect a two team city overnight, not many places could lay this claim (Portland, Salt Lake, Memphis, and New Orleans - all OKC's closest competition as far as market size is concerned; none of them have WNBA). And only New Orleans has competition for the entertainment dollar. So in effect, with the WNBA, OKC would move ahead of Portland, Salt Lake, and Memphis as far as major-league capacity/ability just like that instead of being tied with them. I definitely think it could work but I will be assured if/once the Storm signs the hometown favourate players from OU. The WNBA can grant Seattle another franchise should they chose to do so, it's not OKC's or Bennett's issue (unless he thinks he can make money here by leaving the Storm, of course).

I think the Sonics and Storm are a one package deal and both should come to OKC. I do agree, however, that it would be classy of Bennett if he were to retire the Supersonics name/colors/championships in Seattle when he leaves. That would be extremely classy and would allow OKC to start frest while at the same time 'pay respect' if you will to Seattle's 40+ year history.

[dalelakin]

It should be the case in any pro sports that the name stays with the city. It just makes sense on so many levels. New jersey sales new brand identity for the new city and the old city benefits from the fact that they keep the heritage of the team and lessens the blow of the loss.

[CrimsonOberon]

Well, that Pyeatt guy does come across as a disgruntled fan. He also comes across as someone who knows that the aces are all in Clay Bennett's hand, and he probably won't be able to do anything about it, in the end.

[bretthexum]

'Cash-Us Clay' tries to KO Seattle fans
By Jim Caple
Page 2


It's official. Art Modell, Robert Irsay, Donald Sterling and Jeffrey Loria are off the hook. The worst owner in sports history is Clay Bennett.

I know, I know. There is a lot of competition for that distinction. Why, to even achieve the honor of worst owner in Seattle sports history you have to beat out Ken Behring, George Argyros, Jeff Smulyan and Howard Schultz. But Bennett, or as my friend Rod calls him, "Cash-Us" Clay, accomplished it in a little more than a year. Just consider his most recent move.


David Dow/NBAE via Getty Images

The minute he was welcomed as an NBA owner in 2006, Clay Bennett, center, started asking for a new arena.
Showing all the public relations and marketing savvy that has marked his tenure as owner so far, Bennett formally announced his intention to move the Sonics to Oklahoma City less than a day after the tip-off to the team's home opener. "Welcome to the 2007-08 season, Sonics fans! And will the owner of a Prius hybrid please move your car -- you're blocking the owner's U-Haul vans." Cash-Us Clay released a statement declaring he will move the team as soon as he can break his lease at Seattle's KeyArena or when he next sheds his skin, whichever comes first.

"From the beginning," Bennett says in the release (we assume with a straight face), "it has been my absolute hope and expectation that we would be able to secure the necessary governmental commitments to build a successor venue to KeyArena."

This would sound a lot more convincing had his partner and minority owner, Aubrey McLendon, not already revealed to an Oklahoma paper earlier this year that: "We didn't buy the team to keep it in Seattle; we hoped to come here." (McLendon, by the way, was a big donor to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which gives you some idea of this group's tactics.)

Bennett's whole beef with Seattle is that so far the area has declined to agree to build him a $500 million arena to replace KeyArena, which was renovated before the 1995-96 season for more than $100 million (which at the time, seemed like a lot of money for a basketball arena). This is a pretty typical reaction for an owner. Pay far too much for a team -- Bennett's group paid $350 million, the fourth most ever for an NBA franchise -- then blame the taxpayers when you don't instantly make as much money as you would like. What is needed is not better players and a winning team but a new arena.

I'm not sure how Bennett determined the $500 million price, but I do know he has carved it in stone. Now, if you were going to remodel your home or build a new one, I think you might take bids from several contractors and consider all sorts of options in order to get most of what you want at the lowest price. And that's how sports owners would do it as well if they actually had to pay for the construction. But since they simply stick the taxpayers with the financing, they don't care what the cost is. In fact, the more it costs the better, because then it allows the next owner to ask for an even more expensive arena and on and on until everyone is playing in $2 billion stadiums built by Halliburton.

"The region is still in need of a modern building," Bennett goes on in his release, laying it on even thicker, "not just for the Sonics and Storm, but also for the broad commercial and quality of life benefits such facilities provide."

He's right, it has been soooooo difficult living in a city without a modern performance venue. When local residents paid for the Seattle Center renovations a decade ago, I knew they should have insisted on indoor plumbing rather than outhouses. And the tar paper roof, which must have had some appeal at the time, turned out to be a mistake. No wonder the only acts that have played the arena in the past couple years are such B-list, puppet-show opening acts as U2, the Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, Christina Aguilera, The Police and Elton John.

The point is, the area doesn't need a new arena, the Sonics do not NEED a new arena, and they certainly do not need one that costs $500 million. What the Sonics do need is an owner who is willing to honestly and realistically negotiate.

(And while I'm venting, how about a little venom for Howard Schulz? Here's a guy who built a worldwide coffee empire from Seattle and he rewards the city by selling the Sonics to an out-of-town buyer. Thanks a lot. This was pretty much Schulz's attitude at the time of the sale: "I am committed to finding a local owner who will keep the Sonics in Sea... -- WHAT? $350 MILLION!!! DON'T LET BENNETT OUT OF THE OFFICE WITHOUT HIS SIGNATURE ON THE BOTTOM OF A BINDING CONTRACT!!" Good grief. You own Starbucks! How much money do you need?)

Anyway, that's where David Stern comes in. I know the NBA commissioner is employed by the owners and part of his job is to help secure these ridiculous arena deals. But in this case Stern needs to step up and tell Cash-Us Clay that the league has enough problems already and has no interest in moving a successful franchise in the 13th-largest media market to the 40th-largest market. That Bennett knew the financial layout when he bought the team for $350 million. That he has been going about this poorly. That if he wants to stay in the league, he'd better take some responsibility and clean up his mess here.

Because despite what Cash-Us Clay would have you believe, the problem is not a city where the team has successfully operated for 40 years but rather the carpetbagger owner who has been around for barely a year.

Jim Caple is a senior writer for ESPN.com. He can be reached here. His Web site is jimcaple.net, with more installments of "24 College Avenue." His new book with Steve Buckley, "The Best Boston Sports Arguments: The 100 Most Controversial, Debatable Questions for Die-Hard Boston Fans," is on sale now.

[solitude]

OK, I'm ready for the flames.

I can't really bash Caple's column on ESPN. The fact is, Bennett has handled this whole thing horribly. It's been a marketing disaster and just because he owns a team that's heading our way doesn't mean he gets a pass. If I was in Seattle, I would be furious. Let's all be honest, we KNOW that this ownership group had one goal in mind and that was bringing the Sonics to Oklahoma City. We ALL know that. Yet, Bennett strung them along with a straight face, assured defeat of various measures that might have got him the arena, and basically has been a jerk to the people of Seattle. I think Caple is right about that. And if we all took three or four steps back, and looked at it objectively, I can't help but think most of us would arrive at a similar conclusion. It's been handled horribly from day one. I just hope he doesn't come here and jerk our chains the same way he's jerked around the people of Seattle. He's always been a steamroller type of businessman in everything he's ever done. He feels entitled. To be honest, the only nice thing I can say about Clay Bennett is that he married well. Very well, indeed. He would be nowhere without marrying into the Gaylord family, and yes, I honestly believe that. He's certainly nothing special as a businessperson, except his very super-special-sized bank account.

[dismayed]

Sounds like he should run for Oklahoma elective office. He'd be right at home with all the other 500 lbs. gorillas running loose in the capital dome.