The outrage is growing in the Pacific Northwest, and it's due to new e-mails turned over to the city of Seattle as part of the court battle on the Sonics KeyArena lease. These e-mails between members of the OKC-based ownership group lend credence to the theory that Clay Bennett and company had the intention of moving the team to Oklahoma City from the very beginning, despite their proclamations to the contrary. One e-mail exchange has Bennett replying to the possibility of moving rather than spending "another lame duck" season in Seattle, "I am a man possessed! Will do everything we can. Thanks for hanging with me boys, the game is getting started!"And those in Washington are hopping mad. Governor Chris Gregoire said, "I've been lied to. All the people of the State of Washington have been lied to. I'm shocked and I'm very disappointed." Some columnists are calling on fans to boo everything about the Sonics while others simply resort to childish mocking, for example a Tacoma writer equating the group's e-mails to "...if Jethro Bodine had access to an Outlook account".
I've even received my share of e-mail comments angrily pointing to a phrase in my article on the Sonics in which I say, "Bennett tried to negotiate on a new arena in good faith." We had to know this would get ugly.
But what does it all matter? It seems to me, regardless of what Bennett may have said behind closed doors, the city of Seattle had opportunity after opportunity to keep the team, even long before Howard Schultz ever sold it. And they couldn't do it. In fact, my understanding is that out of the multiple parties interested in purchasing the Sonics, Bennett's group was the only one agreeing to a one year negotiation period before a possible relocation.
The truth is I don't blame Seattle residents for being angry. Nobody likes to lose something they've come to take for granted would always be there. In fact, the only thing I don't understand is animosity towards Oklahoma City, this ridiculous notion that we shouldn't want a team under "these circumstances." What? Opportunities simply don't come along every day, and OKC has done nothing wrong in pursuing a great one.
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Comments
You received e-mails over your article because it is flat out wrong: there was never any “good faith effort” on the part of these owners to keep the team in Seattle.
Their demands to the city were laughable and they knew it would be not accepted by the city and voters. A $500 million new stadium? hahah right. Funny, the one in OKC is 1/5th the cost but was amazingly acceptable to the ownership group.
I would say spending millions of dollars on architects for arena plans and negotiations would certainly constitute a “good faith” effort. Bennett’s group along with David Stern made clear what was needed to stay in Seattle from the beginning, and they were the same terms as Schultz’s.
Update: Despite late pleas from politicians in Washington, the NBA approved relocation to Oklahoma City by a vote of 28-2. David Stern said that not a single one of the 30 NBA owners had any doubts about Clay Bennett’s “good faith.”
>I would say spending millions of dollars on >architects for arena plans and negotiations >would certainly constitute a “good faith” >effort. Bennett’s group along with David >Stern made clear what was needed to stay in >Seattle from the beginning, and they were >the same terms as Schultz’s.
Ah..no.. Bennett’s group didn’t spend millions of dollars on an architect, he barely spent thousands. He asked either for a renton site OR a Bellevue site, neither of which he landsite he didn’t own OR purchase. When given a site ONLY 5 miles away from the Renton site, He promply denied it, saying it was too far away.
I think Bennett’s group had a plan to remove the team from the getgo. They agreed to say whatever they needed to to get it done. They asked for an insane price for a new stadium knowing it would be voted down (Hence the reason to NOT buy the land). I think Seattlites would have been probably more at tuned if he came in and said, I’m moving this team. To blantantly lie about keeping them here, is his groups biggest mistake. And it may cost him the franchise.
btw..we’ve been down this road before..
Mariners, Smulyan tried to move them, had the leagues approval..
Seahawks, Bering tried to move them, had the trucks all backed up to load…
It’ll be a fun thing to see how it turns out! ))