Seattle's Sonics, Storm sold to Oklahoma City group

SEATTLE (AP) _ 18-year-old Aaron Morris appeared dejected outside the Seattle SuperSonics' downtown facility while Oklahoma City businessman Clay Bennett was inside discussing his purchase of the NBA

Tuesday, July 18th 2006, 1:57 pm

By: News On 6

SEATTLE (AP) _ 18-year-old Aaron Morris appeared dejected outside the Seattle SuperSonics' downtown facility while Oklahoma City businessman Clay Bennett was inside discussing his purchase of the NBA team and the WNBA's Storm.

Bennett and his investment group purchased the teams Tuesday for $350 million from a Seattle-area group led by Starbucks Corp. chairman Howard Schultz.

They also announced a 12-month deadline to reach a new arena deal with Seattle officials _ something Schultz and his 57 owner partners, the Basketball Club of Seattle, didn't accomplish in two years. After that, the new owners, the Professional Basketball Club, LLC, gain the option to move the team to Oklahoma City.

``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.

Morris, who said he attends a few Sonics games a year when he can afford it, was holding a homemade, cardboard sign that read: ``39 years ... out the window??'' _ a reference to the Sonics' tenure in Seattle.

Morris' friend Ben Conway, also 18, was wearing a green, Sonics Shawn Kemp throwback jersey with a white T-shirt pulled over his face and head _ he said to represent the gravity of the day.

Conway's sign: ``Don't sell my childhood to OK City.''

Bennett, Schultz, the Sonics _ even Oklahoma City's Mayor _ repeatedly stated that isn't so.

Not yet, anyway.

But check back in a year.

Bennett was asked what would happen if he and his partners, who have no known Washington ties, can't reach an agreement in 12 months with local politicians.

``If we weren't able to find a successor facility and relative lease by then, we have the option contractually to ... evaluate our position,'' Bennett said.

He paused to chose those final words carefully.

Schultz said he turned down higher offers from potential buyers that he felt would move the team immediately. Some earlier offers were known to have been from San Jose, Calif., and Kansas City, Mo.

He barely hid his displeasure for Seattle's elected officials with whom he could get nothing done on a new deal to remodel or, better yet, replace KeyArena. The facility was renovated in 1994-95 and the Sonics have a lease until 2010 with the city.

Should the new owners break that lease, they would have to pay remaining rent due to the city, plus a penalty.

The team and NBA commissioner David Stern both have said the current KeyArena lease is the league's most unfavorable and must be changed _ or better yet, a new place must be built with a new lease _ for the Sonics and Storm to remain viable in the region.

``We did not get the kind of support and respect from city officials we needed,'' Schultz said. ``This is not how we wanted to go out.''

Nickels responded by having his staff releasing details of three offers the city said it made to the team last month. The most expensive option would have provided $198 million for an expansion of KeyArena, with $49 million coming from the team.

The mayor said he could do no more for Schultz.

``I don't think I can drink any more Starbucks coffee than I do,'' Nickels said.

By selling to Bennett's group and providing it with an option to move the team after 12 months if no deal gets done, Schultz has effectively cornered Nickels, his city government and the Washington state legislature.

In Bennett's business world, that's called leverage.

``If they didn't believe we could potentially move the team, we obviously now have a group that does have an out,'' Schultz said. ``But that's not what (the new owners) wanted to do.''

Despite the cynicism that swept the city Tuesday about Bennett saying he intends to keep the teams in Seattle, Nickels said he'll give the new owners ``the benefit of the doubt.''

``I have to take them at their word. I don't know the individuals involved in the new ownership,'' Nickels said. ``We're going to work with them and assume they're sincere about this.''

Bennett is the president of Oklahoma City investment firm Dorchester Capital. He was key to temporarily moving the New Orleans Hornets to his city following Hurricane Katrina.

In February, upon the formation of his investor group in Oklahoma City, Bennett declared: ``The bottom line is, we want a team for this market.''

It all led someone to ask a seemingly dejected Schultz what he would now tell a Seattle kid who loves the Sonics.

``I told my children, and children of those I know, that I did this obviously with concern and trepidation,'' Schultz said. ``But I believe strongly this new group has a commitment to staying, provided elected officials meet him halfway.

``I do not believe the team is moving.''