Sonics owner lied to the fans, public & NBA

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  • dopeboy206
    Banned
    • Oct 2007
    • 1471

    #1

    Sonics owner lied to the fans, public & NBA

    <H1>E-mails reveal Sonics owners intended to bolt from Seattle

    By Jim Brunner
    Seattle Times staff reporter
    </H1>E-mails obtained by lawyers for the city of Seattle show Sonics owners were talking enthusiastically last April about moving the franchise to Oklahoma City — despite telling the public and the NBA they were still interested in keeping the team here.
    The city cited the e-mails in a motion filed Wednesday in a New York federal court seeking to enforce a subpoena for NBA financial documents and other records.
    On April 17 last year, team co-owners Clay Bennett, Aubrey McClendon and Tom Ward talked about whisking the Sonics away to Oklahoma as soon as possible even though it would mean breaching the KeyArena lease, according to the city's motion filed in U.S. District Court in New York City.
    "Is there any way to move here [Oklahoma City] for next season or are we doomed to have another lame duck season in Seattle?" Ward wrote.
    Bennett replied: "I am a man possessed! Will do everything we can. Thanks for hanging with me boys, the game is getting started!"
    Ward: "That's the spirit!! I am willing to help any way I can to watch ball here [in Oklahoma City] next year."
    McClendon: "Me too, thanks Clay!"
    That exchange occurred just after the Washington Legislature refused to authorize taxpayer money for a $500 million Renton arena Bennett had proposed.
    In an e-mail exchange later in April, Bennett told McClendon it was "quite likely" the team would play in Seattle another year but that he was "attempting quietly and without litigation" to "work through the lease."
    Bennett's spokesman Dan Mahoney had no immediate comment Wednesday night. NBA spokesman Tim Frank said the league would have no comment.
    When his Renton-arena plan failed last April, Bennett said publicly that there was "little hope" of the Sonics remaining in Seattle. But he continued to insist he'd explore any reasonable arena plan to keep the team here.
    Seattle City Attorney Tom Carr said the e-mails reinforce what many Sonics fans have suspected all along — that Bennett's group never had any intention of keeping the Sonics in Seattle.
    "We all believed it. We didn't know it. Now we know it," Carr said.
    The city obtained thousands of e-mails from Bennett's ownership group, the Professional Basketball Club, as part of its lawsuit seeking to hold the Sonics to the team's KeyArena lease through September 2010. Carr said those e-mails provide further evidence that Bennett's group did not live up to its promise — made when it purchased the team in 2006 — to make a good-faith effort through October 2007 to keep the team in Seattle.
    The city's immediate goal in filing Wednesday's motion in New York is to enforce a subpoena for 20 categories of internal NBA records, including financial statements from every team in the league.
    The city's filing in New York, written by Paul Lawrence, an attorney with K&L Gates, also argues that Bennett lied to NBA Commissioner David Stern last year about his ownership group's intentions.
    Last August, Stern was angry about comments by McClendon that appeared in an Oklahoma newspaper. McClendon, the billionaire founder and chief executive of Chesapeake Energy, told The Journal Record, "we didn't buy the team to keep it in Seattle; we hoped to come here."
    Stern e-mailed Bennett that if McClendon really made that remark there would be a "HUGE fine." Indeed, Stern later imposed a $250,000 fine on McClendon.
    Bennett apologized in a lengthy e-mail to Stern, praising the NBA commissioner as "a role model and an extraordinarily gifted executive" and "just one of my favorite people on earth."
    "I would never breach your trust. As absolutely remarkable as it may seem, Aubrey and I have NEVER discussed moving the Sonics to Oklahoma City, nor have I discussed it with ANY other member of our ownership group."
    The city's federal-court motion says that statement was "a cover up" and could not be accurate given Bennett's earlier e-mail exchanges with McClendon and Ward.
    The city also filed copies of e-mail in which Bennett's ownership group reacted to its purchase of the team in July 2006 from the Seattle owners led by Starbuck's CEO Howard Schultz.
    In one e-mail sent to Bennett and Ward, McClendon celebrated the news with the subject line: "the OKLAHOMA CITY SONIC BOOM (or maybe SONIC BOOMERS!) baby!!!!!!!!!!"
    Other e-mails cited by Seattle's court filing reveal early discussions with Oklahoma City leaders about incentives to move the Sonics.
    In June 2007, Tim Romani, an arena consultant for the Sonics, e-mailed Bennett that he would start "reaching out" to Oklahoma City Manager Jim Couch to "engage him in deal negotiations," the e-mails said.
    Oklahoma City voters in March approved $120 million in taxes to upgrade the city's Ford Center arena and build an NBA practice facility


    //seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004339103_sonicsheds.html
  • ex carrabba fan
    I'll thank him for you
    • Oct 2004
    • 32744

    #2
    Re: Sonics owner lied to the fans, public &amp; NBA

    Doesn't surprise me but I still shake my head. So at this point who is to blame? The owner, or the city?

    Comment

    • Moses Shuttlesworth
      AB>
      • Aug 2006
      • 9435

      #3
      Re: Sonics owner lied to the fans, public &amp; NBA

      Woah...wow...wait a minute.

      Comment

      • 23
        yellow
        • Sep 2002
        • 66469

        #4
        Re: Sonics owner lied to the fans, public &amp; NBA

        Can u space the article?

        Comment

        • The C
          Banned
          • Apr 2005
          • 7538

          #5
          Re: Sonics owner lied to the fans, public &amp; NBA

          Damn, that guy is like a movie villain. Or a villain from Scooby Doo depending how this whole thing plays out.

          Comment

          • Sedihawk2K5
            Rookie
            • Dec 2005
            • 360

            #6
            Re: Sonics owner lied to the fans, public &amp; NBA

            Originally posted by The C
            The city's filing in New York, written by Paul Lawrence, an attorney with K&L Gates, also argues that Bennett lied to NBA Commissioner David Stern last year about his ownership group's intentions.
            Last August, Stern was angry about comments by McClendon that appeared in an Oklahoma newspaper. McClendon, the billionaire founder and chief executive of Chesapeake Energy, told The Journal Record, "we didn't buy the team to keep it in Seattle; we hoped to come here."
            Stern e-mailed Bennett that if McClendon really made that remark there would be a "HUGE fine." Indeed, Stern later imposed a $250,000 fine on McClendon.
            Bennett apologized in a lengthy e-mail to Stern, praising the NBA commissioner as "a role model and an extraordinarily gifted executive" and "just one of my favorite people on earth."
            "I would never breach your trust. As absolutely remarkable as it may seem, Aubrey and I have NEVER discussed moving the Sonics to Oklahoma City, nor have I discussed it with ANY other member of our ownership group."
            WOW. Stern has to be seething. He has a long memory and holds grudges, and he was lied to in a huge way. And it's going to get uglier too, as there are reportedly more damaging e-mails are going to be revealed over the next few days. Even though everyone thinks the issue is dead and they are destined to move to OKC, there is still a long way to go.

            Comment

            • J0nnD0ugh
              Hall Of Fame
              • Feb 2003
              • 16602

              #7
              Re: Sonics owner lied to the fans, public &amp; NBA

              This must be news in Washington, but it ain't anywhere else. Who didn't know the intention was to go to OKC? Stern knew. The fine was only because the comments left the NBA open to a lawsuit. This is how the NBA & most sports leagues handle their buisness. They extort the city's taxpayers to put the franchise on their welfare roles & suck up all the profits from their home. As long as there are other metros willing to pimp themselves for a team, its going to continue.
              Originally posted by VP Richard M. Nixon
              I always remember that whatever I have done in the past, or may do in the future, Duke University is responsible one way or the other.
              -August 17, 1960
              Thanks, dookies!

              Comment

              • ex carrabba fan
                I'll thank him for you
                • Oct 2004
                • 32744

                #8
                Re: Sonics owner lied to the fans, public &amp; NBA

                Originally posted by J0nnD0ugh
                This must be news in Washington, but it ain't anywhere else. Who didn't know the intention was to go to OKC? Stern knew. The fine was only because the comments left the NBA open to a lawsuit. This is how the NBA & most sports leagues handle their buisness. They extort the city's taxpayers to put the franchise on their welfare roles & suck up all the profits from their home. As long as there are other metros willing to pimp themselves for a team, its going to continue.
                Naw it's National.


                Headline
                Sonics’ ownership’s e-mails seemingly contradict message to Stern, Seattle

                Comment

                • J0nnD0ugh
                  Hall Of Fame
                  • Feb 2003
                  • 16602

                  #9
                  Re: Sonics owner lied to the fans, public &amp; NBA

                  Originally posted by ex carrabba fan
                  Naw it's National.


                  Headline
                  Sonics’ ownership’s e-mails seemingly contradict message to Stern, Seattle
                  What I mean is that it isn't a huge revelation. Find me one goober who actually believed at any time an owner from OK City bought a team in Seattle w/the goal of keeping it in Seattle.
                  Originally posted by VP Richard M. Nixon
                  I always remember that whatever I have done in the past, or may do in the future, Duke University is responsible one way or the other.
                  -August 17, 1960
                  Thanks, dookies!

                  Comment

                  • ex carrabba fan
                    I'll thank him for you
                    • Oct 2004
                    • 32744

                    #10
                    Re: Sonics owner lied to the fans, public &amp; NBA

                    Originally posted by J0nnD0ugh
                    What I mean is that it isn't a huge revelation. Find me one goober who actually believed at any time an owner from OK City bought a team in Seattle w/the goal of keeping it in Seattle.
                    Well the headline of the article I posted suggests the ownership originally misled Stern. But I agree, I thought it was a forgone [sp?] conclusion.

                    Comment

                    • J0nnD0ugh
                      Hall Of Fame
                      • Feb 2003
                      • 16602

                      #11
                      Re: Sonics owner lied to the fans, public &amp; NBA

                      Originally posted by ex carrabba fan
                      Well the headline of the article I posted suggests the ownership originally misled Stern. But I agree, I thought it was a forgone [sp?] conclusion.
                      Stern is a fat liar. He knew exactly what the deal was. He can claim plausible denialbility all he wants. He no doubt told them legally they couldn't just pick up & leave. But once Seattle couldn't come to an agreement w/the Sonics he was ready to move someone to Oklahoma after the craziness of Katrina. You don't say we need to get OKC a franchise, we need to get a new arena for the Sonics, & then match the Sonics w/an OK owner if you don't intend on having them move. Seattle knew the deal, Stern knew the deal, & the fans should have known the deal.
                      Originally posted by VP Richard M. Nixon
                      I always remember that whatever I have done in the past, or may do in the future, Duke University is responsible one way or the other.
                      -August 17, 1960
                      Thanks, dookies!

                      Comment

                      • ex carrabba fan
                        I'll thank him for you
                        • Oct 2004
                        • 32744

                        #12
                        Re: Sonics owner lied to the fans, public &amp; NBA

                        Too bad the e-mails will paint a different picture for Stern, so he'll be free of any blame. But I agree with you. Anyway I still don't know the context of the situation.. so I don't know who to blame.

                        Comment

                        • pennstlbu
                          MVP
                          • Jul 2002
                          • 1122

                          #13
                          Re: Sonics owner lied to the fans, public &amp; NBA

                          Clay and his boys have been lying the whole time? No way... It only confirms what's been known the whole time in Seattle and everywhere else. The ownership group is a joke.

                          Although it wasn't in this article, but in another article in the Seattle Times on Thursday, I read something I hadn't seen or heard about before. The same time when that d-bag McClendon said that they had bought the team to move it to OKC and not to keep it in Seattle, he also said something to the effect about the Seattle Storm that they didn't want to bring them in to Oklahoma, because they didn't want those type of women in Oklahoma (he was referring to lesbians). That was an eye-opener. What a d-bag. How they were able to steal away the Sonics is a tragedy.
                          "You should only drink to enhance your social skills." -Barney Gumble

                          Comment

                          • BBoyd21
                            Pro
                            • May 2003
                            • 595

                            #14
                            Re: Sonics owner lied to the fans, public &amp; NBA

                            if this does come out to being true then i wouldnt be surprised that we were pretty much duped into all of this by passing the sales tax on improvements to our 5yr old ford center( in my eyes the place is just fine and doesnt need much improvement) just so we could be all excited about getting a the sonics when almost the majority still misses the hornets and wished they were here instead. Now im starting to wonder if the stuff that the people who were against the sales tax saying that there was stuff we the voters didnt know about are true as well

                            Comment

                            • WazzuRC
                              Go Cougs!
                              • Dec 2002
                              • 5617

                              #15
                              Re: Sonics owner lied to the fans, public &amp; NBA

                              I don't know how anyone can say they're shocked. The writing was on the wall. It was a right place at the right time situation. Seattle has continually funded stadiums (Qwest and Safeco) and were tired of footing public funding. Howard Schultz (douche) sold the team to an owner who he knew would eventually skip town in Clay Bennett. Schultz absolutely ran the team into the ground financially and was a horrible owner.

                              It's an absolute disgrace to the NBA and Schultz, Clay Bennett, and Stern are all to blame. I'm tired of all this garbage that has been going on and I hope that the NBA finally either stops this or lets the team move. Enough dicking around the fans of the Supersonics already.

                              Comment

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