View Full Version : Sonics fight back



Saberman
04-17-2008, 09:05 AM
Sonics' Attorneys: Seattle trying to force a sale

By Nolan Clay
Staff Writer
The Seattle SuperSonics' Oklahoma-based owners on Wednesday accused the city of Seattle of scheming with a potential purchaser to force them to sell.

The owners' attorneys told a federal judge they have found proof city leaders are pursuing a lawsuit only to drive up the owners' financial costs.

The attorneys said Seattle's mayor has admitted the lease at the KeyArena is bad economically for the team.

"So why is the City seeking to specifically enforce the last two years of this admittedly dysfunctional lease arrangement?” the attorneys wrote in a legal filing. "Documents just obtained show that the answer has nothing to do with the last two years of the lease. Instead, the City is trying to exploit its landlord status to force the PBC to sell the team.”

PBC is short for Professional Basketball Club LLC, the Oklahoma company that owns the team.

"This litigation and the recent media frenzy the City helped ignite are part of an agreed-upon strategy between the City and a potential purchaser of the Sonics,” the attorneys wrote. "That strategy expressly views this litigation as a way to drive up costs for the PBC — to increase the financial bleeding — to try to force PBC to sell.”

The city of Seattle has asked a judge to force the team to stay in Seattle until the lease at the KeyArena expires in 2010. The Oklahoma owners want to be allowed to pay rent and provide other incentives to Seattle and play in Oklahoma City next season. Trial is set in Seattle June 16.

A group of Seattle investors who wanted to buy the team recently had proposed putting up $150 million in private money for renovations at the KeyArena to be matched by $150 million in public funding. The plan fell through at the Legislature.

The attorneys for the Oklahoma owners told the judge city officials "pretended” the renovation and debt retirement would cost only $300 million when the city officials knew it would be more. The attorneys also told the judge city officials were "desperate to derail the Sonics' pending relocation application.”

BDP
04-17-2008, 09:11 AM
hmmmm... sounds like their was a conspiracy to allege a conspiracy. :)

This thing is wacky.

Kerry
04-17-2008, 09:13 AM
I think we need to take a look at all the emails between Schultz and Ballmer and all 61 members of their ownership groups. Live by the PR stunt - die by the PR stunt.

Saberman
04-17-2008, 09:19 AM
I think we need to take a look at all the emails between Schultz and Ballmer and all 61 members of their ownership groups. Live by the PR stunt - die by the PR stunt.

Not to mention City officials.

MikeLucky
04-17-2008, 09:21 AM
I think we need to take a look at all the emails between Schultz and Ballmer and all 61 members of their ownership groups. Live by the PR stunt - die by the PR stunt.

The seattle pukes have been screaming about "discovery" and were convinced that "all would be revealed" and they would be vindicated.... If Schultz does proceed with this suit then his emails and documentation will get revealed and my guess he doesn't want that to happen.....

and this latest revelation is proof that "discovery" goes both ways... now the idiot politicians on their side will get exposed.... and it won't be pretty. In fact, the mere thought of their emails surfacing may expedite the buy-out proceedings.....

metro
04-17-2008, 10:23 AM
Glad to see Clay and the boys finally playing some hardball. We need to hit the links to this latest story, and show OKC's side of things, so far Seattle has done a far better job to get their side shown on ESPN, etc.

metro
04-17-2008, 11:22 AM
Here's a great link worth checking out, gives us some more hope:

Above the Law - A Legal Tabloid - News, Gossip, and Colorful Commentary on Law Firms and the Legal Profession - Sports and the Law: Don't Cry Over Spilled Coffee; Schultz's Sonics Sale Will Not Be Rescinded (http://abovethelaw.com/2008/04/sports_and_the_law_dont_cry_ov_1.php)

joel228
04-17-2008, 11:27 AM
Live by the PR stunt - die by the PR stunt.
Great quote Kerry.

Kerry
04-17-2008, 11:46 AM
This will all be over by 5PM Friday.

HOT ROD
04-17-2008, 01:51 PM
^ totally agree Kerry.

It IS nice to see CB strike back.

We do need to see the emails from my leaders here in WA, and also Schultz and the other former owners. Let's get EVERYTHING OUT IN THE OPEN!

Then, we'll see who acted in good faith.

I remember bringing this up months ago on the Seattle forums (that CB didn't get a good reception from the city since the day he bought the team), of course - i was blown off and accused of being an Okie.

Looks like Seattle is ALL TALK AND ELITISM AND NOOOO BITE! I, for one, am GLAD it will be Oklahoma City who will slap Seattle a dose of reality!

I remember, a long time ago, there was a radio station in OKC - known as 104.1 KOFM 'all hits'. This was one of my favourites. I remember when they announced in the 1980's that they were moving the station to Seattle.

I remember thinking, where is Seattle - oh yeah, it's that hole-in-the-wall about to fall off the map. The station moved and became KUBE 93 Seattle (still exists by the way), then 104.1 transmitter was sold and became MAGIC soft rock.

Looks like a turn on this caper is happening, except on a MUCH larger scale!!! And I am so thrilled that Oklahoma City will be the beneficiary/winner.

I can't WAIT until Clay Bennett exposes MY leadership here for who they are - I imagine, as soon as THEIR emails come exposed; there will be LOTS more crying up here and all of this will be settled once and for all.

Congratulations to Oklahoma City - first successful BIG WIN and hopefully only many more to come (need to stop the bigoted comments from your leaders though - they're holding back Oklahoma City [don't they realize OKC has a big gay community and that they are isolating their constituency with those idiot right wing statements????])

metro
04-17-2008, 02:21 PM
Here's a link to Clay's court filing documents:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ABPub/2008/04/17/2004356187.pdf

bornhere
04-17-2008, 05:02 PM
That's not a legal brief. It's a press release filed with a court clerk.

Well, we'll see what the court decides, and perhaps what the emails say as well.

Kerry
04-17-2008, 06:51 PM
How can you tell what it is bornhere? All of the good stuff was redacted. Can't wait for the judge to unseal everything and we find out the $300 million Key Arena plan actually cost just over $600 million. Just a mere $100 million more than Clays "outrageous bad faith" plan.

kevinpate
04-17-2008, 06:58 PM
having reviewed all [REDACTED] over the past [REDACTED] hours, I have arrived at one inescapable conclusion, that this matter is one immense pile of [REDACTED]

OKCDrummer77
04-17-2008, 07:33 PM
having reviewed all [REDACTED] over the past [REDACTED] hours, I have arrived at one inescapable conclusion, that this matter is one immense pile of [REDACTED]

:LolLolLol That is some funny [REDACTED]!

By the way, the Holy Grail is located at [REDACTED].

fromdust
04-17-2008, 08:48 PM
didnt all this craziness start when mclendon shot his mouth off?

bornhere
04-17-2008, 09:02 PM
I can tell what it is by the breathless drama of the writing, especially page two, which is more like a detective magazine article than a legal filing. Or perhaps like it was written by Dan Brown of 'Da Vinci Code' fame.

"After weeks of foot dragging and excuses..."

"Desperate to keep the Subject Documents from public scrutiny because they detail the City's complicity and its coordinated effort to use this litigation to make 'the Oklahomans' bleed cash in a hostile media environment..."

I mean, really. Why didn't they just go ahead and say 'the dumb Okies' instead of 'the Oklahomans'? This wasn't even written for Judge Pechman. This was written as fodder for 'My Two Cents' and Berry Trammel.

My god, they're bleeding cash, ladies and gentlemen! Somebody get a tourniquet! Or another tax exemption, or something...

Blazerfan11
04-17-2008, 09:02 PM
Schwartz threatened the Seattle folks that the team would leave if they didn't build him a new stadium now he is crying like a baby trying to get the team back...what a dummie!

srkboy23
04-17-2008, 10:55 PM
How can you tell what it is bornhere? All of the good stuff was redacted. Can't wait for the judge to unseal everything and we find out the $300 million Key Arena plan actually cost just over $600 million. Just a mere $100 million more than Clays "outrageous bad faith" plan.

The only difference between that plan and Clay's plan is that Clay expected the taxpayers to pay for $400 million of the arena. Ballmer said that the taxpayers only had to pay $75 million. That's all he asked for and anything additional would come out of his pockets.

edcrunk
04-18-2008, 01:29 AM
at least they have found some proof. i was worried about what their defense would be. all these kooks in seattle have been saying that slade gorton has an airtight case.

mmonroe
04-18-2008, 02:06 AM
Again.. what a joke. Seattle.

metro
04-18-2008, 07:25 AM
srkboy, and you're right however Seattle couldn't even come up with the $75 million.

Kerry
04-18-2008, 07:49 AM
srkboy23 - I think what Bennett is trying to show in his filing is that while the City and Ballmer were telling the public it was a $300 million plan it really cost more and the City was just using the $300 million figure to persuade the BofG to vote against the move. Is their any surprise that Ballmer abandoned the plan on the same day the files were turned over and then everything was marked "AEO"?

You might be surprised that the City of Seattle has been lying to you. Of course, since you agree with their motivation to save the Sonics you might not have a problem being lied to by them. However, your local anti-stadium tax people might have a huge problem with it becasue they were lied to as well.

Nawfside OKC
04-18-2008, 01:18 PM
uhhhh... they lost we won....they're done....next subject