Sonics gone

...or so it seems.

It was a sad day in Seattle sports. We've known almost from day one that Clayton Bennett's plan was to move the team to OKC, whether he admits it or not. But I really thought they'd play out the lease. It was a sweet deal for the city -- they pocket the lost revenue and then some, but the local (Queen Anne) businesses that benefit from 41 Sonics home days get squat. Actually they get less than squat, they get screwed.

There's so much blame to go around, it's not funny. Bennett is obviously a snake is best described by the old joke -- how do you know when he's lying; answer: his lips move. Howard Schultz, who is a smart businessman was incredibly naive in buying the Sonics and selling to an out of town owner. A lot of people want to blame the city, but I'm of two minds here. Sure the city could have done more for the Sonics. But really spending taxpayer money to subsidize improving Key Arena for the Sonics would have been a bad move. As a whole people are against it and economic studies show it doesn't make sense. And they've already spent a bunch of money on two stadiums that have better draws. So to me, the city is stuck -- they shouldn't get a penny to the Sonics owners, but if they don't the team leaves.

The Schultz suit is still out there, but to me this is one of those suits that has a lot of merit in concept -- it's pretty clear Bennett failed to act in good faith, but in the end he won't win because a court won't reverse a sale two or three years later, after some assets have been sold and the team has moved.

I'm 90% sure Seattle will get another NBA team. The Pacific Northwest is just too large to only have one team. I'm also 90% sure it won't happen in the next 5 years.