The lead attorney for the city of Seattle and several Seattle politicians are now willing to negotiate a settlement in the lease dispute with the Sonics ownership group if those talks include the promise of a replacement franchise by the NBA.
Former U.S. Senator Slade Gorton, who NBA Commissioner David Stern last week accused of implementing a “scorched-earth policy” against the Sonics, told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer that the city’s best chance at retaining the NBA is securing a replacement for the Oklahoma-bound Sonics.
“While I’d still love to see the Sonics stay, I think that is highly unlikely,” said Gorton, the lead attorney for Seattle’s legal team. “What we’re trying to accomplish now, in my view, is to get another team in their place.”
NBA owners by a 28-2 margin voted last week to approve the Sonics relocation to Oklahoma City. The Sonics and city of Seattle, however, are currently scheduled to go to trial June 16 in Seattle to settle a lease dispute in which the city seeks to force the team to play in Seattle through the expiration of its lease in 2010. The Sonics are seeking a ruling that allows them to pay the remaining rent and relocate in time for next season.
Seattle politicians echoed Gorton’s sentiments Tuesday.
“While the initial reaction has been emotional and volatile, I think more and more people are realizing it’s more important to focus on a team than on a tantrum,” said King County Councilmember Pete Von Reichbauer, who helped Seattle keep the NFL’s Seahawks from relocating to California. “And I am hopeful that we can bring together the civic leadership, both public and private, in this region in order to address the long term.
“I think we should lower the volume of the rhetoric in order to hear each other a little better and maybe come to a resolution of the dispute.”
Gorton acknowledged that state leaders in Washington must come up with an arena solution before the NBA would consider guaranteeing a franchise to replace the departing Sonics.
“All the league has to do to lead to an amicable settlement is see to it that we’re assured of a new team,” Gorton told the P-I.
Gorton declined further comment when reached by phone Tuesday. A spokesman for Sonics Chairman Clay Bennett also declined comment.
If Seattle officials refuse to accept a buyout the city would have to pay off the current arena debt for another five years after the Sonics relocate in 2010 should they lose the federal court case. KeyArena was remodeled in 1994 for $74 million.
Attempts to reach Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels and Deputy Mayor Tim Ceis were unsuccessful. A spokesman for Seattle City Attorney Tom Carr declined to comment and said the Seattle City Attorney’s office would no longer comment on the Sonics and instead focus on the pending litigation.
When asked about the possibility of the Sonics leaving and Seattle still having to pay off the arena debt, Seattle City Councilman Richard Conlin said, “That doesn’t really help anybody does it?”
“We all need to work our way through the issues and talk to each other,” Conlin said. “Most lawsuits wind up getting settled. It’s always possible to work out an agreement. Nobody really wants to go on paying lawyers and fighting lawsuits and getting involved in that kind of conflict if there’s something that could be worked out that could meet everybody’s needs.”
In mid-February, Seattle City Councilman Nick Licata, who was out of the country Tuesday and couldn’t be reached for comment, also said he is open to a settlement.
“Basically everyone wants to keep as many options open as possible,” Licata told the P-I.
Gorton, who Stern accused along with Nickels of wanting to “exact whatever pound of flesh is possible,” said he is more interested in securing a permanent NBA franchise rather than keeping the Sonics in Seattle for two more years in a potentially financially damaging situation out of spite.
“If a replacement team is part of the package, of course we’d talk,” Gorton said. “My goal from the very beginning has been to have a team. Revenge, I’m not interested in as such. The city has a financial stake in all this. The mayor and I are in complete accord that what we want is a team.”
How the NBA guarantees Seattle a replacement team might be an issue. The league did so in Charlotte when the Hornets relocated to New Orleans in 2002 and the city was awarded the expansion Bobcats for the 2004-05 season. But NBA owners have voiced opposition to expanding to 32 teams, and guaranteeing the relocation of a struggling franchise seems improbable.
Stern didn’t rule out the possibility of a replacement franchise in Seattle, however, following last Friday’s vote by NBA owners to approve the Sonics relocation.
“The Board (of Governors) is mindful that Seattle is a first-class city whose fans historically have been terrific fans and still are, but whose infrastructure has not been willing to participate in an arena,” he said. “I guess what I would say, without going further, is that we’re mindful that if Seattle had a first-class arena that would really be good for their prospects.”
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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