Sonics Take it to the Courts
As the Seattle SuperSonics season on the court comes to a close, the battle in the courts to keep the team in Seattle is about to intensify.
In a revelation made public last weekend, documents were shown to the media which suggest a breach of the initial agreement to purchase the Sonics. This crack in the ownership’s bid has given the city and its fans another sliver of hope for possible legal recourse to stop the Oklahoma move.
According to documents filed by the City of Seattle, a stipulation was placed within the contract that the ownership group would “make good faith efforts for a twelve month period to find a venue to keep the Sonics in the area for the long term.” The city has expressed that the ownership group allegedly violated the “good faith effort” period with emails attained as part of their investigation. The emails, dated within the twelve month “good faith” period, may prove to be damaging evidence as they show a clear intent of Clay Bennett’s desire to wait out the period with the intention of beginning the moving process shortly after.
The question remains if this and a series of other emails are enough to implicate the Bennett group and are they sufficient evidence to halt the move of the Sonics should the NBA owners ratify the move to Oklahoma City.
In fact, it seems as though the NBA had built some protection for the Seattle fans as the ownership group was not a local one. Part of the agreement signed by the Bennett group required them to “expressly affirm they had no intention of relocating the Sonics outside of the Seattle area”. While hard to prove in court, it gives the Sonics fan base even more ammunition to go after the group and pressure the NBA and local politicians.
With a legal battle, a change in public opinion, and the prospect of losing a storied franchise, the NBA may now need to rethink their course of action regarding the Sonics.
Photo Credit: ICON SMI
