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**Dissonance19** · 04-15-2008, 10:19 AM

Quote:

The former owner of the Seattle SuperSonics plans to sue the current owners to get the team back, arguing they breached a condition of the sale to make a "good-faith effort" to keep Seattle's oldest pro sports franchise from leaving town, according to Seattle-area media reports.

Starbucks chairman and CEO Howard Schultz, who sold the Sonics to an Oklahoma City-based group led by Clay Bennett, will not seek monetary damages, but wants the team back, according to his attorney, Richard Yarmuth.

It's not money damage. It's to have the team returned," Yarmuth said, according to The Seattle Times. "The theory of the suit is that when the team was sold, the Basketball Club of Seattle, our team here, relied on promises made by Clay Bennett and his ownership that they desired to keep the team in Seattle and intended to make a good-faith effort to accomplish that."

The team's ownership group has sought NBA approval to move the team to Oklahoma City for next season. The city has taken the team to court to enforce its lease at Key Arena, which runs through September 2010.

The lawsuit, expected to be filed in the next two weeks, comes after the city obtained and made public e-mails among members of the current Sonics ownership group, in which they are seen privately discussing a move to Oklahoma City at the same time they were publicly pledging to continue "good-faith" efforts to remain in Seattle.

After purchasing the team and the WNBA's Seattle Storm from Schultz in July, 2006 for $350 million, Bennett promised to spend one full year after the purchase was approved to seek a viable home for the Sonics in Seattle. The NBA approved the sale of the Sonics in October 2006.

Bennett's trips to Washington state to lobby for a proposed $500 million arena in suburban Renton and his hiring of a Seattle-based lobbyist and architectural firm have no bearing on the lawsuit, Yarmuth told The Times.

"We're talking about fraud at the time the contract was signed," Yarmuth said, according to the newspaper. "It's not merely what activities, good faith or otherwise, were engaged in after the contract was signed so far as lobbying for a new stadium."

**croco** · 04-15-2008, 10:29 AM

Does anyone not think that Schultz was/is lying just as much as Bennett ? If he really wants the team back he should have made that effort months ago or never sell the franchise to start with.

Chan · 04-15-2008, 02:40 PM

A PR stunt? Or if this actually works, Schultz is our savior? I'm gonna be pessimistic about this.

**Ruff Draft** · 04-15-2008, 02:41 PM

This could get ugly.

Tooeasy · 04-15-2008, 02:56 PM

the big thing here is howard probably is stressing the potential of him not being able to push his coffee beans in the northwest like he has been... as it is starbucks is having to downsize as theyve oversaturated the market, and now are having to compete with both dunkin donuts and mcdonalds. Starbucks is kind of on a downward spiral right now, and although the sonics might not matter to everyone in washington, the dick move that howard pulled in the first place by selling the team will be much more publicized if they move.

Tooeasy · 04-15-2008, 02:56 PM

still, kudos to him.

**Pimped Out** · 04-15-2008, 06:08 PM

If he didnt want the team to move, he would have found some local investors.

number1pick · 04-17-2008, 12:41 AM

If he does get the team back, they will be sold to a different group, one that is Seattle based and wants to keep the team in there.

tha supes · 04-18-2008, 03:23 AM

if this is true, lets give the guy a break and not be so hard on him. maybe he really wouldn't have sold the team if he knew it would turn out like this.

**DANNY** · 04-18-2008, 01:44 PM

what a lame drama this has turned out to be

kudos to those two idiots for making seattle fans fall to ZZZ

Chan · 04-19-2008, 04:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tha supes

if this is true, lets give the guy a break and not be so hard on him. maybe he really wouldn't have sold the team if he knew it would turn out like this.

No. He was a terrible owner who gave us a half decade of nothing, who also happened to sell out the team.

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