NEW YORK -- NBA owners approved the Seattle SuperSonics' move to Oklahoma City for the 2008-09 season Friday, provided the team can settle its lawsuit with the city.
The Sonics could begin playing in owner Clay Bennett's hometown as early as next season if they can get out of the remaining two years of their lease at KeyArena.
Owners voted 28-2 in favor of the move, with Dallas and Portland voting against. Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has previously expressed concerns about the market size, and commissioner David Stern said the Trail Blazers, owned by Paul Allen, didn't say why they voted the way they did.
"The vote further confirms that Oklahoma is in the big leagues and can compete with anyone," Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry said in a statement.
The Sonics, who have been in Seattle since the start of the 1967-68 season, will be the first NBA team to change cities since the Hornets went from Charlotte to New Orleans for the 2002-03 season. Stern said although owners understand the move from a larger market to a much smaller one, they "focused on the likelihood of success in Oklahoma City."
Seattle has filed suit trying to force the Sonics to remain in the city until the lease expires in 2010, while Bennett wants to buy out the remainder. The city already has rejected Bennett's $26 million offer to settle the lease dispute. A trial is set to begin in federal court June 16.
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| Kevin Durant could be doing his scoring in Oklahoma City as soon as next season. (AP) |
"Step one, I am hopeful we can re-establish communication and some sort of platform to have a meaningful, principled conversation," Bennett said. "Certainly, we're nowhere near that today."
Stern, who encouraged Bennett to make the offer to the city in February, said the league is prepared to play out the remaining two seasons in Seattle. However, he cautioned that would mean a possible loss of $30 million a year for a team playing in front of reduced attendance.
The city's hope is to keep the Sonics in town for what would appear to be two lame duck seasons, to buy time for a group led by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to find an arena solution and eventually purchase the team from Bennett to keep them in town.
Ballmer's group already has proposed paying for half of a $300 million expansion of KeyArena, with the other half coming from the city and from county tax revenues.
"We know the longer they are in Seattle, the better the chance they will stay," Mayor Greg Nickels said Thursday of the Sonics.
"I think if we had a group the caliber of one led by Steve Ballmer and we had an arena pot with $300 million available in it, the NBA would have a hard time abandoning a city that's always had pro basketball -- at least for the last 41 years," he said.
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