NBA board approves new ownership of Sonics
NEW YORK – The NBA’s Board of Governors on Tuesday unanimously approved a group led by Clay Bennett, the Professional Basketball Club LLC, as the new owner of the Seattle SuperSonics.
The transaction will not be official until the exchange of the $350 million sales price, which also covers the WNBA’s Seattle Storm, takes place Tuesday. But the NBA and Bennett announced the imminent transfer at a Manhattan hotel.
“Quite frankly, my first emotion is great humility,” Bennett said. “Second, I am thrilled, I am anxious, I am energized to get to work, to really be able to get our hands on the operation and be able to understand more fully the Sonics and the Storm.”
Bennett and his partners spent Monday being questioned by a committee about their vision for the future of the Sonics. After the vote took place, NBA commissioner David Stern said the other owners applauded Bennett’s purchase.
The same cannot necessarily be said in the Pacific Northwest. The great unknown hanging over both the sale and the organization as it celebrates its 40th season is the future of the franchise in Seattle.
Stern traveled to Olympia in late February to testify before the state legislature in the hopes it would provide a public subsidy toward a renovated KeyArena. Stern and the Sonics were soundly rebuffed.
But Stern adopted an optimistic view now that Bennett’s group is pursuing a new arena, possibly in Bellevue.
“I get the sense from a briefing from Clay that he has been, without any promises made, positively received,” Stern said. “It is a broader discussion on the table … and isn’t getting mired down in who said what to whom about the remodeling of KeyArena. That seems to have, in my view, lightened tensions. It’s far from a slam dunk, but the parties all seem to know the options on the table.”
Stern said because of the way he was received in Olympia last season, it is unlikely he will make another attempt to support the process, though he said he had confidence that Bennett did not need his help.
“Everybody knows what is going on there, and it is up to them and the people of Seattle,” Stern said.
Bennett said little progress has been made on the arena situation and on changes within the organization because, under NBA rules, he is unable to do anything until the sale is completed.
He said it has not been determined how much a new arena will cost, where it will be or how much the team will contribute.
Stern said he believed that what recently occurred in Orlando, Fla., with the Magic in its pursuit of a new venue was something to emulate.
“Of a $500 million building where a club is going to be putting up $60 million or so, every market is different, but I think that is a fair number,” Stern said.