SEATTLE – The SuperSonics will move to Oklahoma City for the 2008-09 season as part of a settlement with the city of Seattle, ending a contentious relationship that resulted in a trial in which the judge was due to issue her ruling yesterday.
The settlement calls for Sonics owner Clay Bennett and the Professional Basketball Club LLC to pay up to $75 million to the city in exchange for the immediate termination of the KeyArena lease between the NBA team and the city.
The team's name and colors will be staying in Seattle.
“We made it,” Bennett said after stepping to an Oklahoma City lectern featuring the NBA logo and the letters OKC. “The NBA will be in Oklahoma City next season.”
Bennett said the move would start today and the first focus would be on the team's players.
Bennett announced that the settlement calls for a payment of $45 million immediately and would include an additional $30 million paid to Seattle in 2013 if the Washington state Legislature authorizes at least $75 million in public funding to renovate KeyArena by the end of 2009 and if Seattle doesn't obtain an NBA franchise of its own within the next five years.
– FROM NEWS SERVICES
