As you know, in 2001, a group primarily
made up of Seattle-based businessmen came together to establish
the Basketball Club of Seattle. The ultimate goal has been,
and continues to be, to preserve the future of professional
basketball here in the Northwest region, and to do it in a way that, I think,
reaffirms our commitment to our fans. Today, although this is extremely difficult, and, for me personally, disappointing, I'm really proud to be able to announce that after careful analysis
of all the possible scenarios, the Basketball Club of Seattle
has entered into an agreement with the Professional Basketball Club LLC to purchase the Seattle SuperSonics
and the Seattle Storm. It is our desire to have the Sonics
and the Storm remain in Seattle. The Sonics, Storm and Seattle
are synonymous, and we have great respect for history. If a commitment for a new building
is not realized then we will evaluate our options,
which will include relocation. The Sonics have a valid lease
with the City of Seattle through 2010, and we intend to enforce that lease. We've got a place and we've got the people, and we've got a much better city
in which to play basketball. Senator Gorton and the Mayor are determined to exact
whatever pound of flesh is possible here, and they will, and then the team will leave. This is about us!
This is about Seattle! (Cheering) Yeah, Seattle! This is about making sure
that the NBA and the nation know that they can't just take something from us
and think we're gonna lie down. (Chanting) Save our Sonics!
Save our Sonics! Save our Sonics!
Save our Sonics! (Chanting continues) The year was 1962. People from around the globe
gathered in Seattle for the World's Fair. In preparation for the event,
the City built the iconic Space Needle and the Washington State Coliseum. Five years later, in 1967, the Coliseum welcomed
Seattle's first professional sports team, the Seattle SuperSonics, its name
inspired by Boeing's big new project - the Supersonic Transport. Two years later a Major League Baseball
franchise - the Seattle Pilots - followed. The Pilots are perhaps most famous
for being the only one-year team in Major League history. Upon completion
of the team's maiden season, future MLB commissioner Bud Selig
shipped them to Milwaukee, renaming the team the Brewers. Seattle had its first taste of betrayal. A lawyer named Slade Gorton
didn't care for it, so he made his first foray
into pro-sports power broking, leading a lawsuit against Major
League Baseball for breach of contract. As a result of his victory,
Seattle got a handful of cash and the promise of a new baseball team. But what about the Sonics? The team arrived in 1967, courtesy of Los Angeles
businessman Sam Schulman. In 1970, Schulman signed
20-year-old Spencer Haywood, violating a League rule that players must be four years
out of high school to be eligible. The NBA said the deal was void, so, with the backing of Schulman,
Haywood took them to court. In fact, he took them all the way
to the United States Supreme Court where he won a 7-2 landmark decision
on anti-trust grounds. With a bona fide superstar in Haywood, and a future Hall-of-Famer
named Lenny Wilkens, Schulman gradually built his team
into a competitor. "Pro-sports are fun," Seattle decided.
It wanted more. So in 1972, King County built
the multi-purpose, weather-proof, gloriously sculpted
King County Dome Stadium. Most people know it
simply as the Kingdome. The new facility's first major tenant
was the Seattle Seahawks. They were followed shortly by the long-promised expansion
baseball franchise the Mariners. While these teams
climbed towards mediocrity, the Sonics were
the lords of the hardwood. In 1975, the team made its first playoffs, led by point guard Slick Watts and
coached by the legendary Bill Russell. After a slow start, the 1977-78 Sonics
established themselves as a juggernaut. Their line-up was stacked
with NBA greats like... ..and returning coach Lenny Wilkens. The team made it to the NBA finals,
where, despite taking a 3-2 lead, it lost to the Washington Bullets
in a Game-7 heartbreaker at home. I'll never forget. I was working in Portland,
but I came up for Game 7 of '78, when the Sonics
lost at home to Washington. The mood in the city that night
was like someone important had died, like your heart had been ripped out. When we lost Game 7 here... Had this incredible season... Arguably the greatest in-season
turnaround in team-sports history. We lose Game 7 in Seattle,
next day they had a parade scheduled. They said, "We love the team,
we'll still do the parade." The following year,
with the addition of Lonnie Shelton, the Sonics returned to the finals, this time
disposing of the Washington Bullets in five games, to secure
the city's first Major League sports title. (Commentator) Five, four, three, two, one!
Let the celebration begin in Seattle! The champion in the NBA
is the champion of the world. There's never been a deep feeling like this
in this town, not with the Seahawks,
not with the Mariners... Skipping school,
coming down to the big rally... It was amazing
to be part of that victory parade. Watching JJ
and Gus Williams the Wizard, Dennis Johnson -
it was really inspirational for me. Freddie Brown, Jack Sikma,
Lenny Wilkens - they were guys that
everybody in town knew. They didn't hide, you could say hi to them,
you could talk to them. They were like our guys. Seattleites packed the downtown streets
to celebrate. The Sonics led the NBA
in attendance that season, and two years later, set a single-game
attendance record in the Kingdome. Seeing an opportunity,
billboard king Barry Ackerley purchased the team
for 11 million dollars in 1983. The Sonics needed their own facility and moved back to the Coliseum in 1985. I got here in '87. Xavier McDaniel had been drafted in 1985, obviously trading for Tom Chambers
was a huge acquisition. So you had Ellis, McDaniel and Chambers. Those three for a period, I believe,
of two seasons scored 20 or better, which was phenomenal, but it wasn't
enough to get the Sonics to that next level. Taking Shawn Kemp, a kid essentially
right out of high school that they drafted, turned out to be a stroke of genius. In 1990, a couple of things fall their way,
including a ping-pong ball or so. They get the second pick in the 1990 draft. The Sonics, I think, were lucky
they did get the second pick, 'cause it turned out to be the playmaker
Gary Payton, out of Oregon State. The basketball quality was the best
it's ever been for a sustained period. From '93 to '98,
the Sonics won over 60% of their games. I think our chemistry got like that because I knew
if I'm running down the court and I did hear him say, "Glove!"
or "Woo-hoo!" I would throw the ball up
and he would go get it. That was just the chemistry that we had. The arrival of George Karl just added a tremendous amount
of theater to the Sonics. I didn't know anything about him. He came in as a hothead coach, and, you know, I was a hothead
basketball player, so we collided. Gary and I... For a year and a half,
maybe two years, no one thought we were gonna make it,
including me! George just told us,
"Look, we gonna play trapping, "we gonna D, we gonna just play it. "You and Nate is gonna be
the leaders of this team. "You guys go out there
and you lead by example." I'd have fights on the bench. "You're not doing your job, I'll take him." It was a great defensive committed team. We were a very good regular-season team. We were the number-one team
in the NBA at the time, the top seed. And it was just...
I don't know what went wrong. Well... I mean,
the year we lose to Denver was... You know, those last three games
were pretty painful stuff. And then that summer
was the most miserable summer. Shaking the ball,
that really got me...really hot. I got that picture in my house in Oakland,
where, you know... I hate it. I think that changed us right there. That changed all of us,
I think it changed George and myself, it changed Shawn.
I think we knew that we messed up. In 1995, the City renovated the Coliseum,
renaming it KeyArena, and giving it the bells and whistles
required by the NBA and its commissioner, David Stern. How does our KeyArena stack up
and how do you like it so far? It's very special to me. I know what a struggle it was
for the Sonics and the Ackerley family, who wanted to have this team
playing in a beautiful building. They got that. It's intimate, the sight lines
are great, the decorations are terrific. Seattle should be proud
of what's going on here tonight. ♪ ..get severely mistreated ♪ Thinking you're about
to take the SuperSonics out ♪ I don't think so, punk,
not in our house ♪ It ain't that easy, G
♪ No, not in our house ♪ We ain't letting y'all sink no threes
♪ No, not in our house ♪ Don't even think about victories
♪ No... ♪ They retooled, they improved the ball club, and ended up winning 64 games.
It was a terrific year for the Sonics. It was just the character of the team. It was the good young core -
Gary Payton, Shawn Kemp - but it was also the great veterans -
Detlef Schrempf, Sam Perkins... Hersey Hawkins was a terrific player. You had those types of people
around the young guys. I think that's what made that
a real special team. That was the hottest ticket in town. It was tough to get a ticket to KeyArena. Everybody was going,
that's all you talked about. It was surreal, to the point where
KeyArena was rocking all the time. If you'd been in that arena...
Them fans were goin' crazy. They are the one who kept us
in the game a lot of times. '96, those games with Utah...
I mean, the town just stopped. We were all counting to 10 for Karl Malone,
every time there was a free-throw line. "One, two, three..." (Cheering) (Commentator) Seven for the game. You just felt like we had this obligation. "If I scream loud enough
Karl Malone will miss." It was always "us" -
not just "our basketball team." We didn't do it, "we" did it.
It was all of us. Unfortunately,
they ran into the winningest team in the history of professional basketball,
then and now, the Chicago Bulls, who won 72 games with a renewed Michael Jordan. After losing the first three games,
the Sonics would win the next two, dominating games 4 and 5
in front of their home crowd. Shawn Kemp dunked a lot. If we'd have went out and played
the way we played in game 4 and 5, we could have beat them. ♪ SuperSonics... ♪ (Music slows and stops) You know what the original sin was? The place where this all began
was the signing of Jim Mcllvaine. Jim Mcllvaine is the apple
in the Garden of Eden. We were faced with a decision in '96 after losing to the Bulls in the finals. "How do we try to get better?" Although the Bulls had fantastic
wing players in Pippen and Jordan, we actually got hurt inside. In 1997, the Sonics' front office signed unproven center Jim Mcllvaine
and his buzz cut to a $33 million contract, alienating Shawn Kemp, who had
been lobbying for a new contract coming off an outstanding
performance in the finals. You can't fault Mcllvaine for anything. They gave him the money,
he took the money. I would have too. In spite of the big contract, I felt like
people accepted me and embraced me, and wished that I did well for the team. It was a mistake.
I own it, I regret it and it didn't work. But the rationale was we had to do something
to give Shawn some support inside. I kinda say Shawn should
have just overlooked that, just said, "I'm gonna get my money,
I'm gonna prove to you..." We were all stars,
we were gonna have to get it eventually. Hurt by the perceived dis, Kemp demanded a trade
and the Sonics obliged, sending him to Cleveland in a three-team
deal that brought Vin Baker to Seattle. I wasn't really upset about us losing,
I was upset about breaking the team up. If he would have waited a little bit
and we wouldn't have broke up, Seattle would have won a championship,
but that's just the way things happen. After some initial success,
Vin Baker grew increasingly lethargic, and the team slid into mediocrity. Coach George Karl began to publicly
question the team's front office decisions. It went from that very popular team
of the '90s, to George Karl coming to the end
of his relationship with Wally Walker. The last year in Seattle was a nightmare. I found out of the Vin Baker trade two days before Wally
talked to me about it. That's how bad the relationship had gotten. I was finding out information about my
own team from other teams in the League. George wasn't so good
at keeping a secret, so... I couldn't tell him what the final deal
was gonna be until the deal was made. Wally was very secretive. The good part of Wally was he never
messed with me basketball-wise, the bad part of Wally was
I didn't think he involved us into helping him
make better basketball decisions. He lost some confidences in key people,
at the ownership level in particular. A year later,
following a 61-win regular season and a second-round playoff loss, the Sonics chose
not to renew Karl's contract. In the summer of 1998, a disagreement between the
NBA Players Union and the owners over the issue of a salary cap,
led the owners to declare a lockout. Predictably, this strike-shortened season
turned off fans. Most teams, including the Sonics,
saw their ticket sales and revenue plummet. The Sonics made one of their
few good moves in this era by promoting assistant Nate McMillan,
a.k.a. Mr. Sonic, to the head coaching job. Sonics owner Barry Ackerley
had tired of running a basketball team, and put the franchise up for sale. Just as a baron of Seattle's booming
tech industry had saved the Seahawks, Seattle's coffee king stepped in
to buy the Sonics. Raised in a Brooklyn housing project, Howard Schultz went to Northern Michigan
University on a football scholarship, then set out to pursue
a career in business. He found his calling on a trip to Seattle when he encountered a little operation
called Starbucks Coffee. He became their director of marketing, then decided he might
as well buy them out and set up stores around the globe. It worked. With coffee conquered,
Schultz set his sights on the NBA. The man who was used to
commanding an army of baristas, now owned a business
whose front-line employees made millions of dollars
in guaranteed contracts, and had egos to match. ♪ Get that dough, hit that spot ♪ Toss it up, watch it drop ♪ Get, get, get, get
♪ Money, money... ♪ I think when the Ackerleys let the team go,
that's when everything changed. When you get a great owner
who knows what to do and who knows how to handle...
uh... players and their situation, I think it changes a lot. Howard wanted to re-write the way
business is done in the NBA, and quickly found out
he was not gonna be able to. He tried to run a basketball team
like his coffee business. Your coffee business can't be run
like a basketball team. When he came in 2001,
he had theories about what might work. But he did have a belief and a confidence
in his ability to connect with the players. He felt he could motivate them in a way
they didn't know they could be motivated. In his interactions with Gary Payton and
Vin Baker, they just thought he was a joke. I think Schultz hurt his cause
by his histrionics on the sidelines. Howard wore his emotions on his sleeve. He sat at mid-court,
and when the team was going well... Oh, yeah! He was up there,
pumping his fist. When they were going bad, he would slink
further down in his seat and he'd pout. He was right across from the players,
they saw all that. I wasn't worried about Schultz, over there pouting or crying
or whatever he wanted to do. It didn't bother me. We're out here
trying to win basketball games. One of the things that all
pro-sports owners fail to realize is what an incredible energy suck
owning a sports franchise is. When you come into the sports arena,
you get criticized. And here was a successful businessman,
the leader of Starbucks. I think the bloom came off in 2002, when
Gary Payton held out of training camp. Howard took personal offense
that Gary would do this. You're talking about a couple of lead dogs
right there, obviously, in Howard Schultz and Gary Payton. Gary eventually showed up,
but their relationship was broken. And I think Howard realized
that this gig wasn't for him, because these people weren't doing
what he wanted, when he wanted. And they weren't buying into him. It was unfortunate that the owner
would allow himself to get at odds with a key player like that,
an iconic player in the market. It doesn't reflect well to your audience,
to your fans. I had been loyal to that team
for 10, 11, 12 years. It really hurt me, so I felt like now was
the time where it needed to be a change. I don't need to sit up here and get lied to,
then make me look like the bad guy. I wasn't gonna take the fall
for looking like the bad guy. At the 2003 trade deadline, the Sonics
traded Gary Payton and Desmond Mason to the Milwaukee Bucks
for Ray Allen, Flip Murray, and the pick that would become
Luke Ridnour. I think the fans in Seattle
really got punished for this, and then the team went down
from there on. I think if I woulda stayed,
it woulda been a little different. I have no argument
with trading Gary Payton when you consider
the players they got in return. They got the splendidly talented Ray Allen. It was the end of an era, it was very difficult
making a trade for Gary Payton. He was an iconic figure here, and so... we knew there would be
an adverse reaction, but we also thought it's very difficult
to get a superstar player in their prime. But even with the young superstar
in Ray Allen, the new-look Sonics failed to make
the playoffs for the next two seasons. No one in the community felt a great bond
with the Schultz-run Sonics. That was too bad. I didn't think the Sonics
were a compelling product. At the end of the day,
it was mismanaged. Their moves they made...took them
from a great franchise to a terrible one. They have to deal with that. All that money we spent,
and they kept trying to find the big guy. So they drafted Robert Swift,
they drafted Petro, they drafted Sene. Uh, I mean, at one point
we had 21 feet of useless center in Jerome James, Calvin Booth
and Vitaly Potapenko. I'll never forget
when Gary went to the Lakers. I did a story on him before he came back
to Seattle for the first time. I said, "What are you gonna
say to Howard when you see him?" He said, "I'm not gonna say anything
to his punk ass." I think he was speaking for almost
everybody who ever played for Howard. Man, I say this to people all the time, I tell 'em "It rains a lot,
don't ever move here. It sucks." But Seattle is the best city in the world. I grew to love Seattle pretty quickly. I've lived in the Midwest my whole life.
It's a great city, world-class city. People were really friendly to me. The physical beauty of it is unmatched.
I still live here, probably live here forever. Seattle is a home away from home for us. My wife and daughter, we live in Portland
so we drive back and forth to Seattle. We have tons of friends here. People ask me all the time,
what was my favorite team. I always have a battle
between LA and Seattle, but I think I have to choose Seattle. There are a lot of cities in our league
that run into each other. If you were painting a picture
it would just kinda bleed into one city. But Seattle on its own stands apart. I asked Jamal Crawford once why
there were so many good young players, great players, playing in the NBA
from the 206. He said, "It's simple. It rains a lot.
There's nothing else to do but play hoops." I'm a big Sonics fan. I've always been
a big Sonics fan. They helped mould me. I used to hang with Gary Payton,
he took me under his wing, and Shawn Kemp, they took me under
their wing to see how professionals acted, how they were in the community.
I was like, "Wow, I wanna be like that." Watching them guys play and watching
them up close helped me develop. What I witnessed as a child,
watching the green and gold play, those are the things that change kids' lives.
It changed my life. It's about the community and what
the community has to offer to people there. The values, it seems to me, are more
psychic than they are economic. My love of basketball
wasn't born in an arena. It wasn't born
because I was watching millionaires. It was born because my brother and I
nailed a Folger's coffee can to a tree and played with a roll of tape. And my dad was out there teaching us
how to make moves. It's fathers and sons, it's mothers
and fathers and families going to games. It's talking about it.
It's having a game in May that matters, the big game's on Friday and you can't
wait, and you're talking to everybody. It's a chance for people to come together
for 41 dates out of the year. And you have, I think, as good
a mix of people as you can have at a professional basketball game,
particularly in Seattle. A mix of old and young,
rich and poor, black, white, Latino, Asian...
It's just a real nice mix. Being an ethnic minority and a cultural
minority and a racial minority, and often through most of my life
feeling unappreciated and vilified, to watch the celebration of black men, who are among
the most vilified people on the planet, to watch the celebration of them doing something better
than anybody else in the world can do. Those are intangibles,
you can't put a price on it, and you can't argue it to someone
who doesn't understand. In February 2006, Seattle City
Council President Nick Licata told Sports Illustrated that the Sonics
economical and cultural value to Seattle was, quote, "close to zero". Frankly, I think Licata
had issues with its blackness. Subconsciously, at least, uh... because his statement insulted thousands
of black people in this community, whose primary eyewitness
participation sport is basketball. So, frankly, what he said was racist. He later apologized, calling his remark
"smug" and "wrong," but the damage had been done. The economic impact
of the Sonics leaving, you can debate that with economists, and I think they'll point out
that Seattle will still be a major city. You can debate that to doomsday. In 2004, Howard Schultz
started making public comments about the inadequacies of KeyArena, complaining that
its 58-person ownership group couldn't keep up
with skyrocketing player salaries and competition from new arenas
around the NBA. Despite the Sonics coming off
an exciting playoff run, and a Northwest Division title in 2005, the city refused to renegotiate
the team's lease. The Sonics' requests for facility upgrades
fell on deaf ears at the State Legislature. In 1995, the Mariners
had been around for 18 years, but had only two winning seasons. So Seattle wasn't exactly up in arms
when the team suggested it would relocate
unless it could get a new stadium. On September 19, 1995, King County voters rejected
a 0.1% sales-tax proposal that would finance a new venue
to keep the M's in Seattle. But a miraculous late-season playoff run led the region to fall in love
with the Mariners. The State Legislature pushed through
last-minute approval of a finance package enabling King County
to build Safeco Field, a retractable-roof stadium
with a half-a-billion-dollar price tag. Seahawks owner Ken Behring
wanted his own stadium, too. He even packed the team up
for a move to Los Angeles. Then, at the eleventh hour, Microsoft money man Paul Allen
and King County executive Gary Locke engineered a solution with Allen buying the team
and keeping it in Seattle. Allen funded a public election, in which
King County approved the financing for a new multi-purpose stadium, Qwest Field,
a $430 million open-air structure. Now that everybody
was getting their own stadiums, it was time to blow up the Kingdome,
memories and all. ♪ I'm on the dancefloor
and the DJ dropped my 45 ♪ I was so hyped that I dropped my .45 ♪ And everybody just ran, ran, ran, ran ♪ I'm on the dancefloor
and the DJ dropped my 45 ♪ I was so hyped that I dropped my .45 ♪ And everybody just danced,
danced, danced, danced... ♪ With the Seahawks and Mariners thriving
in their new stadiums, and the new NBA business model
relying on revenue streams not available at KeyArena, the Sonics began losing money
operating under their lease. On February 23rd, 2006,
Sonics ownership returned to Olympia to lobby for a KeyArena remodel. This time with NBA commissioner
David Stern by their side. We're here because we want to be here. We love the city,
our families have been raised here. Our businesses have been built here. Everything about this ownership group, everything about the Seattle Storm,
the Seattle SuperSonics, is Northwest, and we do not want to see that
in any way go away. The NBA is very proud of the support that both the Sonics and the Storm have received from the Seattle community, the King County community and
the State of Washington over the years. It is a source of great pride to us. In the late '70s
the NBA needed a new image. Enter David Stern. A graduate of Columbia Law School,
Stern came up as a lawyer for the League. By 1980,
he was the executive vice president. In 1984,
he was unanimously crowned king. The fourth commissioner in the history
of the National Basketball Association. His tenure has included conspiracy
theories surrounding the draft lottery, a referee corruption scandal, and a worldwide basketball boom, leading to record profits for owners
and soaring player salaries. Commissioner Stern has presided
over three franchise relocations. The Kansas City Kings to Sacramento, the Vancouver Grizzlies to Memphis
and the Charlotte Hornets to New Orleans. His publicly subsidized arena
campaigns are well known and usually accompanied by a threat
to relocate the team to a city that will pay. I would say that a state-of-the-art facility
is a great thing for a community to have. KeyArena is not a state-of-the-art facility. When KeyArena was redone, there were still problems with that arena,
no question. Having been to every building in the NBA
over two decades, I'd say it's relatively low, in the bottom five,
in terms of fan experience. KeyArena is deficient in so many ways. The public likes to talk about it
like it's a great building, but the original renovation
was done on the cheap. Other buildings were built for $160 million, the same year we got
a $70 million renovation. I think for the average fan it's great, it is a wonderful place to watch an event. But if you're an owner
trying to make money there, it just doesn't work,
the footprint is too small. We have had a very hard time
economically. If we sold every ticket to every game,
played at 100% capacity, we would still be below NBA average
by a significant amount for the revenue generated by KeyArena. We have lost approximately $60 million in the short time
that we have owned the team. This ownership group did not get involved
to make a profit, but I can assure you, we did not
get involved to lose $60 million, and with no light
at the end of the tunnel either. Substantial amount of work has been done
for the baseball and football teams, and I'm here personally to find out whether the same is being considered
fairly for the NBA. If not, that's a decision we can accept,
but then we'll have to act on it ourselves. After airballing yet another shot at state
arena funding with little help from the city, Schultz's ownership group began
a contentious exchange with the region's elected officials. The Schultz deals were about state subs...
straight-out state subsidy. And those were...
That's why those were such a non-starter. His largest private contribution
that the team was willing to put up was 18 million, up front. At least 18 million, then rent to the city
would have been another 30 million. So a figure minimum of about $50 million. They just orchestrated it terribly,
they orchestrated it terribly. They flew in on their private jets
and popped in for an hour. It's just so symbolic of the way
this whole process has gone, where nobody laid the groundwork. When a team starts struggling, then you hear in the paper about our arena that could have been redone, revamped
or whatever, for this great city, but you don't wanna help us
by getting us a good basketball team. This team was so bad,
and that's where I blame Wally Walker. He tore this team apart.
It was so bad for so long. None of the legislators went to the games. They couldn't have named
five guys on the Sonics. There was frustration
with the political process, we didn't accomplish
what we hoped to accomplish. Could we have accomplished it
in another year in Olympia? Maybe. I never intended whatsoever
to threaten anybody, or in any way create this tension
that might exist. I was just trying to clarify that we're on a collision course with time. And we have no alternative
on a go-forward basis if we can't solve the problem in front of us. On July 18th, 2006, Howard Schultz called a press conference
to announce he was selling the Sonics to a group of Oklahoma businessmen. Today, we stand before you filled with both great emotion
and renewed hope and enthusiasm for professional basketball
in the Northwest region. Although this is extremely difficult, and, for me personally, disappointing, I'm really proud to be able to announce that after careful analysis
of all the possible scenarios, the Basketball Club of Seattle
has entered into an agreement with the Professional Basketball Club LLC to purchase the Seattle SuperSonics
and the Seattle Storm. That day was the most insulting day
in Seattle sports history. The team is sold to Oklahoma City,
a press conference is called for 3 o'clock, we go over to the Furtado Center
and there's balloons, it's a great celebration, a great day
for Seattle basketball. Give me a break! I think Howard Schultz did not know
what he was getting into, that the NBA is a costly game,
as an owner. When you buy a team
it gets a little bit different, especially a team with a lot of people. His board of trustees...
My goodness, it was a football team. Not everybody on that board of trustees
wanted to sell the team. There was a lot of dissent with what to do,
who wanted to sell and who didn't. As it came to a vote as to
whether the team should be sold or not... Very controversial and very close. It was a five-four vote,
so as close as you can get, and... the five were in favor. As far back as 2004, when the
Phoenix Suns were sold for $400 million, we heard rumors that Howard was done
with the NBA and was looking for buyers, that 400 million was
a heck of a price for the Suns and Schultz bought the Sonics in 2000
for 200 million. When you look at what these owners
pay for the teams, and what they get when they sell, you can
afford to lose several million dollars a year when your franchise goes up in value 3
or 4 million a year more than you're losing. At the end of the day, we were not trying
to seek out...the ultimate purchase price, but to do everything we could
to ensure long-term stability here in the Northwest
for the Sonics and the Storm. The bottom line is...Howard Schultz
made a killing in terms of selling that team. They were sold for
way above market value, way above what he bought for them
just a few years earlier. He, somewhere, is laughing on a beach,
probably far away from Seattle, about how much money
he actually made on that deal. We arrived at a place with a buyer
who really wants to stay here. And we would not have sold it
to a new owner who we felt was gonna take the team away. A number of people
who were part of that ownership group will tell you that they
really legitimately felt the hammer of Oklahoma City was
the only shot we had at getting this done. Five years ago, when I sat here
and was in a position to buy the team, I remember saying that I view this as my
responsibility as part of the public trust... (Rewinds, slows) ..public trust... He talked a lot about being a steward
of the public trust and of the institution, and I believed that. But coming from him
I think it was just empty rhetoric. Coming from him,
there is a lot of empty rhetoric. To me, if it is a public trust,
he violated that public trust. I took that responsibility to heart
and very, very seriously. And, culminating today,
that responsibility is now passed on, to this group and to Clay Bennett. And I believe in my heart,
as he has said to me and now to you, that he understands the public trust
of Seattle in the Northwest, and he's gonna try and do everything
he can to keep the team here. (Static, distortion) I had actually just spent
a week in Salt Lake City going to Summer League -
every fan's dream. There with the coaches, and the players
and the media guys, getting to meet everybody,
all the draft picks... It was just great. The day after I came home,
they announced the team had been sold. And...uh... you know...
everybody knew the Oklahoma thing. A big barrel of a man, Clay Bennett was born and raised
in Oklahoma City, where his close-crop haircut
remains forever in style. He married his high school sweetheart,
Louise Gaylord, whose family owns
The Daily Oklahoman newspaper. Bennett founded the private
investment firm, Dorchester Capital, making millions
investing his wife's family fortune. In the 1990s, Bennett became a minority
owner of the San Antonio Spurs, and the team representative
for the NBA's Board of Governors. In 2005, when Hurricane Katrina
made it impossible for the Hornets to continue
playing basketball in New Orleans, Bennett helped
his old friend David Stern temporarily relocate the team to
Oklahoma City for one and a half seasons. The minute Bennett bought the team,
everybody assumed... I was not one of them, I was one of the, I guess, naive minorities that actually thought he would keep
an NBA basketball team in Seattle, in the 13th largest market in the country.
But nine out of ten people I talked to firmly believed that
if an Oklahoma City businessman - with the kinds of resources
he had at his disposal - was gonna buy an NBA team,
it wasn't to keep it in Seattle. The financial backing came mainly
from Bennett's high school buddy Aubrey McClendon, and McClendon's
former business partner Tom Ward. Together, McClendon and Ward co-founded
oil and gas company Chesapeake Energy. McClendon alone was worth $2.8 billion
at the time of the Sonics sale. That's after he put up
a quarter of a million into the right-wing PAC
Swift Boat Veterans For Truth, and teamed up with Ward
to donate over a million to Americans United
To Preserve Marriage, an anti-gay rights group. I think you can appreciate the skepticism
from the fan base and the press, and I wanted to ask Mr. Bennett
about your fans back home. I was on one of your radio stations today,
and the perception in Oklahoma City, not just in Seattle,
is that the Sonics are coming to town. Ultimately we hope for basketball
in Oklahoma City, but it's unrelated to this transaction. We are committing
to a twelve-month process by which we will act in good faith
and give our best efforts to develop a successor facility. I honestly believe that this group
led by Clay wants to stay in Seattle, and I believe that they
are better positioned than we are to convince the city, the state
and obviously political leaders, that if they can't arrive
at an acceptable deal, then unfortunately
the team wouldn't stay here. And I just feel that coming in
with a clean slate perhaps allows us a fresh perspective,
and we can begin to work from a new start. As a whole, this region does not want to fund
publicly financed stadiums and arenas. This region has proven that. So now, when the Sonics
come around this third time, not only does the public say
"We're not gonna vote for it," but a segment of the public gets proactive. In 1995, Nick Licata, who's a current
Seattle City Council member, myself and a fellow named Mark Baerwaldt
co-founded a group called Citizens For More Important Things, meaning exactly what it says,
that we were for more important things than using taxpayer dollars
to fund a stadium for an enterprise that was not only private,
but in the headlines every day for paying millions of dollars
for pitchers and third basemen. If they were paying that kind of money
for their employees, obviously they didn't
need taxpayer dollars. We had more important things
that we were lobbying for. Backed by the SEIU,
Citizens For More Important Things got Initiative 91 on Seattle's
November 2006 ballot. I-91 would require that public
investments in sports arenas produce a positive net return. Seattle voters passed it
with more than 70% approval. When the city voted almost 70% against
putting public funds into KeyArena, that, in itself,
put the city in a difficult position, but also sent a message
to all the elected leaders in the state, that this was not a popular issue
with the voters. King County is desperate for money.
They've kept their budgets 20-25%. Well, to pay for these stadiums,
they laid on a full 1% of sales tax. That's huge! That is huge. And yet... the teams that occupy Qwest and Safeco... have...payrolls... that make me want to vomit. If they only knew, though, how many tax
dollars are used for private business, incentive for private business,
they'd be amazed. As if our whole capitalistic system isn't based on us subsidizing
billionaires and millionaires. It's just a specific choice which billionaires
and millionaires we're subsidizing. You had schools in Seattle
that cannot pay for enough books to go around a class. That's why. Initiative 91 was pushed through. One of the problems with the initiative process
is people don't have all the facts when they make decisions. Nobody stepped up politically against it. The city officials, everybody knew
that in terms of policy, it was terrible policy. If we'd had a better discussion
during the course of Initiative 91, it would have failed and we would be
in a better situation today. That vote, I think,
was crucial in coloring the NBA's belief about Seattle's interest
in maintaining the team. It certainly alienated Bennett. So Bennett turned to Olympia. If Seattle couldn't fund his arena,
maybe the state would. He and president Lenny Wilkens presented legislators with a proposal
for a $500 million arena in the city of Renton, 24 miles southeast
of downtown Seattle. It was a proposal to build
the most expensive arena in the NBA at the worst traffic intersection
in the state of Washington, right in the middle of the S-curves
on 405 down by Renton. These guys weren't serious. They came in,
the guy sat in my office, didn't say a word. They introduced themselves,
the lobbyist talked to me. They made no significant effort
to pass that bill. Nothing. The level of urgency
and the pressure ratcheted up, because this guy had one foot
in Oklahoma City and one in Seattle. If the legislature wasn't gonna help
a local guy that many knew personally, and who probably contributed
to their campaigns, why would they help a total stranger who they presumed automatically
was gonna take the team out? Mahatma Gandhi could have asked for it,
and he wouldn't have gotten it. The Kingdome was touted
as a possible destination for the Democratic National Convention. 12 or 14 years later, when Clayton Bennett
is sitting in front of them, testifying that, "Gee, if you'll build me
my $500 million facility in Renton, "you could actually have the Democratic
or Republican National Convention here." Everybody started to laugh! They all knew what the history was. We blew it up.
We had it, we blew it up. Not surprisingly, Bennett's proposal
got nowhere in Olympia. Meanwhile, the Sonics stumbled
through a disastrous season, finding themselves in the draft lottery. We got that great shot, and got the second
pick in the draft and Kevin Durant. We thought, when that happened,
things would pick up in the market. With the second pick, the Seattle SuperSonics select
Kevin Durant from the University of Texas. And, of course, it was never to be because, of course, at that time as well...
Ray Allen was traded, and Rashard Lewis
did not come back...so... certain things happened that year
in that draft and...it was unfortunate. Shortly after the draft, Bennett's group
quietly severed all ties with Sonics' past. Team president Lenny Wilkens resigned after disagreements
with the ownership group, and assistant coaches,
Jack Sikma and Detlef Schrempf, were let go as their contracts expired. These front office decisions reaffirmed
what everyone already suspected - Bennett intended to gut the team,
dump salary and prepare for a move. On August 12th, during an interview
with Oklahoma City journalists, McClendon let slip
the true intention of the PBC. Bennett emphatically denied
McClendon's assertion and added that McClendon was not
speaking on behalf of the ownership group. The NBA gave McClendon
a $250,000 slap on the wrist. Unhappy with the state's failure to fund
his new suburban basketball palace, and stuck in an arena that was losing
money for both the team and the city, Bennett filed for arbitration to break
the final two years of the KeyArena lease before the start
of the 2007-2008 NBA season. KeyArena is not a viable NBA arena. A renovated KeyArena
is not a viable NBA arena. I just went to the new Yankee Stadium
about a week ago. And it's Disneyland. It's one and a half billion dollars, and they
have numerous restaurants in there. All the food is really expensive,
and all the beer is really expensive. That's what Clay Bennett, David Stern,
wants to have in each city - arenas with a bunch
of restaurants on the outside, because it means more money. The NBA model is now based on
finding revenue streams beyond the mere tickets and even suites. They're looking for these giant megamalls
where they're getting shopping revenue, and that model doesn't fit KeyArena,
which was the essential problem. KeyArena, if you take a look at it... There's not many NBA arenas
that are located in a neighborhood. It's in a neighborhood!
That doesn't really happen. The Seattle Center is unique in the country
in so many ways. One reason we moved here
was that I could watch basketball and my wife could watch opera
at the same place. I think basketball-wise it's a great
arena to play in and to watch a game in, I don't think that was ever the issue. So, as a player, when the fans are in there,
it's as good as any place. It's a little bit older now,
but to me it was great. I love playing there, it feels like
everybody is sitting on top of you. The key for us is that this building
was built and designed for basketball. It has a great bowl, the geometry
of the bowl for this facility is ideal. I like an arena to have a little bit of soul,
and the KeyArena had some soul to it. That's part of the broken economic model,
that you can't have an intimate setting. You have to have these huge buildings
that bring in revenue besides tickets, where you can pop in these restaurants
and sell, sell, sell. The franchise will not remain
in this marketplace without a new arena facility. If we can reach an acceptable
lease arrangement in a new arena facility, the Sonics and Storm are here
for a very long time to come. If a commitment for a new building
is not realized, then we will evaluate our options, which will include relocation. Because KeyArena is no longer
a viable NBA forum, the city should not
be able to force the Sonics to continue to play out
the balance of the lease term. If I were the owner and the Speaker
of the House told me what he told me, and the Mayor and City Council
told me what they told me... The House said,
"We're not even gonna report the bill out. "We're not gonna give
the legislation an opportunity." So, I think it's unfair,
the way it's been shifted back to us. We've had a team in Seattle
for over 40 years, it's been a great city. I would like a relationship that was so
strong within Seattle and the SuperSonics, continue free of the antipathy
and downright hostility, that has been exhibited
at certain levels of government. It seems almost tragic that as a matter of timing, the people who
were in power turned against the team. If we took no for an answer,
we wouldn't be here today. Born in Chicago, but raised in Seattle,
Mayor Greg Nickels claims he can remember where he stood during
the Sonics 1979 Championship Parade, when he was a legislative assistant
to then City Council member Norm Rice. In the 1990s,
Nickels moved on to the County Council and supported the push
for a new Mariners stadium. He was elected Seattle's mayor in 2001. As mayor, he gained national stature
for his stances on environmental issues, and generally had little to do
with the Sonics. Until the team was
about to leave town, that is. Then he became the last line of defense. On September 24th, 2007,
the Nickels administration filed a lawsuit against the Sonics to block any attempt
to break their KeyArena lease. Meanwhile, on the court,
the Sonics sputtered out of the gate to a 3 and 15 start. The terrible on-court product did little
to endear Seattle fans to the Okie owners, nor did it inspire them to support
arena funding options. In order to get fans
to pay these premium dollars, you've gotta have some kind of a goal,
you've gotta have hope. There was no hope around the Sonics. It was like fighting against a hurricane. You hope the hurricane's
not gonna blow your house down. But good luck with that. The moves that were being made,
the trades, the shedding of salary, that last season they were just atrocious. It seemed like it was all part of a plan to make people not interested
in the Sonics, not attend games. Players were off limits
to a great degree to media. Media never got to know
the young Kevin Durant and Jeff Green, they were completely kept at arm's length. Everything was so controlled. It was all to kind of turn us off,
turn the city off. Their game plan was to get outta town and create as much ill will
in the process as they could. If you had a playoff drive that year
this building would have been packed. But no one wanted to go down
and put money in Bennett's pockets knowing that he had no desire to stay here. I've said repeatedly
what our intentions are... and that's what they are,
it's to be successful here. When you aren't selling tickets actively,
you aren't doing anything to promote, you won't let your players go on
sports radio to talk about the team, you did everything but lock the doors
to keep people out of this building, of course you're gonna get
the perception there isn't any support. It was a very well done manipulation, and they took advantage
of a lot of circumstances here to do so. There was a cloud over Seattle the
last couple times I came back to Seattle. "What's going to happen?" Most of
the time when you asked that question you didn't get a positive response,
you got a negative response. It was surreal.
It was a team living in denial. There was a lot of things
we couldn't control as players, yet we're the ones to answer questions, 'cause we're the ones with cameras
and microphones in our face. I think, overall,
fans don't like to see teams move. I don't think David Stern likes it,
I don't think anybody likes it, but it's part of a bigger business
that a lot of people, including myself, don't understand. I can feel where the fans are coming from. As a fan growing up, if they said
they gonna take the Wizards out of DC, and we wouldn't have a team any more
I'd feel the same way. On January 8th, Bennett and the company
sold the Sonics' sister franchise, the WNBA's Storm,
to four Seattle-area women. It was great news for Storm fans, but just one more sign
that the Sonics were as good as gone. The team responded
with a 14-game losing streak. Oh! I mean, as I became more
and more convinced they were gone, it made me want to be there even more, but, I mean, that was psychic pain. It was humiliation...and powerlessness. You sit there as a fan, you know,
and you realize that... there is nothing I can do
to change any of this. And that, no matter how much I love this
team, how much pain I've gone through, there's nothing any of us can do. I wanted somebody to reach in and say,
"OK, I got you, guys, we're not moving. "OK, NBA, grant these guys
an Oklahoma team, "because they're ready for one, obviously,
they got great fans, "but don't take ours, whatever you do!" But who knows? Maybe there's
some last-minute wonderful angel who will drop into the laps
of the people of Seattle and come up with an arena plan,
and funding for it. If the law requires the Sonics to fill out
that three-year term of the lease, I am convinced that well short
of that period of time, we'd find a different solution. We'd find a willing new owner, we'd find someone
who kept the Sonics here permanently. Good afternoon and welcome. There's been a lot of talk lately
about the future of the KeyArena, and the Seattle SuperSonics, and their future here in our city. We're here today
to shed some light on the issue, and bring some hope, as well, to the issue. I'd like to begin by confirming reports
that were in the paper this morning, that there is in fact a new local group
that is willing to work with us in securing the future of KeyArena
and the Seattle SuperSonics. We sat in this room with Slade,
Mike McGavick, Steve Ballmer and me on a Sunday morning in October, and ran through our thoughts
of why we hoped Steve would consider it. A few months later he got back and said, "Yeah, and not only that
but I'll put $150 million into this building." That was beyond our wildest dreams. The private investment group
would provide $150 million to make improvements
that directly benefit the team. Early on, we expected that our share
might be $75 million. It's been in the last couple of weeks
that we realized the importance of having this move forward this year, and basically doubled that to $150 million. The $150 million public investment would benefit the common areas
of the building. The situation was very different
from the Schultz situation, because we had Steve Ballmer, not only offering to purchase the team
and to keep it here, but offering to pay half of the cost
of the KeyArena remodel. Mr. Schultz and his group never made
any such promise at all. This announcement, we think,
is a game changer. Keep the team and improve the arena
and Seattle Center and the whole place? I thought that was a bold move, in terms of helping Seattle Center,
which does need serious upgrades. This is an opportunity for right now. This week and next week, not for next year. Why? Because next month the relocation committee
of the National Basketball Association is going to vote on Clay Bennett's desire
to move the team to Oklahoma City. Without an alternative
from the City of Seattle, that relocation application
is almost certain to be granted. Unringing that bell next year will be somewhere between very,
very difficult and almost impossible. I want the ability with representatives
of the city to go back to New York City and tell the NBA
before they make this decision, "We've got a place
and we've got the people, "and we've got a much better city
in which to play basketball." But I can only do that if the legislature
gives us this authorization now. As elected officials we run,
not to duck from hard decisions, but to make hard decisions.
Is this a hard decision? Yes. But I think we made it a lot easier today. (♪ Hip-hop) The group started really just in the days
immediately after the sale. I had been approached months earlier
by Steve Pyeatt, who is the co-founder of Save Our Sonics. Four days after the sale was announced we had volunteers
passing out flyers and T-shirts. We felt we had to do something,
so sent out emails, got on the phone, got on radio,
and at about 15 hours' notice we got 300 people to pack up from Seattle,
drive down and hit the steps of Olympia. Save our Sonics! Save our Sonics! These were just sincere Sonics fans
that came down there, packed the steps. They chanted "Save our Sonics" so loud
it echoed off the Governor's mansion. Save our Sonics! Save our Sonics! Despite the efforts of loyal Sonics fans and the generous Ballmer arena deal, there was still not enough support
to convince Olympia to act. I understand how passionate
Sonics fans are. I've known that all along,
I'm a Sonics fan myself. I understand how passionate taxpayers are,
I've heard from them loud and clear. A lot of people wrote
to their legislators and said, "No money for professional sports teams." There was such a tremendous burnout
on this issue, in the way it developed with the team
going back year after year to Olympia, and people had heard it before, they'd heard about the team gonna move,
and they'd heard about this, that... people didn't wanna be
associated with this issue. I thought the Ballmer group
was proving the ways in which professional sports ownership
can be integral and important parts and passionate members of
the community, and it was ignored. I think it's unconscionable
that it never came to a vote in Olympia. Chopp, Chopp, Chopp -
you're done in my book, buddy! Long-time devotee of the mustache, Frank Chopp has been
the Speaker of the House since 2002. In that time, he's overseen the growth
of his Democratic majority and earned a reputation for maintaining
discipline over his delegation. If you want legislation passed in Olympia,
you have to get the Chopper on board. Frank Chopp actually runs the state. A lot of people think
our elected Governor runs the state, but that was abdicated
to Frank Chopp long ago. He is the gatekeeper. Nothing was gonna be voted on or passed
in the legislature without his approval, and he didn't approve. At the end of the day,
the Speaker of the House, Frank Chopp, didn't want to have a vote. I called Governor
Christine Gregoire's office to find out if lawmakers
might be called back to the capital for a special session to approve the plan. A spokesman told me - quote -
"No." This is a truly missed
opportunity for our city, the region, the state and the NBA. I'm disappointed to announce today that we're unable to meet
the April 10th deadline for securing the full public investment
in KeyArena. Seattle has been home to the NBA
for more than 40 years, and I'm committed
to working as hard as I can to see that tradition continue
long into the future. To use that old cliché,
it ain't over till it's over. We have a court date in June. We have a court date in June. We have a court date in June. We have a lease that calls for the team
to play another two seasons in KeyArena. Oklahoma City
got right up into Seattle's face today. Oklahomans announced their city has a
lease agreement to bring the Sonics there. Seattle is still suing to make sure the team
lives up to their lease agreement here, but that's not stopping
Clay Bennett and his gang. Could it be the smoking gun
that helps keep the Sonics in Seattle? Emails last April between Clay Bennett
and the team's other co-owners suggest that the plan was
to move the team to Oklahoma all along. Tom Ward starts the conversation
with the query, "Is there any way to move here
for the next season, "or are we doomed to have
another lame duck season in Seattle?" Clay Bennett responds, "I am a man
possessed, I will do everything we can. "Thanks for hanging with me, boys,
the game is getting started." Finally, Aubrey McClendon signals
his approval. "That's the spirit! "I'm willing to help any way I can
to watch ball here next year." In case you missed it, they were looking
to move the team to Oklahoma City. Those emails showed pretty
conclusively that they're liars. And...to an offensive level. I clearly recall that email exchange. My absolute feeling and notion
in that email is, "I'm a man possessed, "I am only beginning,
I will do everything I can to get this done... "in Seattle." There's been an enormous
misunderstanding of that, misrepresentation of that, it's been
misconstrued, I'm not sure which. But I was speaking about my commitment
to a process in Seattle. There's absolutely no way
that refers to staying in Seattle, it was clearly referring
to staying in Oklahoma City. Anyone who reads those emails
sees that clearly. Three or four days after
Mr. Bennett wrote that email he was consulting with the NBA to
figure out a way to get out of the lease. Mr. Bennett was clearly a man possessed
to bring the franchise to his home town. First of all, look at the group -
a group of Oklahoma City businessmen. They decided not to allow any Seattle partners in their group
when they purchased the team, although there were
willing Seattle partners. There was an Oklahoma City group that we
were talking to through the sale process. Clay Bennett was not a part of it. It was run by a guy named Ed Evans. I was approached by
the sellers' representatives of the Sonics and the Storm, and asked if we would be interested
in pursuing an opportunity here. When he said to us,
"I think it's a great market. "I'm gonna keep the team in Seattle,"
we believed him. We had people who knew him, he had
some history here, and it made sense. We've made a commitment to the NBA and we are making a commitment
to Seattle, to the Washington area, to do everything in our power to keep
this franchise in this city and in this area. We're doing late-night phone calls, all of a sudden Clay Bennett's
on the conference call. "Where'd he come from?" So it came up
at the very end that he was involved at all. And no one had ever shaken his hand
at that point. He pulled out at the behest of Clay Bennett. While the Professional Basketball Club's
emails were of the rah-rah variety, Bennett and Commissioner Stern
were busy corresponding on a more heartfelt,
deeply personal level. Stern to Bennett: "It pains me to see
the situation you are in "and I have difficulty conjuring
a happy ending in Seattle, "but I appreciate your efforts,
and very greatly value our friendship." Bennett to Stern: "You know how I feel
about our relationship "both personally and professionally. "I view you as a role model
and as an extraordinarily gifted executive, "a deep and compassionate thinker. "You are just one of my
favorite people on earth, "and I so cherish our relationship." I think it showed that there was
a relationship between those two men that may have been closer
than Stern had with other owners. I thought it was fucked up,
to be honest with you! (Laughs) Those two guys were joined at the hip,
Clay Bennett worshiped David Stern and followed him around like a puppy, trying to do anything
to get in his good graces. Those emails... um... they show a level of deception and just dishonesty
and bad faith that to me... I hope they haunt those guys
for their career. On the same day these emails leaked, Governor Christine Gregoire
made a campaign stop in Seattle. The event was well attended
by an unexpected constituency - Sonics fans. (Girl) Save our Sonics! (Cheering) (Crowd) Save our Sonics!
Save our Sonics! (Cheering) (Loud cheering) The team's impending move
was now a campaign issue, but as campaign season was gearing up,
the NBA season was winding down. The team had lost 18 of 20 on their way
to a franchise-worst 20 and 62 record. If it was the Sonics last game in Seattle,
they put on a heck of a show. Sonics really feeding off the fans tonight. Kevin Durant breaks free
and throws one down for the crowd. (Crowd) Save our Sonics! Save our Sonics! (Chanting continues) It would be a shame if this is it,
because this is a great place to play. I almost cried, to be honest with you. People are saying this might
be the last game in Seattle. You know, the fans came out tonight. (Newsreader) Gary Payton
was in the house to show his support, and the fans gave him the love
right on back. Knowing it might be the last time that team
played there, it was a different feeling for me. I didn't want it to happen.
That's why I was there. (Chanting) The whole game I just kept thinking,
"You're way too late. "This is way too late." "Pitiful cries to a disinterested God." That's what I kept thinking. (Crowd) Save our Sonics!
Save our Sonics! It's hard for me to understand
why the NBA ownership would want to leave a market
that they've been in for 41 years. The economics of team ownership
at the present time, except in very unusual circumstances, require some kind of public assistance. The NBA makes plenty of money
to build arenas. Plenty of money!
There's a ton of money in that game. They could fund their own arenas. It's the NBA that is insisting
on a second-tier city business model, taking the second-tier cities
or third-tier cities, pitting them financially,
one against the other. There's no reason
to have cities pay for these. Except that now
you're in this competitive world where if you want a team,
the NBA squeezes the city and says, "If you want a team,
you gotta pay for it." It's terrible. You know, we had successful
votes in San Antonio, Houston, we have Oklahoma City, Orlando, I mean, there's been a string. Usually with the support, rather than
the opposition, of the city leaders. That wasn't to be in Seattle. They're on this cycle where they keep
inflating, inflating, inflating. And it's gonna crash. The problem with this issue is that it is a national issue...
fought locally. Billions and billions and billions of dollars, in our opinion,
have been wasted on these facilities. I think we ought to be able to do it, have the NBA exist on its own without
being subsidized. I think it would work. On the New York Times front page I was quoted calling these folks
"worse than a neighborhood crack dealer," and I truly think they are. Not because sports is a bad thing, not because the Sonics are a bad thing, but because you've got
some financial wizards, who just got their hooks in there. According to the KeyArena lease, the Sonics are supposed to play here
another two seasons, but the ownership group has already said
it wants to move to Oklahoma City. Later this week,
the NBA will vote on the matter. As the NBA's Board of Governors gathers
to vote on allowing the franchise to move, former owner Howard Schultz
is preparing a lawsuit to regain the team. Schultz, after being bashed in the local
press for selling the team to Bennett, shocked everyone by announcing
he would sue Bennett and the PBC for breach of contract. Schultz claimed the leaked emails proved Bennett never intended
to keep the team here, thus violating the condition of the sale requiring him to make
a good-faith effort to keep the team in Seattle. Legal scholars were split on whether
it was... had any sort of chance or not. I don't know if it had
a chance in succeeding. I never would have said this before I looked over what
Schultz and Yarmuth have done, but I think they have
a better than 50% chance of success. The Schultz lawsuit will be going on
the theory that they were misrepresented. Those emails tend to substantiate
that the current owners had no intention of keeping the team
in the Seattle region. The lawsuit, coupled with the city
and Mayor Nickels' staunch determination to hold the team to their lease,
finally gave Sonics fans a reason to hope. Seattle's mayor released a statement today
effectively high-fiving this legal challenge. Greg Nickels also applauded the Governor. While they wouldn't offer money
to keep the Sonics in town, state leaders wrote to the NBA asking
that the team be prevented from leaving. Unfazed, David Stern
and the NBA's Board of Governors met as planned in New York. (Reporter) Save Our Sonics leader
Brian Robinson kept a lonely Sonics vigil outside the hotel where the owners met. I would stand in the middle of the street
in my Sonics jacket and gear, and I would force them to walk around me
and try to make eye contact. I didn't say any words,
I just made them walk around me. You could tell they were bothered by this.
This wasn't an easy deal for them. (Reporter) The vote: 28 to 2. Blazers owner Paul Allen
and Mavericks owner Mark Cuban were the only ones against it. I just want to say
on behalf of our ownership group, how honored we are
with the vote of the Board of Governors, and the support
of our application to relocate. Do you feel like you genuinely
have negotiated in good faith to do all you possibly can to not relocate? No question about it, no question about it.
I think about it all the time. We could not engender
the leadership of the marketplace to support the development
of a new building. There was the press
conference afterwards, and none of the owners
would talk to us beforehand about what happened inside
these closed-door meetings. Let's settle it once and for all
with KeyArena. There is a $300 million proposal out there. Is that something
that could solve the problem? There's no proposal out there right now. I don't think you would mean
to misrepresent that to me, would you? When I went into this room,
I wasn't planning on having any sort of adversarial or confrontational
questioning with David Stern. I thought they were questions that a lot of people had wanted answered
for several months. The city of Seattle believes that
this $300 million KeyArena proposal, if it was funded, would be good enough
to house an NBA team going forward. Would KeyArena,
if that proposal ever finds the funding, it's been talked about for several years,
but would it be viable for an NBA... I'm not going to talk about how many
angels you can fit upon the head of a pin. That is a perpetual subject that gets
discussed and discussed and discussed. And nothing ever gets done,
and hasn't been done. Over the last week,
several emails have come out, including a lengthy exchange
between you and Mr. Bennett, and emails between Mr. Bennett
and his fellow owners. Have you had a chance to read those yet? My response, as I've been reminded,
wasn't lengthy at all, so... Have you read through those emails, especially those between Mr. Bennett
and the other owners? Live or not, I don't like to be interrupted,
and I'm not going to interrupt you. Why don't we just go to the next question? He was representing certain economic
interests that exist in that room, and the owners wanting to move... If you're stuck in one city the value of your team is less
than if you can move to another city. I'm trying hard to, on the one hand,
not close the door, but I'm giving this press conference
in the face of... a...scorched-earth policy, that has been announced by the former
senator who's leading the charge. I think that Senator Gorton and the Mayor are determined to exact
whatever pound of flesh is possible here. And they will, and then the team will leave. I think the NBA has to make an example
of a couple of teams every now and then. And I think we were the example. They have to move a team, so that they
have a credible threat against other cities. You said Seattle was a great city
with great fans, but if even great cities with great fans
can lose their long-time team, what does that say to other cities? Well, I guess...
I guess... since most of our cities have... or the great majority
have state-of-the-art facilities... uh... that enable their teams
to compete in our league... uh, I think it says
"Congratulations" to them. As difficult as this is for Seattle,
and I know it is, as a sports fan it's very difficult, and I appreciate the history and the fans
and the people connected, but, uh, decisions have now been made and the path is clear as to what's
gonna take place in the next two years. And we have to move on. I want to be very clear that today's vote
by the NBA Board of Governors does not change our efforts to keep the Sonics' home
here at KeyArena. We're gonna go and we're gonna
fight our case in federal court in June. We think we've got a strong case. And if we're successful in that, we think that gives us a couple of seasons to find answers to these questions. The NBA had officially
approved relocation, but there was still
the small matter of the lease, which required the Sonics to play
two more years at KeyArena. This one was headed where
so many disputes end up - the courtroom. It was time for both sides to lawyer up. The city was putting money...
investing in KeyArena, for basically one tenant -
the Seattle SuperSonics, so it was important to the city
to get a specific performance lease. If you looked at the lease and read it, there is a specific clause that says the Sonics would play
all 41 of their home games at KeyArena for 15 years, and that the lease itself could be
what's called "specifically performed," which means that a court
would have the power to order the parties to perform
their obligations under the lease. This is not a shopping mall,
this is not like a Gap that can be replaced by a Banana Republic
or some other store. This was a stadium that the city
and the people had invested in specifically for a basketball team. This move by Clay Bennett
was totally for his monetary benefit. As in any long-term business relationship, and, quite frankly, as in any marriage, the parties start out
with the greatest of expectations, but things changed. Over the 13 years that the Sonics
had operated at KeyArena under this lease, the world had changed around them. The economics of professional basketball
had changed. The competitiveness of KeyArena
as a sports venue had changed. Mr. Bennett knew the terms
of the KeyArena lease when he bought the team
from Howard Schultz. The terms of the lease did not change. This was a big trial
in a very dramatic fashion. The city called as its first witness
the Mayor of the City of Seattle. How often does that happen? What they hadn't counted on was that he became a vehicle for us, to immediately introduce into the case... all of the themes that were the cornerstones
of the defense's case. I was immediately able
to get the Mayor to admit that the relationship no longer worked. It had become economically dysfunctional. The city was losing money,
the team was losing money. The relationship doesn't work anymore. He's running a city, he doesn't have
the luxury of being able to spend days preparing for his testimony, so a couple of times he was tripped up
on things he had said in his deposition, that were, I don't think,
substantively very different. We came up on a recess and I'm thinking, "I think this is going OK,
but I'm not that certain." And during the break,
I was able to go into the witness room, log on to the blogs and read what
the press and the bloggers were saying, about how the Mayor was
getting diced up pretty good in there. On trial, with a good lawyer like Brad Keller
cross-examining you, is everyone's nightmare. A good lawyer can make Mother Teresa
look bad if they have the right information. Greg Nickels said in the trial...
he was asked by Keller, "Why do you want to keep the Sonics
in a broken, dysfunctional relationship?" He said, "Something might happen." (Cheering) - Super!
- Sonics! - Super!
- Sonics! Save our Sonics! - Super!
- Sonics! - Super!
- Sonics! Save our Sonics! Save our Sonics! Save our Sonics! Save our Sonics! (Man on megaphone)
When I say "Gary" you say "Payton". - Gary!
- Payton! - Gary!
- Payton! (Chanting continues) (Cheering) (Loud cheering) (Cheering) (Chanting continues) (Running footsteps) (Crowd) Weasel! Weasel! Weasel! Weasel! Weasel! Weasel! (Panting) (Cameraman) Keep the team here!
Keep the team here! Keep the team here!
Save our Sonics! Save our Sonics! Keep the team here!
You hear me, Bennett? (Cameraman) Nice work! He is a sophisticated business person, who understands what he's doing
when he signs a contract. He signed a deal
and he can't get out of it a year later, for problems that he knew existed
at the time he signed them. If anyone bothered to read
the testimony of Clay Bennett, they would have seen
it was very damaging. Clay Bennett was absolutely adamant from the very beginning that his "man possessed" email
was referring to how he was not gonna give up
trying to get approval for a new arena in Renton or in the Seattle area. I don't think there's any doubt
about what his intent was. His intent was to get a team
to Oklahoma City. Even sitting in the courtroom
looking over at Clay Bennett, I couldn't muster up
a hard-on of hate for him. Number one, he's so pathetic-looking. When I learn more about him... He really
lives off his wife's family's money. The city called acclaimed author
and Sonics season ticket holder, Sherman Alexie, to testify
on the value of pro-basketball. That was our primary means
of communication. Emotionally, physically,
athletically, spiritually, everything had to do somewhat
with basketball. So nearly every single conversation
we ever had was related to basketball. It was our way of talking about anything.
It was also our surrogate. We could say "I love you" because
we were talking about Magic Johnson. Day after day, week after week,
year after year, the way in which my friends and I
related to each other emotionally almost entirely through basketball. Everything we cared about, loved,
was filtered through the lens of basketball. I was talking about thousands of years of human appreciation
of extraordinary physical ability, and that's part of why we love it. I thought the trial was a tremendous
embarrassment for the NBA. For God's sake,
they had the owner of the NBA team, call as a witness one of the nation's
fiercest anti-sports critics, to testify that the NBA brought
no value whatsoever to the city. It's totally contrary to what the NBA tells
all the communities throughout the nation that have teams
or that are trying to get teams. To a fan, it has value. To someone who's worried about social
services drying up in our community, and they're not a fan,
it doesn't have any value. The Sonics have value,
they're worth...hundreds of millions, because of 41 years of fans. How do you measure that? As the trial came to a close, Keller would make the case that the city
colluded with Gorton and Ballmer to bleed the team and force them to sell. You have to have clean hands. You have to be above reproach. Otherwise it would be potentially unfair
for you to get the relief you're asking. The "unclean hands" argument was that this was a big conspiracy
to cost the Sonics money. It was not. It was a concerted effort
to try to keep them here. What the "Poisoned Well" memo did was, quite graphically... lay out what was
a fairly Machiavellian strategy that was being orchestrated by Slade Gorton
and Steve Ballmer's lieutenants, and Wally Walker, to use the lawsuit to try and bleed the Oklahoma
ownership group to death, by making it lose money,
embarrassing it in a public forum, and making it so uncomfortable that they would throw up their hands,
and say, "We give up, we'll sell out." "Poisoned well."
Those were Bennett's own words. They were in the PowerPoint
which Mike McGavick had drafted, because Clay Bennett himself said
"the well is poisoned for me in Seattle." (Reporter) Walker refused to admit
he put together a scorched-earth plan. It's absolutely ludicrous. Clay Bennett needs to keep the team here. I hope he makes a ton of money,
but keep them here. We thought it could be a good deal for him. Get local ownership to take you out of
an untenable and expensive situation. You're losing money, so...
why not consider it? We couldn't force him to do anything. Ballmer wasn't trying to do anything
but do good for the community by coming in and putting a lot of money... much more money than Clay Bennett
ever was willing to commit, much more than Howard Schultz was
willing to commit, to try to save the team, so the whole demonization
of Steve Ballmer was a total fiction in Brad Keller
and his team's mind. I actually came up with the idea of having the diagram
that was gonna pictorially display Slade Gorton's brain and putting a line
down the middle of it, and having the right hemisphere
represent the city, the left hemisphere representing
the Ballmer group, just to point out the absurdity
of the city's argument that the right side of his brain didn't know
what the left side was doing. Clay Bennett's attorneys were far better. And I don't cover a lot of federal trials, and a lot of the reporters there
don't cover federal trials, but the mood in the room
with all the reporters was that the city of Seattle
was getting schooled. That was theatrics,
that was playing to the media. When people feel like maybe they're losing, a common thing they do is say, "Oh. The lawyer on the other side
is being theatrical." I take that as a compliment. While Bennett and Keller's
courtroom demeanor, and their questions and the drama
were really impressive, on a legal basis
they didn't have much case. They were reliant on the fact that the
Mayor hadn't been to a basketball game. Who cares? The media is not the decision-maker;
it's the judge. We were gonna win this case
by convincing Judge Pechman that the Sonics are a unique tenant and the city is entitled
to specific performance. What had happened here was you had a relationship
that had become dysfunctional, both economically
and on an inter-organizational level, and you had a situation where the landlord was trying to enforce the lease
for an improper purpose. With a one-week break after
closing arguments, the city, the NBA and the PBC nervously awaited
Judge Pechman's verdict. After a week of speculation
on how Judge Pechman would rule, the moment of truth had finally arrived. But with less than an hour
before the verdict announcement, Mayor Nickels and Clay Bennett
called simultaneous press conferences. Today I am announcing a settlement with Mr. Bennett
and the Professional Basketball Club. In exchange for terminating the lease
two years early, Mr. Bennett has agreed
to a settlement package with a payment of up to $75 million
to the city of Seattle. We made it. (Laughter) Congratulations. The NBA will be in Oklahoma City
next season, playing their games. (Applause, whooping) Under the agreement, $45 million
will be paid to the city immediately. Our agreement calls for Mr. Bennett
and his co-owners to pay an additional $30 million
in five years, 2013, if the NBA has not approved
a team to play in Seattle. The transition and the move
of this operation and this team, begins tomorrow morning,
from Seattle to Oklahoma City. I always thought
there would be a settlement, but I never thought the settlement
would just be us caving. They let a team
with a 41-year legacy...leave, without a fight, without finding out
what the court had to say, without a court's ruling. With the ability to appeal. It was mind-boggling. It was clear to me the city
was gonna win the case, and to settle it without seeing the result
of that trial made no sense. I wanted to see that decision,
it was sitting on her desk when we told her about the settlement.
I wanted to grab it and look at it. I think I know how it would have come out. Maybe if Pechman ruled in our favor,
that would have been the day. The NBA would have come back and said, "We'll give Bennett
an expansion franchise." I think it was a 50-50 shot that
the city of Seattle would have won. I think they knew that. They were getting
beat up towards the end of that trial, by not only Pechman,
but also by the reporters afterwards. The way the trial unfolded had a big impact on what the city did. Look, going into this trial,
you read this lease it says you'll play 41
home games in Seattle, it says the lease can, and should be,
specifically enforced. Nobody gave us much of a chance
going into this trial. There's a fair chance she could have ruled
in Brad Keller and Clay Bennett's favor. I was a little naive because
I wanted the team to stay so badly. I think we all naively thought,
"Somehow this is gonna get fixed, "just like the Mariners and the Seahawks
were fixed. It's gonna happen." The last guy to stand up was Greg Nickels.
By God, he was gonna stand till the end. The Mayor said for so long
that this is not about money. This is not about mo... He said it time and time again.
"This is not about money." But at the end...it was about money. I believed that, all along,
enforcing our lease would create time for us
to come to a better arrangement. We now have that deal. For months and months he said, "We are doing this for the public
because we think we're right." But at the end, they settled. Politically, he just didn't have
the willpower that the NBA had. He was saying,
"Damn you, I will hold you to this lease. "If it costs me $100 million, I don't care,
'cause it'll cost you 200." The League was saying, "We will
never come back here if you do that." It was a game of chicken,
and our city blinked. Nickels sold this city out. Period. Period. Our goals at the city
for this settlement were two: to protect the taxpayers' investment
in KeyArena, and have a long-term future
for professional basketball in Seattle. If I had felt any degree of psychic pain on the part of our city's leadership
at that moment, I could have dealt with it. You know? But there was no pain,
there was no grief. Somebody on the dais there
said something, and Nickels and Burgess,
whoever was up there sort of laughed. (Laughter) They went, "Ha, ha, ha!" That fake political laughter. "Nickels and dimes" sold out the city.
To just let the Sonics go without a fight? We had the battle won. It would have been
like back in the days of the Trojans. If they wouldn't have brought
that big wooden horse in there, they would have never won the battle.
We had the wooden horse, and basically Nickels crapped himself
out of the back end of it. At the end of the day, all that
would have got us was two years. And at the end of that two years we would have had
a very bad relationship with the League, no team and really no prospects. From day one, our principal goal
was keeping the Sonics here or getting another NBA franchise
as soon as possible. We think we have the pieces
to be more likely to be successful than had we waited
until the Judge's ruling at four. Even at that press conference,
he made it seem like a good thing. "This is OK, we're gonna get another team,
the NBA still likes us now. "Hey, if we had fought this for two years,
they wouldn't like us. They like us now!" That's at the point...
Even my naiveté went out the window. I was like, "Come on! You sold us down the
river and you think this is a good thing?" All for...what?
The right to pay off the lease on KeyArena? To add a few more dollars
into the operating budget? It was very shortsighted. No one's happy
that we're losing the Sonics. The Mayor has repeatedly stressed
the importance of keeping the Sonics here, short of that, this is a very good deal. The agreement not only required
the owners to pay the city $45 million, it also put them on the hook
for an additional $30 million in five years. Now the State Legislature must act. If it fails to approve public funding
next year to remodel KeyArena, we will lose our rights to that second
30 million, if we do not get a team. In 2009, the State Legislature
once again failed to take advantage of Steve Ballmer's $150 million offer, citing a $9 billion budget shortfall. The city said, "We have a deal. "It's great. All that needs to happen
is those people over there "have to tax themselves
to solve this problem." I didn't get so much
interest from people on that. The City of Seattle offended a lot of people with how they handled that settlement
down in Olympia. It was a gamble that Clay Bennett
was willing to roll the dice on. I think he knew,
I think he sensed that our state leaders wouldn't get their act together in time
and, sure enough, that's what played out. How can we let Clay Bennett off the hook? Clay Bennett owed the city $30 million. Clay Bennett, the most evil person
to ever set foot in this city, and we let... "Oh, go ahead. We don't need
that money." We don't need that money? How about the Citizens For More Important
Things? Give them the 30 million! It's like political malpractice. It's unbelievable that our legislature
would not jump at that deal. We're talking about $180 million that we just let fly away. I put the primary blame at this point on the Washington State Legislature,
and especially its leadership. The Mayor stood up,
they refused to do their part. The agreement
was based on the supposition that we could have the legislature
pass the $75 million, the 6116. When that didn't happen, it went from being a really good agreement to being a really bad agreement.
And that's a fact of life. Hindsight's 20-20.
Whatever phrase you want to use. But to look back at that settlement now, if the City of Seattle
would not have taken that buy-out, I don't think Bennett and McClendon
would have held on to the team. I get mad now, looking back. If we hadn't settled,
if we'd made them stay to their lease, the chances of them selling
would be huge, as soon as the economy collapsed. Had they followed through with the court
case, even if they'd lost and appealed, the Sonics would have played
one more year in Seattle. There was no way it could
have been resolved by then. That would have been 2008/9.
We all know what happened. Within four months of that year, one of
their main owners, Aubrey McClendon - who was the only honest guy, said "We're
here to steal 'em" - lost 90% of his fortune. What do you think it woulda been like
for Bennett and those guys if they were still in Seattle last year
when they lost all their found money? Aubrey McClendon lost his fortune,
and he may have lost his gumption. He was the moneybags
behind Clay Bennett. The decision to let them out is the reason
we don't have a basketball team here. It's tragic, it really should
have worked out differently. The City of Seattle, Greg Nickels,
are the number one people to blame. One bright note
for all you Sonic fans out there, Seattle Sonic merchandise on sale. 50-90% off at the team store. We're lifelong Sonics fans. It's just such a sad day,
I had to get some kind of memorabilia that'll be life... life... lifelong. Several weeks later,
on the Friday of a holiday weekend, Howard Schultz quietly dropped his lawsuit, dashing any last hopes of a miracle
court ruling to save the Sonics and further lessening Schultz's stature
in the eyes of the Sonics faithful. I had a lot of hope that Howard
started that lawsuit with the intention of,
as I said, redemption, of winning this
because it was the right thing to do. I talked to a minority owner or two
that was part of his group. They thought it was just a PR stunt,
that Schultz was looking really bad. He dropped it on a holiday weekend, when it was gonna be
buried in the news cycle under strong threats from the NBA
of further financial repercussions. Howard and I had a good relationship
when we worked together. We don't now. Mostly as a result of the way the thing
came down with the Seattle franchise. He forgot that he had a responsibility
to the citizens of this city. And I blame him, and judge him
and condemn him for that. The reason we're at this table
is we arrived at a place with a buyer, who really wants to stay here. The five-year plan, the public trust...
Don't believe any of it, he didn't. Five years ago, when I sat here
and was in a position to buy the team, I remember saying that I view this
as my responsibility as part of the public trust. (Echoing) ..part of the public trust... Howard Schultz may have referred to the notion of the sports team
being a public trust. But one can't help but notice that when it
came to digging into his own pocketbook to try and keep the public trust,
and keep the team here, he was the first person
to close his wallet up, take his marbles and go home. He was a salesman, a guy that can get you
to buy a cup of coffee for 35 bucks, so why would you believe anything
Howard Schultz told you? I think there was a level
of personal frustration that built up, that caused him
to make the move to sell the team. If you were to catch him on a day where he
was telling the truth, he'd say he regrets it. Just two months after the settlement, the Oklahomans renamed the franchise. The team once known as the Sonics was now the Oklahoma City Thunder. It was a shock to the system. I was disappointed.
I loved being in Seattle, like I said. It's like an emptiness,
there's a definite emptiness. It's not the same without the NBA here. I really didn't think it was going to happen. I really thought, you know,
somebody would save it. It's unbelievable. People try
and compare it to other teams leaving, like the recent ones, and you can't. There aren't many teams that have been
in one place for four decades. No more Sonics
makes no sense at all to me. I mean...from Jack Sikma... to Freddie Brown...to Bill Russell to... There's great history
and tradition to the Sonics. And why we now don't have it
bothers the hell out of me. Not easy. I, uh... I mean, it is death. I mean, it's been a year and a half
of a funeral, a wake. And the weather is depressing,
the winters are depressing. They're grey and monotonous. I try to appeal to them through
my columns and talking to people, trying to find, "What's the thing you love?
The thing you love the most? "What's that thing?
And what would you do for it, "to keep it, to have it? What's that thing?" We had Ray Allen here. Ray Allen is very likely the best shooter
who has ever lived. There was likely nobody on the planet who has ever been able to do
this one thing better than Ray Allen. Imagine that.
In this city lived a human being who was better at their thing than any other
human being who has ever lived. He lived here, he played here.
There were 41 nights a year, 50, when you could have gone and seen that. The ultimate expression
of human endeavor. The ultimate expression of a human skill,
of human dedication. The way in which one man,
through years of hard work, through his own passion,
through his own poetry, became the very best in human history
at one thing. And people let that go. I hope a team gets back here. I think the
market will support it, it did for 41 years. Seattle has more millionaires
than any other city, so the resources are here,
but it's not always just about money. Whoever wants
to put the package together, I think they can walk into the towers of the
NBA in New York City and convince them that Seattle needs to have
a basketball team again. I don't think it'll be too long
before another team gets to Seattle. But if we don't proactively go out
and try to make it happen, I don't think it's something
they're just gonna grant us. To bring a team back here,
to get a new arena, it's hard to say what it's gonna take.
It's gonna take each and every one of us that do care about this team and this city,
to get the NBA back, to do our part. I think a lot of people here
and around the League hold out hope that eventually
a team will return to Seattle, and that that team will once again
be referred to as the Seattle Sonics. The thing is, if we get a team,
it's gonna be somebody else's team. It's not gonna be a new franchise, so... I read, I keep up,
so I know who's in trouble. We're gonna get New Orleans, Milwaukee,
Indiana, Memphis, Sacramento. To get a team, I'm gonna have
to break the hearts of people just like me, who will then have to
go in front of cameras and talk about their pain like this. That's the only way
we're gonna get a team. (♪ Common Market: Nina Sing) ♪ Uh, yeah ♪ Sad songs say so much ♪ Uh, yeah ♪ Yes, uh, yeah ♪ Air of iniquity
is thick in my circumference ♪ Untouched are none when
they summoned up to punishment ♪ Sons sent to war
for the grunt work of the government ♪ All debts repaid
on the last day of judgment ♪ I've heard purported
it's approaching with celerity ♪ Proselytes testify with utmost sincerity ♪ I don't think he's coming,
y'all try me for heresy ♪ What's all the stalling for,
a little more disparity? ♪ Back in the Armageddon,
tell 'em we exhausted every option ♪ Since the trade wind
laid claim to caution ♪ Damned since the Gnostics
allied with the sergeants ♪ I'm tired of waiting,
slide the blade across it now ♪ Sing it ♪ I can't take this rain ♪ I can't stand this rain ♪ All this work in vain ♪ This world is insane ♪ Puppets on a string ♪ Pain and suffering ♪ Nothing left to bring ♪ Let my Nina... ♪
(Gunshot) (♪ Jake One: Home) ♪ Rise and shine, bitches
Check out how Seattle do ♪ The flow sick shit, call it Seattle flu ♪ Outta town, acting wild,
my Seattle crew ♪ Run this Jake track
just like Seattle slew ♪ And the green that we blow
from Seattle too ♪ That was grown in a lab at Seattle U ♪ At Qwest Field, 12th man
my Seattle dude ♪ Nate Burleson
wearing that Seattle blue ♪ Bosworth made all of Seattle boo ♪ The Sonics let Kemp go
♪ Seattle's through ♪ I read Seattle Times,
I watch Seattle News ♪ I hope Seattle win, I watch Seattle lose ♪ Damn, it feels good to talk about home ♪ Damn it feels good to talk about home ♪ (♪ The Presidents of the
United States of America: SuperSonics) ♪ Whoo! ♪ So welcome to the game ♪ Ladies and gentlemen, shout the name ♪ Seattle SuperSonics ♪ Are basketball bionic ♪ And Gary Payton was on ♪ Bounce pass up court to Shawn ♪ And the crowd sang along ♪ SuperSonics
Oh, yeah ♪ SuperSonics ♪ Not just a regular team
Whoo! (Commentary) Nate McMillan.
Payton free, over to Schrempf. In the corner, Gary wide open,
he delivers! Yes! Gary Payton hits the three...
Ay caramba! ♪ Fifteen seconds to play ♪ Detlef with the baseline J ♪ Up court fast break invaders ♪ The slam dunk terminators ♪ Fans can rattle the roof ♪ Nothing but net, Big Smooth ♪ Five guys in a groove ♪ SuperSonics
Oh, yeah ♪ SuperSonics ♪ Not just a regular team (Commentary) Get up, Reign Man,
and make 'em good! - Golly, is that kid strong!
- Oh! It's getting weird in here! Oh Ali Baba! Nobody do the voodoo like you do! ♪ SuperSonics
Oh, yeah ♪ SuperSonics
Oh, yeah ♪ SuperSonics
Oh, yeah ♪ SuperSonics
Oh, yeaaah! ♪ SuperSonics
Oh, yeaaah! ♪ SuperSonics
Oh, yeaaah! ♪ SuperSonics... - What's the sasquatch doing now?
- I wonder. Out panhandling with his sasquatch
outfit on, in 180-degree weather. It's very sad. A lot of people get hurt.
Sasquatches and... It's not just the team. ♪ SuperSonics ♪ Not just a regular team,
your Seattle SuperSonics!
