Seattle Sues To Slow Sonics

The NBA’s Seattle SuperSonics want to leave KeyArena but city officials are putting up a fight.

"The city, with the help of some fine lawyers, is standing up to a pro sports team," city attorney Tom Carr said at a news conference. "Too often, pro sports teams have run over local governments."

The basketball franchise has a lease at the arena, inside the Seattle Center, through September 30, 2010, according to the city’s complaint. However, Sonics chairman Clay Bennett said he has asked for an arbitration panel to rule that the team doesn’t have to play its last two seasons at the arena because the contract allows a negotiated buyout.

A ruling in the team’s favor would mean the Sonics could exit for Oklahoma City – a market Bennett has allegedly had his eye on – unless Seattle builds the Sonics a new arena. NBA Commissioner David Stern has called the Sonics’ lease agreement at KeyArena the worst for any team in the league.

"The issues with the Sonics’ profitability at KeyArena have less to do with KeyArena than with the Sonics’ ability to defend the high pick and roll," Carr said.

Former U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton is siding with the city, saying at a news conference that while many disputes that could arise under the lease are subject to arbitration, the duration of the lease is clearly excluded.

"[The Sonics] made the kind of demands that, from my perspective, were almost designed not to be met," Gorton said.

The SuperSonics finished last in the Northwest division last season, with a record of 31-51.