Graphic courtesy of okiedoke.com From ESPN: Over the weekend, several different TrueHoop readers sent me a link to the same article, by Erik D. Williams and Frank Hughes in the News Tribune. It's an article based on information supplied by an anonymous Sonic employee who was part of meetings last week with team chairman Clay Bennett, who represents the Oklahoma City-based group that bought the Sonics and Storm last year. In the meeting, Bennett reportedly outlined some things Oklahoma City was prepared to do to entice the Sonics to move. That would reportedly include paying a long list of expensive things: legal fees associated with breaking the arena lease, settlement costs to the lease holders, moving expenses for Sonic employees, relocation fees due the NBA, a renovation of the existing arena in Oklahoma City, and eventually a new arena there too. (If this is really the city's offer to the Sonics, wow. That's a lot of money! None of those things are cheap and these days arenas are $500 million or more. Meanwhile, an article published just last Friday says 16 of Oklahoma City's schools are failing to meet basic federal education standards.) Williams and Hughes explain the circumstances of the discussions, and Bennett's reaction to the leaked information: Read more...

Labels: Supersonics Clay Bennett

Posted at 8/27/2007 02:14:00 PM