http://www.nwcn.com/topstories/stories/NW_070208SSB_seattle_sonics_verdict_preview_TP...

SEATTLE - The City of Seattle and the owners of the SuperSonics have reached
a settlement on the KeyArena lease lawsuit, according to the judge who heard
the case.

Judge Marsha Pechman confirmed the settlement in an online posting
Wednesday.

Citing a City Hall source, the SeattleTimes reports the SuperSonics will
leave Seattle as part of the agreement. In exchange, the city would receive
up to $75 million -- less if the city gets another NBA team.

Both Mayor Greg Nickels and Sonics owners are set to hold simultaneous press
conferences at 5 p.m. More details are expected then.

"To have a bad relationship between the city and the tenants of KeyArena,
the Sonics, playing there for two more years. that would be a bad scenario,"
said former Sonic James Donaldson. "I think a settlement probably lends to
the team moving on to Oklahoma City pretty quickly."

The co-founders of Save Our Sonics say they were told to meet with Mayor
Greg Nickels and Deputy Mayor Tim Ceis at 4:15 p.m. for what was described
as an urgent meeting.

"Terraholm" hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:6d2igmFhqgcU1@mid.individual.net...

Seattle keeps the name and records and claim they will work at getting
another team.
The league has "now" said the arena is a viable nba arena. Balmer's group
is still willing to buy a team or an expansion team.

OKC pay 45 mil now and if they fix the arena and have no team in 5 years get
another 30 mil.

"Terraholm" hotmail.com> wrote in
news:6d2igmFhqgcU1@mid.individual.net:

I'm glad they kept the team in the Pacific time zone...hate those early texas
start times

VicXnews news.com> wrote in news:2RUak.11313$Fj5.10554@newsfe23.lga:

of course that should read I wish...'I'm glad' was wishful thinking...

VicXnews wrote:

Yes it was nice of the league to stretch the North West past Colorado and
Minnesota to Oklahoma...
We now own half the country...

"Terraholm" hotmail.com> wrote in news:6d2kdaFe9ukU1
@mid.individual.net:

On Jul 2, 4:49 pm, "Terraholm" hotmail.com> wrote:

Did the guy who called himself Coz win that election someone posted
about a while back? Will he move to OKC? I remember all that trash
talking he used to post about how L.A. couldn't compare to Seattle in
terms of fan support back in 95/96.

Even speaking as a Lakers fan, who has seen the Seattle Supersonics as
a division rival for years (although not much in the past ten years),
it's sad to see the Sonics leave the city of Seattle. The people up
there did love their team, which enjoyed some pretty decent success
(though not that many championships, thanks in no small part to our
Lakers) during the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. Moreover, I have family
in Seattle (used to visit every summer when I was a kid) and in those
rare years when the Lakers didn't make it to the Finals or missed the
playoffs, the Sonics were a good second team I could get behind
(provided they didn't eliminate the Lakers in the playoffs...which
didn't happen too many times, thankfully).

I'm going to miss the whole concept of "Seattle Supersonics."
"Oklahoma City Supersonics" just won't ever sound right.

On Jul 2, 5:06 pm, "Terraholm" hotmail.com> wrote:

Now that the Sonics have left Seattle will we get to watch Blazer
games up here on FSN?