http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/basketball/360032_arena22.html
Slade Gorton: Goal now is finding a replacement for Sonics
By GREG JOHNS
P-I REPORTER
Former U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton, the man accused by NBA commissioner David Stern of enforcing a "scorched-earth policy" toward the NBA's future in Seattle, said Monday he'll be happy to negotiate with Clay Bennett if settlement talks include guarantee of a replacement franchise.
Gorton, whose K&L Gates law firm is heading the city's legal fight to enforce the KeyArena lease, believes Seattle still must come up with an arena funding solution to present the NBA commissioner in order to focus on getting a new team to replace the Sonics.
"While I'd still love to see the Sonics stay, I think that is highly unlikely," Gorton said in the wake of the 28-2 vote by NBA owners Friday to approve relocation of the franchise to Oklahoma City. "What we're trying to accomplish now, in my view, is to get another team in their place.
"That will, however, require the governor and Legislature to come up with a way for Seattle to pay its share of the KeyArena remodel."
The timing of the Sonics' move to Oklahoma is contingent on the team being legally cleared of its KeyArena lease issue, which is headed to U.S. District Court in mid-June to settle a lawsuit between the city and Bennett's ownership group.
Stern accused Gorton of wanting to "exact whatever pound of flesh is possible" on Friday, but the 80-year-old lawyer sounded willing to work with the league Monday after returning from a weekend business trip in Charlottesville, Va.
Though he declined to say when or if the city would reach out to Bennett on a settlement agreement, Gorton acknowledged such talks are possible. Pursuing a legal battle for the sole purpose of binding the team to two final money-losing years in KeyArena isn't part of his motivation.
"If a replacement team is part of the package, of course we'd talk," Gorton said. "My goal from the very beginning has been to have a team. Revenge, I'm not interested in as such. The city has a financial stake in all this. The mayor and I are in complete accord that what we want is a team."
Many Sonics fans simply want to force Bennett's group to play at KeyArena through its lease, even if the result would be losing the franchise at that point while the city still owed $25 million on the building's debt. But while Gorton isn't about to abandon the litigation, he sees it more as a carrot than a stick.
"It isn't over until the fat lady sings, and at this point, there is the trial date and the city's lawsuit to enforce the terms of the KeyArena lease," Gorton said. "I think the goal of the entire community, and certainly my goal, is to see whether some time between now and then there's a way to come up with a situation in which the controversy over the Sonics is settled in some fashion that Seattle can look forward to another NBA franchise.
"I think it's a possible goal. But I don't think it's likely to happen unless we have a tangible and complete plan for the remodeling of KeyArena. If we'd had that in hand last week, in my view we'd either have kept the Sonics or gotten assurance of another team."
Gorton believes Gov. Chris Gregoire needs to call a special session before the start of the June 16 trial and give the Legislature a chance to pass a measure that would provide the city an avenue to its final $75 million in funding toward the proposed $300 million KeyArena makeover.
"If we have a remodeled KeyArena or the promise of one that meets their requirements, and I'm convinced this remodel does, then I think we have a chance for another team," he said. "But the chances diminish rapidly after the trial is over. This present lease gives us leverage, so we need to get it done promptly. We have to focus on getting a solution out of Olympia."
Gorton said any settlement would have to include guarantee of a replacement franchise. He's not inclined to let the current team depart merely on the hope the NBA will then work with Seattle.
"I'm not willing to make that assumption, given their attitude toward us," Gorton said. "We need to have something they want. And what they want is to get the Sonics out of here by next season. It's clearly possible for the league to give us a guarantee. How difficult or how badly they want to, I don't know."
Despite the rhetoric from both sides in recent months, Gorton feels all that can be set aside easily if the two parties meet on the common ground of finding a permanent solution to Seattle's NBA future.
"All the league has to do to lead to an amicable settlement is see to it that we're assured of a new team," Gorton said. "Whatever David Stern said about me, my principle unhappiness is not directed at David Stern. At this point, we have not given him a plan with an arena adequate for the NBA in the 21st century. If we do and he doesn't respond, my attitude will be different. But at this point, we haven't given him that chance."
Amid all Stern's teeth-clenched anger toward Gorton and Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels on Friday, he did leave the door ajar for the NBA returning at some point.
"In the future, if there is a building, or the prospect of a building, I think there will be circumstances under which we would love to engage Seattle or King County in a dialogue," Stern said.
While Stern has said KeyArena isn't an option, parroting Bennett's stance that only a new facility would keep him in Seattle, the commissioner previously lobbied for Howard Schultz's remodel proposal and has only indicated the arena "in its current state" is not capable of supporting a franchise.
If a new ownership group wanted to play in KeyArena, it's unlikely the NBA would object, particularly given a $300 million remodel that would double the facility's footprint to a more typical 750,000 square feet.
"Whatever happens with Key, now or in the future, is not going to happen with respect to the team currently located there," Stern said Friday. "That team has now been approved by the Board of Governors to move to Oklahoma City."
Getting a guarantee of a new team figures to be a tough proposition. The league isn't discussing expansion at the moment. And while there are several franchises dealing with financial difficulties in their current situations, Stern can't force another owner to commit to a different market. Additionally, all of those teams have varying lease commitments of their own, as well as options such as Las Vegas and a new 18,500-seat arena in Kansas City, Mo., that could be equally attractive.
"I'm not telling you this will be easy," Gorton said. "And it's not as easy now as it would have been if we'd had something in place before last Friday. But it is still possible."
King County Councilman Pete von Reichbauer, who helped broker the deal between Ken Behring and Paul Allen that kept the Seahawks in Seattle, said it's important for the region to not feel its size guarantees NBA interest once the Sonics depart. He points to the decision by the NFL to move the Los Angeles Rams to St. Louis in 1995 as proof positive.
"We really need to understand that if we want an NBA team, we can't hold out hope that just because we're a better advertising market that somehow we'll be granted one," von Reichbauer said. "If the board of governors of the NFL can decide it doesn't need to be in Los Angeles, the NBA can make that decision about Seattle. It's important to figure out how to work with them, not against them. It's not about somebody's re-election. If you care about having a team, it's time to start working toward a solution."
Gorton downplayed news that the NBA's relocation commitment stands for only one year and Bennett's group will need to reapply for a move to Oklahoma if it doesn't make the shift by next season. He said even if the city holds the team to Seattle for another two years, the owners would likely just repeat the same vote when the lease expires.
That stance was confirmed by Joel Litvin, the NBA's president of basketball operations.
"The constitution only allows the board to approve a relocation that would begin the subsequent season," Litvin said. "However, the committee stated in its report that if the team does not relocate for next season and reapplies for 2009-10 or 2010-11, the board should approve the renewed application."
