Posted on 06/21/2008 11:01:12 AM PDT by OKIEDOC
SEATTLE — A group of prominent local businessmen, including an attorney representing this city, discussed a "poisoned well” plan aimed partly at forcing the Oklahoma City-based owners of the SuperSonics to sell the NBA team rather than move it to their hometown. 'Poisoned Well' strategy sought to bleed... Sonics cite struggles in Seattle Plan hatched to keep Sonics in Seattle ... Testimony in federal court here Friday also revealed that Wally Walker, a former star player and executive for the team, was given the duty of driving a "wedge” between the NBA and the Sonics' owners before a critical vote by NBA owners on whether the team could relocate to Oklahoma City.
Attorneys for the owners kept Walker and local real estate developer Matt Griffin on the witness stand for hours as part of their strategy to show Seattle had "unclean hands” when it filed suit against the owners to force the Sonics to play out the last two years of the team's lease at a city-controlled arena. The attorneys sought to show the city was involved in a plan to keep the Sonics here for two years to "bleed” the owners and put the lead owner, Oklahoma City investor Clay Bennett, "in a box.”
The link made by the attorneys to the city was former U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton, who was hired by the city last fall after the Sonics sought arbitration to get out of the lease.
At a news conference after Friday's testimony, Paul Lawrence, an attorney for the city, told reporters that the city didn't have unclean hands and had never been involved in the plans discussed in court. Lawrence said the city had made clear right after Bennett bought the team in 2006 that it wanted the lease, which runs through the 2009-2010 season, honored. Lawrence said the city didn't file suit until after Bennett's group took action to get out the lease.
The trial over whether the Sonics must stay here for another two years is set to resume on Thursday, for one day, for more testimony and closing arguments. U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman is not expected to rule that day.
The ‘poisoned well' plan Gorton was present at a meeting at Walker's house last October when Mike McGavick, a former executive at the Safeco Insurance Co., presented a plan called "The Sonics Challenge: Why a Poisoned Well Affords a Unique Opportunity.” Also present at the meeting was Microsoft Corp. executive Steve Ballmer, who had been asked to consider heading up a local ownership group to buy the team and keep it in Seattle.
Parts of the plan shown in court said:
•"For the best likely outcome, two things have to happen next: Oklahomans have to be willing to sell and the public folks have to do the right thing.”
•"The critical path is to separate the NBA from the Oklahomans, while increasing the exposure of both.”
•"The city (of Seattle) has taken the first of several steps and is about to take the second. First, they hired Slade Gorton and used the misstep of an out-of-state arbitration filing to file suit, increasing the prospect of locking (the owners) into losses in Seattle; This also exposes the league to embarrassment in a market they like.”
•"So it is a pincer movement — increasing the Oklahomans' costs in an unpleasant environment while increasing the league's belief that an alternative solution gives it a good new owner and keeps it in a desirable market.”
Owners' attorneys showed other e-mails from Griffin to Ballmer and from Gorton to Griffin and others talking about the option of bleeding Bennett as a way of forcing him to sell.
In an e-mail from Gorton to Griffin and others, the former senator wrote: "Bennett will sell at a reasonable price only if pressured by the NBA or if he faces an expensive and unpleasant legal future.”
In that same e-mail, sent last December, Gorton said, "Bennett owns the team, wants it in Oklahoma City and sees relatively clear sailing to the NBA approval except for our lawsuit, which at best can delay his move and make it more costly.”
Brad Keller, an attorney for the owners, questioned Griffin, a civic leader here, about the e-mail:
"You didn't have a lawsuit pending did you?”
"No,” Griffin said.
Keller asked, "So when he said ‘our lawsuit' you knew he was referring to the city's lawsuit, right?”
"Yes,” Griffin said.
Griffin said he had discussed the "poisoned well” plan when he met with Ballmer about representing the Microsoft chief to look at options regarding the Sonics, including buying them from Bennett.
Keller asked about the line in the "poisoned well” plan about locking in losses for the Oklahoma City owners. The team has been losing money for years in part because it plays in an outdated arena and has contended that playing there for more two years would guarantee more heavy losses.
"You had no ability to lock the owners into losses, right?” Keller said. "The only people who had the ability to do that was the city and Mr. Gorton, right?”
"Yes,” Griffin said.
Keller showed e-mails from Griffin to Ballmer providing the Microsoft chief updates about what was going on in regard to the Sonics. Griffin had agreed to serve as Ballmer's representative to determine what options were available for keeping the team or getting another.
In one e-mail, Griffin told Ballmer, "Bennett needs to sell at a reasonable price; Litigation to stay and forced bleeding of about $20 (million) per year will help.”
At one point, Keller said to Griffin: "The plan sir, part of it, one of the approaches was to force them to sell by making them bleed.”
Griffin said, "Yes, one of the possibilities.”
Referring to Ballmer, Keller asked Griffin, "And you had a buyer waiting in the wings if they bled enough and said ‘yes,' right?”
"Right,” said Griffin.
Lawrence, an attorney for the city, sought to rehabilitate Griffin's character, getting him to say that he never really looked at the part in the "poisoned well” report about the approach to the Oklahomans.
"Do you and Mr. Ballmer want to bleed Clay Bennett or do you simply want to get a team for the Seattle Center?” Lawrence said.
"We want to get a team for the Seattle Center,” Griffin said.
More links to plan alleged Walker, a former president of the Sonics, signed a contract in February with the city's law firm in this case to be a consultant. That contract was retroactive to last September, before the "poisoned well” plan was discussed. Paul Taylor, an attorney for the owners, showed the contract in court to link Walker to the city by linking him to its law firm. Since the contract was retroactive to last September, it meant Walker was working as a consultant for the firm when he hosted the meeting in October to discuss the "poisoned well” plan.
Taylor also showed an e-mail Walker had written in which Walker said the goal was to make it "too expensive and too litigious” for the owners to stay in Seattle.
"You wanted to make it too expensive to leave,” Taylor said to Walker.
"True,” Walker said.
"And you wanted to make it too litigious to leave, true?”
"I wrote it an e-mail.”
Taylor also showed an e-mail written by local businessman John Stanton, who had an ownership interest in the Sonics before the Oklahoma City group bought the team, saying that he agreed "completely that it should be excruciating for Clay to consider early departure.”
But under friendly questioning from city attorney Paul Lawrence, Walker said he was just trying to keep the Sonics in Seattle and didn't care who owned the team.
Lawrence said, "Have you ever taken any actions that would force them to sell or force them to incur huge losses?”
"No,” Walker said.
"You're just a basketball fan who wants to save the Sonics for Seattle?”
"That's correct.”
And though Walker was tasked to help drive a wedge between the NBA and the Sonics' owners, he said he never took actions to do so.
For the first time all week, Pechman, the judge in the case, indicated some knowledge of the team's history.
When Lawrence asked Walker to give some biographical information about his time with the team, Pechman said, "I've seen Mr. Walker play ... and I was there in the late '70s watching him.”
When Lawrence asked about the Sonics' sole championship team, in 1979, Pechman said, "I was there, too.”
http://newsok.com/seattles-poison-nba-plan/article/3260306/?tm=1214024258&pg=2
Also
Sports Illustrated http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/basketball/nba/06/20/sonics.trial.ap/index.html
This is a case of Liberal Seattle and Conservative Oklahoma fighting over who did what to whom.
Sort of like what we can expect should (God Forbide) Obama becomes president.
The ultra liberal MSM has sided with Seattle as can ge gleaned from the various sources on the web. It involves some very big well know liberal names such as Microsoft executive Steve Ballmer, former RINO U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton, Starbucks owner Howard Schultz.
The law suit has turned nasty as can be seen by the way liberals fight for what they want. (THE END JUSTIFIES THE MEANS) see: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/17363448/ 2 new Sonics owners oppose gay marriage Ward, McClendon donated more than $1.1 million to conservative group to Americans United to Preserve Marriage, a conservative Christian group that opposes gay marriage. (WHY DON'T WE EVER HEAR THE WORDS LIBERAL CHRISTIAN GROUP??????)by PMSMSNBC
Will be interesting to see how the judge rules in this case since she is a Sonics fan.
Most (and probably all) cities would play dirty to keep a sports team from leaving.
look, as a Washingtonian, please TAKE the damn Sonics and take them fast....the NBA may make a lot of money but most people do not give a rip......I want no more publically supported “private” sport teams and I don’t want to pay for anymore stadiums....
I don’t really care where the Sonics play, but what’s liberal about making a team honor its lease? I’m not big on cities putting the squeeze on teams, but that’s no worse than cities building new stadia under the threat of a move. I am glad that L.A. would not be extorted by the NFL.
Looks like tortitious interference by some of these Seattle parties.
Discovery is a bitch.
Heh. I saw the headline and thought the liberals were trying to get the NBA to give up keeping scores so “EVERYBODY is a winner!”
Forcing the team to lose $20M a year playing in Seattle, that's what.
And the effective "bleeding" to make the team a white elephant through the 2009 ending season.
As for the lease, I'm sure the city would be compensated for the actual rent.
It's the multiplier dollars that would be lost.
(And I do agree with you and the others about public financing of teams.)
See here too;
NBA Dance Team Entertains, Shows Appreciation For Troops
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2031183/posts
The Seattle SuperSonics Dance Team visited troops deployed to Contingency Operating Base Speicher, located in Tikrit, Iraq, June 11
.....“Every day, this place and the Soldiers, everyone, has exceeded the expectations that I had,” explained Jillian, one of the Sonics dancers. “I have learned so much [more] by talking with a Soldier for one minute than when I listened to news stations or radio stations.”
........“Everything that we see in the United States and everything we learn is completely opposite,” said Sabrina, the dance team coach. “It’s the stories that we see through the eyes of the Soldiers. Seeing how things are done from day to day to seeing how they are actually working with the country to build it up and working with their Soldiers. We never hear those things and so, for us, it’s just been a really growing experience.”
.
me
Obama never heard those things either, so he feels compelled to go visit, McDole is right to challenge Obama on this one.
Why are they looseing $20mil a year?
“forcing” a team to honour its lease?
Bennett bought the team, with the lease.
Congratulations on your “revelation” that keeping your end in a contract is “liberal.” I will respectfully dissent.
Bennett bought the Sonics promising to let state/local gov. to come up with a new arena OR in the event he could not make $ in Seattle that he would entertain offers from local groups before relocating.
Did he say this with the intent of moving the team to OKC anyway?
Of course! Otherwise it would have been harder to get the team. This is pure Kabuki folks. Rich pricks fighting over money and their reputations. The only concern of the average citizen is not getting hosed with a bill for the team facilities.
Comment:
I agree with you on the statement about putting the squeeze on tax payers to support multi million dollar enterprises.
The liberal part comes in when you examine HOW the former elitists billionaire owners planed to make the Sonics stay in Seattle by bankrupting the Oklahoma City owners.
I posted an example where PMSNBC tied two of the new Sonics owners donating money to a Saving Marriage group as if that is something that disqualifies ownership in a Seattle based team.
Why would these liberal networks who are in the toilet tank for Obama think that an owners personal beliefs should have relevance as to whether or not a sports team should stay in an ultra liberal city.
I have not watched on TV or attended an NBA game since giving up my tickets to the Mavericks back in 1987.
Sort of like Robert Mugabe El Presidente and Dictator in Zimbabwe.
on a lighter note, a close relative is completing a Masters in Education at a university in San Diego.
In one of her classes she had to write an essay about how Competition in school should be phased out.
That would include all forms of sports, and seems rather harsh especially when children would not be allowed to have any kinds of competitive sports on the school grounds.
The times are a changing and sports are slowly be emasculated by the feminazis.
Happens all the time. Heck, what did Shylock get instead of his "pound of flesh nearest the heart" as the contract specified?
I'm more concerned with politicians using public funds to wage a urinating contest against a business.
I’ve heard several people speculate that the ultimate series of events will have the Sonics in Oklahoma, and the Trailblazers in Seattle.
I thought Portland had a good franchise but with billionaires from Microsoft, Starbucks,Safeco and others I would not be surprised that these Seattle egotists would shell out the big bucks to take Portland's team.
I don't go to the games any more since the salaries got so dang high, the players look and act like common street thugs and the refreshment cost went overboard.
Yet the guy working in the refreshment stand makes minimum wage.
I figure any time I have to pay more than a gallon of gas cost just to buy a coke then something is wrong.
I know, the fat cat owners like the the cable companies have the entertainment costs for individual enjoyment down to the second.
Got ya.
FYI the Blazers are owned by Paul Allen...from Microsoft.
Tells you how much I keep up with the NBA.
actually with the Ray Allen trade and letting Lewis go they started that already. The fans might want to have the team leave by 2009, but the ownership already killed off the fan base this year.
But the problem is, nobody travels to see a basketball team.
And sports teams in general don’t really create entertainment dollars, the take it from existing entertainment options. And when a team leaves, the entertainment dollars don’t disappear, they just go into other activities - movies, concerts, plays, restaurants, bars, nightclubs, zoos, etc...
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