<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Howard Schultz says he wants the Sonics back. Nearly two years after selling Seattle's NBA franchise to Oklahoma City investors, the Starbucks mogul has hired a lawyer and is preparing to file a lawsuit against Sonics chairman Clay Bennett to rescind the July 2006 sale. Attorney Richard Yarmuth confirmed Monday that his Seattle-based law firm, Yarmuth Wilsdon Calfo, is representing Schultz and plans to sue Bennett's Professional Basketball Club in the next two weeks. "The damages that are being sought is to rescind, unwind the transaction," Yarmuth said a day after the team played what could have been its final home game in Seattle. "It's not money damage. It's to have the team returned. The theory of the suit is that when the team was sold, the Basketball Club of Seattle, our team here, relied on promises made by Clay Bennett and his ownership that they desired to keep the team in Seattle and intended to make a good-faith effort to accomplish that."</div> http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/soni..._schultz15.html Holy shit. I hope he wins. I want them to stay in Seattle sooo bad.
Certainly casts Schultz in a different light to the one he left in, but does he have these so-called 'promises' in written, contractual form? <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>"We're talking about fraud at the time the contract was signed," Yarmuth said. "It's not merely what activities, good faith or otherwise, were engaged in after the contract was signed so far as lobbying for a new stadium."</div> Still seems a little bit iffy - just what constitutes "good faith" legally?
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>At the time of the sale, Schultz said he had included a side letter to the sales agreement that he called a "deal breaker." "As part of the negotiation, I asked for something that was a deal breaker in negotiation," he said in a KJR (950 AM) interview then. "What I asked for was a side letter to our ownership group and to me ... that said basically he would honor the four-year lease in terms of the 2010 terms, and use his best efforts over the next 12 months ... to get something done." Last week, when the e-mails become public, former Sonics co-owner Wally Walker said they clashed with the "good faith" pledge Bennett made when he bought the team. "For the people who voted for the deal, the good-faith, best-efforts promise was a significant factor in supporting the deal," Walker said. "This is not what they signed up for."</div> I guess that's what he's gonna use to fight Bennett in court.
It doesn't make me too much more hopeful, but two billionaires going at it should at least be entertaining.
Howard Schultz is a genious. Not only did he make a tremendous profit from selling the Sonics at a point where he knew that he could no longer lobby for a new arena but he sees a genuine opportunity to make even more money in a lawsuit -- that if he wins -- he will be able to recoup whatever legal fees this will entail, make a profit, and hopefully keep the team in the region -- and if he loses -- he has the general support of region and puts him and Starbucks back in the limelight for all of the "right" reasons. It is a great public relation move and it could end up being immensely profitable. There is no downside to this at all. Clay already bought the team for too much money and Howard knows that. So what if Clay is mad at him? Howard Schultz is a damn good businessman and I am becoming more and more excited to see how this is going to play out in court. Obviously Howard can not do anything to keep Clay from trying to relocate the team. But the fact that he is going somewhere where it hurts with Clay--at a time where Clay needs as many resources as he needs for his own relocation efforts--will make it that much more difficult for his ownership group to want to stand tall with Bennett. The moment that billionnaire owners withdraw their stake in Club Basketball OKC is the moment Clay is going to be forced to sell to local ownership. And that is the moment where Key Arena gets renovated and the Sonics remain in Seattle. Howard Schultz is an absolute monster for this and regardless of how it plays out I'm sure that his reputation will begin to change in the Puget Sound region. Schultz definitely has some stones after he absolutely robbed Bennett blind in their original negotitions. True force to be reckoned with.
I live in New York. I'm a die-hard Nets fan. Never particularly cared for the Sonics. When I first heard rumors of them moving, I didn't really think much of it. Oklahoma City SuperSonics, I thought sounded interesting. But the Save Our Sonics group really got me thinking how I would feel if my favorite team disapeared over night. That'd be terrible, and no sports fan deserves anything like that. Clay Bennett is an evil man. I was really happy to hear the old owner is back trying to get the team back. I hope he gets them back. After SOS was chanted almost at every home game, they win their "final" home game, and now a miracle happens where the old owner tries to take back the team -- this is really starting to look like a movie. Good luck guys.
While Howard needed some face saving locally, he is stepping forward now because of the emails that came to light last week. He has a written "best efforts" side letter from Bennett which these emails show was not met. The case will likely fall to the point of the judge or jury being forced to define "best effort" since that is not likely defined in the side letter. However, just as the city seems to feel they have better stuff still being held for trial, so does the Schultz camp. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out. I would love for the NBA BOG to decide against approving the sale, have Bennett lose his minority owners and be forced to sell. That would be brilliant. I am really proud of the way SOS and the fans handled this with class the final few games. I am sad that I wasn't able to be a part of the big finale for the season.
