In 2006 Schultz, the then owner of the Sonics, sold the team to Clay Bennett and his partners under the condition that they would practice good faith in keeping the team 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."But not even a month after the sale was complete did Bennett scheme about ditching Seattle.
On Aug. 2, 2006, two weeks after the sale, team co-owners Tom Ward and Aubrey McClendon e-mailed about moving the Sonics to Oklahoma City as soon as possible. The communication was after one of the original Oklahoma partners had dropped out of the ownership group.So Schultz is claiming that Bennett breached the terms of the contract and thus the sale should be reversed and the team should return to Schultz and Seattle.
Stern won't have any of this.
It's no surprise that David Stern is a bit disturbed by all of this. If the team has to move back to Seattle, the NBA will look disorganized and out of sorts. The NBA is many things (rigged, littered with incompetent referrees, restrictive of the first amendment) but disorganized is not one of them.
In fact, most of the faults of the NBA revolve around it (and Stern) seeking to control every single aspect of its universe. Why shouldn't you be allowed to complain about the refereeing? Because little Davie gets offended and upset, that's why.
So true to his personality on July 24, David Stern contacted Howard Schultz and essentially issued him a threat
A day later, Schultz said the commissioner "told me he wanted 'to hear it from the horse's mouth' why I was not joining in the city's settlement and dismissing my lawsuit."Davie, Davie, Davie. Don't be mad! Seriously David, couldn't you have thought of a better threat for CEO of Starbucks Howard Schultz?
Schultz said Stern told him "that if I did not join in the settlement ... I should realize that it will become very expensive for me and my partners, and he implied that I should reconsider my position."
- Schultz is worth $1.1 billion
- David Stern makes $7 million a year
- The combined operating income of all the NBA teams? $233.9 million
- Starbucks operating income in 2007? $1.05 billion.
I'm not sure how much of a chance Schultz has of winning this case. Unless "good faith" can have a consensus definition its hard to claim that Bennett didn't practice it. Plus, Schultz already has a packed schedule in trying to revive Starbuck's stock price.
Still, Schultz is probably doing what all Sonics fans wish they could. He's really fighting! I'm rooting for him to win just to see the havoc that would ensue. That would be fantastic.
Read more:
The original story in April 2008
Stern's threat in July 2008
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