Fight To Hold Sonics To Lease Cost City Of Seattle Nearly $3M

City Of Seattle Shells Out Nearly $3M In Suit To Hold Sonics To KeyArena Lease

The city of Seattle ultimately "came out ahead financially in its lawsuit" over the Sonics' KeyArena lease against the Professional Basketball Club (PBC), the team's Oklahoma-based ownership group led by Clay Bennett, according to Greg Johns of the SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER. The final expense tally for the suit, which "will come out of the city's judgment claims fund," totaled $2,957,898, but Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels' spokesperson Robert Mak indicated that the money "would be absorbed by the settlement agreement that required [PBC] to pay $45[M] in exchange for the right to move" to Oklahoma City immediately. About "three-fourths of the legal bill went" to Seattle-based law firm K&L Gates, whose bill totaled $2.35M, plus $89,282 for expert witness fees and $50,972 in copy expenses. Among the other expenses were $17,000 to the Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce for records turned over during the suit, $232,654 to Chicago-based Navigant Consulting for "research before the trial as well as the testimony of economists Todd Menenberg and Lon Hatamiya" and $61,296 to Smith College sports economist Andrew Zimbalist, "even though his testimony was ripped apart on the witness stand." Zimbalist earned $59,540 for "his time spent preparing his Seattle report and his 50 minutes on the stand," and he also charged $1,495 for travel expenses from his home in Massachusetts, $168 for travel in Seattle, $54 for parking and $38 for meal reimbursement. The city of Seattle also paid $90,969 to C.H. Johnson Consulting, $30,000 to Stafford Sports and $10,000 to Northmarq Advisors for "various consulting duties on arena issues" (SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER, 8/29).