Team Leaving

Well, it appears that $75 million is the magic number.

The City of Seattle accepted a cash payout of $75 million from the PBC to allow the Sonics to leave their home of 41 years and move to Oklahoma City. That amount may or may not be repaid by Clay Bennett, et al if the city were to receive another team in the Sonics' stead.

As you would imagine, more to come.

Judge's Statement

Here's what Judge Marsha Pechman had to say via statement regarding today's ruling:

The parties have settled the case. Details of the settlement will be released by the parties.

Roughly translated:

Because neither side was capable of coming to an agreement until their game of chicken had both cars teetering on the edge of the cliff, I was forced to preside over this nonsense for a whole week when I could have been watching Judge Judy DVDs instead. Thanks alot.

Settlement in Works?

I saw this first on the Daily Oklahoman, and my first thought was, "Well, there isn't a grain of salt big enough to take with that sketchy story." A settlement? Sure, it's nice to ponder, but the attribution in that story was rather light.

Now, however, we have some more information. From The Seattle Times:

"It looks like [a settlement], but I'm afraid what little I know is sworn to secrecy until after the mayor's press conference," said [Seattle City Councilmember Jean] Godden.

From the PI:

"A spokesperson for City Attorney Tom Carr said their office was not aware of [the settlement]and was not planning any comment until a scheduled 5 p.m. press conference by Mayor Greg Nickels."

Wait and see.