The people of Seattle overwhelmingly voted and approved the Initiative 91 which requires the teams to pay a fair market value for building new facilities in the city rather than off setting the costs to the tax payers.

Clay Bennett informed the regional planning commission that he would oppose any public vote on a new arena. He says that with Initiative 91 it would become difficult to build a new multipurpose facility in Seattle which would have served as the SuperSonics new home. This means that Seattle will be relegated to second tier status but Bennett will try and look for a new site in the King County.

Bennett has already been touring potential sites and has met with the civic leaders. Bennett finds Bellevue extremely appealing since studies have shown that Bellevue and its surrounding areas are where majority of the SuperSonics ticket holder live.

The Sonics were purchased for $350 million and Bennett has the contractual option to move the team after 12 months if the issues for a new arena in the Puget Sound region are not in place. Bennett is from Oklahoma and is a chairman of a financial capital company. He has long wanted an NBA team to make Oklahoma City its permanent base.

Bennett also informed that the SuperSonics have the intention of honoring their leases at Key Arena which is valid till 2010 but hopes to find a suitable place to relocate his team to a new facility outside Seattle but within the King County.

About the writer: Nigel Kerry is an American free lance writer born in Los Angeles, California. Kerry writes among others for Sportus.com - Sportsbook reviews, UsBookies.com - Sports Betting Online and Get-best-mortgage-loan.com - Mortgage lenders, get the best mortgage loan

Source: www.articledashboard.com