Bungling Sonics deal cost Nickels his job

Gail Wood | The Olympian • Published September 01, 2009

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Turns out Seattle didn’t just lose the Seattle Sonics.

It also lost a mayor. Or, at least, an incumbent mayor.

Greg Nickels and his inability to get through the primaries were linked to his bungling attempts at keeping the Sonics in Seattle.

In exchange for letting Clay Bennett out of the remaining two years of a lease agreement with the Sonics, Nickels accepted a $45 million buyout. Bad move. Now, KeyArena’s primary tenant is in Oklahoma City, costing the city of Seattle jobs and money.

Nickels’ scheme to use a lawsuit to “bleed” Bennett, forcing him to sell the team to local businessmen, backfired. Nickels’ “Machiavellian plan” to make the move “too expensive and too litigious” failed. While Nickels scored well on pet projects like taxing plastic sacks and not using salt on icy streets, he couldn’t solve the city’s big problems.

So, Nickels shouldn’t expect any condolences from Sonics fans. He blew his chances at a third term when he failed to get the financial backing for a new coliseum and lost to two political newcomers in a primary vote.

Because of Nickels’ bungling, the sixth NBA team in the last 25 years moved, jumped cities. And it cost him his job. Just like many of the Sonic employees.

Maybe under new leadership, Seattle can get that stadium. And maybe even a new Alaska Way Viaduct.