So the word is finally uttered:
I find it extremely substantial that there is a sudden shift away from the old rhetoric. There was talk of us getting nothing, now there is talk of saving basketball in Seattle. We may not all agree on the mechanism yet but I like the direction this is going. THEY WILL NOT GO TO TRIAL!
In other news I had really, really strong words from the Mayors office this morning in regards to any type of settlement rumors. He’s not going to blink on this one. In summary what was said that Mayor Nickels believes that this is a basic issue of RIGHT vs WRONG, GOOD vs EVIL. He believes wholeheartedly that the team committed to 15 years, and that they need to play 15 years. There is no alternative or compensation. At the end of the day if you allow them to leave you are allowing people to break their word with the city and he simply does not support that from a moral standpoint. I will stress again the language used was really strong.
I’ve grown to respect the mayor on this one. He’s willing to stare people down.