Bennett agrees to settlement with Sonics fans

To the tune of $1.6 million

While the Seattle SuperSonics are long gone, about 1,000 former season ticket holders may soon be getting a little cash back from Clay Bennett as the result of a class-action lawsuit settlement.

Bennett and his Professional Basketball Club have agreed to a $1.6 million settlement proposal with three fans who filed suit on behalf of their fellow ticket holders more than two years ago after the Sonics left for Oklahoma City.

Judge Richard Jones, who has been overseeing the suit in his U.S. District court, has not yet signed off on the proposal. The two sides proposed the settlement to avoid a pending trial, but there is no indication when Jones will rule at this point.

The suit centers around the complaint of three fans -- Robert Brotherson, Patrick Sheehy and Carolyn Bechtel -- who charged that Bennett and his PBC guaranteed them the right to maintain their season tickets at the same price through 2009-10 when they renewed for the 2006-07 season through an "Emerald Club" promotion shortly after Bennett purchased the franchise.

The complaint has evolved several times since its original filing on Oct. 3, 2007, but ultimately came down to the fans seeking the difference between what their guaranteed ticket cost at KeyArena would have been compared with comparable seats at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City for the next two years.

Probably a small victory in the grand scheme of things, the Sonics are still no more and it doesn't look like they'll be returning anytime soon, but I'm sure those fans feel some level of vindication and satisfaction in scoring a win over Bennett and his ownership group.

When Vancouver Grizzlies was relocated, what fans here didn't realize was that no NBA team was going to be created again in Vancouver at least for a long time if not at all. I hope that's not the case with Seattle as it is very close to my home at the moment and SuperSonics sure does have greater history to the city.

Unless there's a willingness to build a new arena, it's probably not going to happen anytime soon.