SEATTLE – The NBA Board of Governors has approved the sale
of the Seattle SuperSonics and the WNBA's Seattle Storm to The
Basketball Club of Seattle, headed by Howard Schultz and a group of
Seattle investors.
The $200 million sale, approved Friday, will be finalized Sunday, once all funds have been transferred between The Basketball Club of Seattle and The Ackerley Group.
"Howard Schultz is one of the most successful businessmen in America and we are delighted to welcome him to the NBA," commissioner David Stern said of the Starbucks Corp. chairman.
Schultz, who built Seattle-based Starbucks into the world's
largest coffee chain, with more than 3,300 locations worldwide,
said he would approach basketball the same way he does his day job.
"The customers come first at Starbucks, and so do the fans here," he said at a news conference at Seattle's Key Arena before Friday night's game against the Los Angeles Clippers.
"We have to be fan-centric," he said. "I want to remain as sensitive as I can to the people sitting at the very top."
Schultz, 47, has been a Sonics season ticket holder since 1982. He's been sitting in the first row, mid-court, the past three months, and he hasn't liked everything he's seen.
"I've seen light bulbs out on the scoreboard. Sometimes you can't hear the music. Sometimes you can't see the screen."
Schultz said he's also found much to like with the way the Ackerley Group ran the Sonics. But he has ordered a top-to-bottom review of game presentation at Key Arena.
"I do not want to embrace the status quo," he said. "I want
to make things better."
Sonics coach Nate McMillan, who said he had spoken to previous owner Barry Ackerley only once this season, has had regular meetings after games with Schultz.
"He likes the same things that I like," McMillan said. "He
wants to see intensity out on the floor. He likes guys playing hard
so the fans who paid their money will see the effort. When it's not
happening, it bothers him and it bothers me."
McMillan, who has led the Sonics to a 34-25 record since taking over for the fired Paul Westphal on Nov. 27, was signed earlier this week to a four-year contract.
"You could not have a better cornerstone for this team," Schultz said.
He vowed to return Seattle to its winning ways of the 1990s,
when the Sonics had six consecutive 50-victory seasons under George
Karl. But he's not going to break the bank to do it.
"There's a fragile balance between fiscal responsibility, enhancing the fans' experience, signing free agents. It's going to take some time."
The Basketball Club of Seattle includes Wally Walker, who will
be president and CEO of the SuperSonics and Storm.
Other members include Stanley H. Barer, co-chairman and chief
executive of Salt Chuck Resources Inc., a Seattle maritime
transportation company; Naveen Jain, chairman, chief executive and
founder of InfoSpace, a Bellevue Internet company; Seattle attorney
G. Scott Greenburg; Peter E. Nordstrom, executive vice president of
the Nordstrom clothing chain; and the Sabey Corp., a Seattle real
estate, construction and venture capital firm.
The Ackerley Group purchased the SuperSonics in 1983.
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