Interesting news out of Seattle today that will fly below the radar for most. According to the Seattle PI, Seattle Sonics and WNBA Storm Owner Clay Bennett added four new members to his group, all of whom are from Oklahoma, and said that there are “no plans to add any Seattle investors.” The four new members of Professional Basketball Club are American Fidelity Assurance Company CEO William Cameron, Bob Howard Auto Group President Bob Howard, Dobson Communications Corporation Chair Everett Dobson and Balon Corporation President Jay Scaramucci.

Call me crazy, but I don't think this bodes well for those people who want to see the Sonics stay in Seattle. Maybe Bennett and his new investors would like us to believe that they'll all make the flight north regularly to watch their new team, but I'm not buying it. According to my sources, Bennett and his wife have strong ties to Oklahoma City and have every intention of moving the team at the end of the 2006-07 season. Adding these four Oklahoma investors only increases the chances that the Sonics will move in my opinion.

Most every team has at least 1 investor with local ties - even if its just for PR purposes. That's not the case with the Sonics now. 

Bennett and his group expect to officially be approved as the new Sonics owners at the upcoming October 24th Board of Governors meeting.

You better believe there are several owners around the NBA who will watch closely to see how this all plays out - including Paul Allen in Portland and George Shinn in New Orleans.

Stay tuned.