Professional Basketball Club

Professional Basketball Club LLC is an investment group headed by Clay Bennett that owns the National Basketball Association (NBA)'s Oklahoma City Thunder franchise (formerly the Seattle SuperSonics) and the Thunder's NBA G League affiliate Oklahoma City Blue.[2][3] The group also owned the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)'s Seattle Storm franchise from 2006 to 2008. The PBC then sold the Storm to local Seattle owners, before moving the SuperSonics to Oklahoma City.

Professional Basketball Club LLC
TypePrivate
PredecessorBasketball Club of Seattle
Founded2006
Headquarters208 Thunder Drive,
Oklahoma City, OK 73102
,
U.S.
Key people
Clayton I. Bennett (Chairman, CEO)
Total assetsestimated $590 million[1]
Members
  • Jeffrey Records Jr. (significant)
  • George Kaiser (19.23%)
  • Clayton I. Bennett
  • Aubrey McClendon estate
  • William Cameron
  • Jay Scaramucci
  • Everett R. Dobson
  • Robert E. Howard II[1]
DivisionsOklahoma City Thunder
Oklahoma City Blue

History

On July 18, 2006, Basketball Club of Seattle, led by Howard Schultz, sold the Seattle SuperSonics and Seattle Storm to Professional Basketball Club after failing to reach an agreement with the city of Seattle over a publicly funded $220 million expansion of KeyArena.[4] The Seattle SuperSonics relocation to Oklahoma City was a successful effort by the ownership group of the Seattle SuperSonics to relocate the team from Seattle, Washington to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The team began play as the Oklahoma City Thunder in the 2008–09 basketball season, after becoming the third National Basketball Association (NBA) franchise to relocate in the 2000s.

The Professional Basketball Club on January 8, 2008 sold the Storm to an ownership group consisting of four Seattle businesswomen.[5] On July 31, 2008, the 66ers announced that Professional Basketball Club had purchased the Tulsa 66ers, marking the third NBA Development League team to be owned by an NBA team (Los Angeles Lakers and San Antonio Spurs).[6]

In September 2013 the OKC Thunder add station KAKC, the 66ers' radio broadcasting partner, to its Thunder Radio Network.[7] In April 2014, George Kaiser bought Tom L. Ward's interest in Professional Basketball Club, while Jeffrey Records Jr. sold part of his stake to Bennett while two other changed their stakes.[1]

Former members

References
  1. Wilmoth, Adam (April 18, 2014). "Tulsa businessman George Kaiser buys stake in Oklahoma City Thunder". The Oklahoman. Retrieved April 19, 2014.
  2. "The Professional Basketball Club LLC". Hoover's. February 6, 2015. Retrieved February 6, 2015.
  3. "The Professional Basketball Club, LLC". OKCThunder.com. NBA Media Ventures, LLC. Retrieved February 6, 2015.
  4. Angela Galloway; Phuong Cat Le (July 18, 2006). "Sonics sold to ownership group from Oklahoma City". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved July 18, 2006.
  5. Farmer, Sam (June 16, 2012). "How the Sonics became the Thunder: A timeline". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 7, 2017.
  6. "Oklahoma City NBA group has purchased Tulsa 66ers basketball franchise". Tulsa World. July 31, 2008. Retrieved June 6, 2017.
  7. Reports, Staff (September 10, 2013). "Thunder gets new Tulsa radio affiliate". Tulsa World. Retrieved June 6, 2017.
  8. "Thunder part-owner McClendon dies in car crash". NBA.com. NBA Media Ventures, LLC. Associated Press. March 2, 2016. Retrieved March 3, 2016.
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