The Sonics will move to Oklahoma City for the 2008-09 season as part of a settlement announced Wednesday with the city of Seattle. The settlement calls for Sonics owner Clay Bennett and his Professional Basketball Club LLC to pay as much as $75 million to the city in exchange for the immediate termination of the lease. The team's name and colors will be staying in Seattle.

In April, the NBA Board of Governors approved Bennett's application to move the team to Oklahoma City, pending the outcome of the trial between the team and the city. The settlement came six days after the trial concluded.

The trial between the team and city was centered on the lease agreement that called for the Sonics to play at KeyArena through the 2009-10 season. Sonics lead attorney Brad Keller contended that Bennett should simply be able to write a check to satisfy the final two years of the lease. Keller argued that the "specific performance" clause the city rested its case on should not apply in a garden-variety dispute between tenant and landlord.

Bennett and his ownership group previously offered to pay the city $26.5 million in February to buy out the final two years of the lease. They were rebuffed.

Nickels noted that Wednesday's settlement would cover lost rent, tax revenue and pay off the remaining debt on KeyArena.

"I believed all along enforcing our lease would allow us time to come to a better arrangement," Nickels said. "We now have that deal."