Judge refuses Sonics' arbitration request

SEATTLE, Oct. 30 (UPI) -- A U.S. judge in Seattle ruled that the city's dispute with the NBA's SuperSonics over its KeyArena lease should be heard in court instead of by an arbitrator.

The decision is a win for the city, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported. Sonics owners wanted an arbitration panel to decide whether the team can buy out the last two years of the lease.

Owner Clay Bennett, who said the Sonics have been losing millions of dollars a year at KeyArena, has given the city a Wednesday deadline for a plan to replace it. Unless the team gets a new arena, he said he would move the Sonics elsewhere.

The legal case is likely to make moving the Sonics more complicated. An arbitration panel would have probably made a decision within six months while a trial could take two or three times as long.