Brian Robinson is a Seattle real estate developer with a wife, two young children and a deep, abiding passion for his city and his Sonics. So in July 2006, only hours after learning the local NBA franchise had been purchased by an Oklahoma City businessman, he reviewed the KeyArena lease agreement that remains the root cause of this entire mess, acknowledged the very real threat of relocation and initiated his campaign.

One man can’t save the Sonics, he figured, but what about the 7,000 volunteers on his “Save Our Sonics” mailing list? What if politicians were targeted, former players enlisted, current owner Clay Bennett and city/county/state officials demonized? What if Commissioner David Stern were asked to oversee negotiations for construction of a new facility?

“We don’t know exactly what to do,” Robinson said from his home Saturday, “but this isn’t over. I want to be able to enjoy the Sonics with my children. I want my team.”

Yet on Thursday, the Sonics’ long-term future in Seattle plummeted from uncertain to unlikely. The Sonics’ new owner – who imposed a one-year deadline for the parties to reach agreement when he bought the team said he was seeking league approval to move the team into the vacant Ford Center at the end of the season, or if delayed by ongoing legal action, when the current lease expires in 2010.

Either way – sooner or later – the prognosis remains grim. The Sonics leave. The fans fume. And the NBA absorbs another blow to its image and stability. “You cannot tell me it’s good for the league to have teams in Oklahoma City, Memphis, Charlotte and New Orleans, and be missing Seattle,” Robinson insisted. “It simply does not make sense. If we come up with ways to finance a building, I don’t see how the league owners can approve a move. That’s why we’re hoping the courts enforce the lease agreement.

“Three years buys us some time.”

Time for Stern to become involved.

Time for Stern to consider more dramatic alternatives, foremost among them, convincing Bennett to sell the Sonics to a local ownership group and promising him the opportunity to purchase – and relocate – one of the league’s economically troubled franchises (New Orleans, Charlotte, Memphis) in the near future.

“Everybody here talks about how positive Stern’s involvement has been in Sacramento and wonders why he’s not doing the same thing here,” Robinson said, “but my understanding is that the Maloofs asked for his help. We don’t have that here. Clay Bennett is not going to ask for his help.

“But we have a 40-year history, and someone needs to tell Clay Bennett he has to negotiate and explore all his options, because if he can move a team like the Sonics to his home town, then it undermines the NBA’s claim of their franchises being part of the cultural fabric of their communities.”

In many respects, Seattle’s arena mess is eerily similar to Sacramento’s.