SEATTLE - The Seattle SuperSonics’ new owner told the NBA on Friday he plans to move the team to Oklahoma City.

Clay Bennett had set a Wednesday deadline for having a plan to replace KeyArena, which he says is outdated. He and the city are in a dispute about the arena lease.

He has until March 1 to file for relocation with the NBA if he wants the team to play the 2008-09 season anywhere besides Seattle. The Sonics are the city’s oldest major professional sports franchise.

Bennett briefly backed off his deadline, not wanting to distract from the start of the season. He watched Thursday night’s home opener against Phoenix from his suite, spending most of the second half chatting with Hall of Famer Bill Russell while fans chanted “Save our Sonics!” during the game.

“Today we notified commissioner (David) Stern that we intend to relocate the Sonics to Oklahoma City if we succeed in the pending litigation with the city, or are able to negotiate an early lease termination, or at the end of the lease term,” Bennett said in a statement.

NBA spokesman Tim Frank confirmed the league received notice and is referring the matter to the owners’ relocation committee.

Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire said the latest development was “no surprise” and the state will “continue to work with others on the arduous process” of keeping the Sonics and the WNBA’s Storm.

Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett called the news a “significant step” but urged caution.

“The history of sports is littered with franchises that intended to relocate, said they would relocate and for whatever reason didn’t relocate,” said Cornett, a former television sportscaster. “Things change. I don’t anticipate anything changing, but things do change.”

Bennett became owner just more than a year ago, and also owns the Storm. He bought the Sonics from a local group led by Starbucks Coffee chairman Howard Schultz for $350 million and has said the club is not for sale. Schultz, also unhappy with KeyArena, and his group paid $200 million for the team in 2001.

Bennett is trying to void the final two years of the lease. The city wants to hold the Sonics to the agreement, which calls for the team to play at KeyArena through the 2009-10 season.

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Bennett said the team lost $17 million last year because of the lease. The Sonics had sought arbitration to decide the matter, but this week a federal judge blocked the team from seeking an escape through arbitration. That kept alive the city’s attempts to gain a court order forcing the Sonics to play in Seattle.

Bennett championed a proposal this year for a new arena in the suburb of Renton that called for about $300 million in public money. The plan failed to get backing in the state Legislature.

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“We now understand and respect that there is very limited public support for such a public investment,” Bennett said.

Bennett has said he had no intention of splitting the Sonics and Storm, but appeared to hedge Friday. He said plans are not set for the WNBA team, which will play the 2008 season in Seattle.

A few hours before Bennett’s announcement, a group of local investors offered to buy the Sonics in an effort to keep the Sonics from moving.

The group is headed by Dennis Daugs, a private wealth manager and managing director of Lakeside Capital Management LLC. The group said it sent Bennett a formal letter of interest. The statement did not identify others in the group or how much the group would pay.

“We respect the many loyal fans and we want to build a populist movement to keep the teams here,” said Daugs, a former minority owner of the SuperSonics.

Dan Mahoney, a spokesman for Bennett, had no comment on Daugs’ offer, other than to reiterate the teams are not for sale.

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