This article is about the Oklahoma City businessman; for the cartoonist, see Clay Bennett.
Clayton "Clay" I. Bennett is an American businessman from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA. Clay is the husband of Louise Gaylord Bennett, the daughter of Oklahoma City media mogul Edward L. Gaylord.
Bennett is the chairman of Dorchester Capital with its headquarters in downtown Oklahoma City's Oklahoma Tower. Bennett is also the chairman emeritus of the board of directors of the Oklahoma Heritage Association.
Bennett is most notably the chairman of the Oklahoma City-based Professional Basketball Club LLC (PBC), which owns the NBA Seattle SuperSonics franchise and is planning on moving the franchise to Oklahoma City. He was one of the principal owners of the San Antonio Spurs in the mid-1990s where he represented the team on the NBA Board of Governors.
Immediately prior to the 2005-06 NBA season, Bennett, along with Aubrey McClendon of Chesapeake Energy, Tom L. Ward of SandRidge Energy, and G. Jeffrey Records Jr. of MidFirst Bank, partnered with the City of Oklahoma City and the State of Oklahoma in providing a revenue guarantee for the NBA's New Orleans Hornets. This resulted in the temporary relocation of the Hornets to Oklahoma City for two seasons.
Bennett has been keenly interested in bringing the NBA to Oklahoma City over the years. He had offered to purchase at least a minority controlling interest in the New Orleans Hornets until July 2006, when he formed PBC LLC that purchased the Supersonics franchise.
On November 1, 2007, Bennett informed commissioner David Stern that he plans to file papers asking league permission to relocate the Supersonics to Oklahoma City. He now has until March 1 to file the necessary documents for relocation.
