And so another professional sports team picks up and deserts a band of loyal fans, caring not a whit for the emotions of those who have poured their hearts and souls into cheering for them, sweating with them, booing them, and of course, shelling out hard-earned cash for the right to line the pockets of another greedy owner.
But is that the honest truth in the Seattle SuperSonics move to Oklahoma City? Become dispassionate for a moment and, as Fox Mulder used to opine, "The truth is out there".
First, let's dig into the City of Seattle and their role in this passion play.
Key Arena is a dump, and not even the most loyal of fan or those who yearn for that "home court" feel should disagree. I've been there and found it to be a wonderful place to play basketball. If we're playing in the 1980's, that is.
Let us not forget one of the memorable moments in its history where the roof started to leak and dropped Spencer Haywood like a bag of Benjamins thanks to a puddle. Then, and only then, did the City of Seattle wake to the realization they had to spend money to renovate.
It's an old tale that's been played out in too many cities. A place to play and gather, for sports and concerts, tumult and truck shows allowed to fall into disrepair and then rescued only when it begins to resemble a tree house built by the neighbor kids.
Of course, this means taxpayer dollars. Also, there is a hefty amount more from those taxpayers than would have been spent had the words "proper maintenance" been used in the lexicon of City fathers and mothers.
Bill Ingram of "Hoops World" can be heard commenting on this at www.speedingbulletnetwork.com, placing the blame squarely on the City of Seattle for their lack of foresight and allowing Key Arena to become a black hole, which one pours taxpayer cash into. And I must partly agree with Bill that the City must shoulder its share of the blame.
Naturally, they long ago realized the error of their ways and launched a tidy disinformation campaign against Sonics owner Bill Bennett, painting him as something this side of Darth Vader.
In the same breath however, Bennett deserves his tag as carpetbagger and greedy toady. Simple research shows that almost from the moment he bought the franchise he sought to better deal it by packing up for his beloved Oklahoma City.
But Bennett was smart like a fox in this one. He knew the Arena was a place fit only for those tractor pulls (no offense to those who enjoy a little horsepower on display), and the City would remain mired in their own muddy political payoffs to see the problem before it became a crisis. He had them right where he wanted them, and they played right into his hands.
Bennett though is like so many other ego laden businessmen who yearn for the chance to own a sports franchise and impress his buddies on the golf course. He would follow the model established by his penny pinching peers and demand the City use taxpayer dollars, (notice how that phrase keeps turning up here), to build him a palace to play and rake in the cash.
4 comments Last one added about 1 year ago — Leave a Comment
Matt Choman about 1 year ago
I don't know this writer but he should be running for president. He's done his home work and made it
understandable. In today's day and age, that's a statement. Thanks for applying some common
sense and values to the issues. I'm a Sonics fan and love the sport.
So why can't we elect someone with this kind of common sense??? As a society, we need to work and think smarter, not harder!!!!
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Matt Choman about 1 year ago
I don't know this writer but he should be running for president. He's done his home work and made it understandable. In today's day and age, that's a statement. Thanks for applying some common sense and values to the issues. I'm a Sonics fan and love the sport. So why can't we elect someone with this kind of common sense??? As a society, we need to work and think smarter, not harder!!!!
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Kevin Gary about 1 year ago
In relation to the Key Arena building ... The writer needs to get his facts straight and obviously last attended a game in Seattle prior to 1996. I do, however, agree with you on several other parts ;-)
The old Seattle Center Colosseum is the facility that had the leaky roof. This building was used from 1962-1993 (a former arena for the 1962 Worlds Fair); torn down, completely gutted out, and replaced with Key Arena in 1996. The Sonics played their entire 1994-1995 season in the Tacoma Dome in Tacoma, WA (www.tacomadome.org) When Key Arena opened in 1996, David Stern, of all people, said that Key Arena was one of the finest facilities in the NBA. Don't believe me? Watch this 1996 video of him talking about how he loves the Key: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qV4QLK0HnOc
Now in 2008, he has an entire different approach. The whole reason has nothing to do with Key Arena being outdated; in fact, it's more modern than most of the NBA facilities out there! It all has to do with the lease agreement the Sonic owners (Ackerly Group) made as a partership with the City of Seattle. Seattlelites are smart people; they don't want to pay 100% for sport arenas that billionaires should be able to pay for themselves. The City and Sonics agreed that revenues from Sonics games would be split; paying off the debt for the new Key Arena up until the year 2010 (end of lease period). Unfortunately, about six years later, the players strike sort of forced the NBA to come up with new profit model to make more millions for the owners/players. The lease agreement didn't take this into account and the Sonics were losing money (keeping in check with inflation to pay the players more millions). There has been a plan all along to do phase 2 of Key Arena; another remodel which would had over $300 million dollar in facility upgrades. But reluctant Seattle owner Clay Bennett "was a man possessed" to not look into this option; was more interested in moving the team to his home state of Oklahoma.
http://www.djc.com/special/design95/10002590.htm
This gives an overview of the history of Key Arena from the lead contractor/architect
People can argue that Key Arena only seats 17,000; but, the Sonics, even through rough seasons, generally sell out 80% of their ticket base with season ticket holders. Most NBA teams have trouble getting 10,000 seats sold .
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bartleby about 1 year ago
Kevin,
Clay Bennett is a scumbag, and I agree that Key Arena could be a viable NBA arena with a different lease agreement. However, it's just not true that "most NBA teams have trouble getting 10,000 seats sold." No NBA team, including the last place Memphis Grizzlies, averaged less than 12,000 per game last year, and nearly two thirds of all NBA teams averaged more than Key Arena's capacity. See:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/attendance
If they sold every ticket at Key Arena for an entire season, that would put them only around 20th in NBA attendance. It's a nice venue, but let's be honest - capacity is an issue there.
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