The Seattle P-I editorial board gives credit where none is due:
Still, principal owner Clay Bennett deserves credit for sincerity in his efforts to work out a deal that keeps the team in the Seattle area.
Um… okay, let me get this straight. After failing to secure $200 million in public funding for a $220 million expansion of Key Arena, a frustrated Howard Schultz sells the team to Clay Bennett, a prominent Oklahoma City businessman. Then, fully aware of the cold reception local icon Schultz received from lawmakers, and only months after 74-percent of Seattle voters rejected a public subsidy by approving I-91, the Sonics’ new owner — hailing from a city famous for its basketball jones — asks taxpayers to contribute $400 million towards what would be the most expensive arena in the entire NBA, but with no public vote.
And I’m supposed to believe this effort is sincere?
Call me a cynic, but I never believed Bennett ever intended to keep the team in Seattle. Even the most casual observer of Washington politics could have told Bennett that his $530 million hoop dream would be D.O.A., so I can’t help but view it as a disingenuous con game intended to fill Key Arena with gullible fans until the lease expires in 2010. But it’s hard to keep fans in the seats when you put such a crappy product on the court, so now Bennett is hinting that he may not even honor the last couple years of the lease.
“I would expect we would stay, but I’m not so sure a lame duck franchise is good for anybody.”
Whatever.
I suppose it is possible that our Legislature could foil Bennett’s plan by being stupid enough to give him what he’s asking for. But I’m guessing not even Bennett thinks it likely.
Clay Bennett should be arrested for aggressive panhandling.
“I suppose it is possible that our Legislature could foil Bennett’s plan by being stupid enough to give him what he’s asking for.”
Bennett didn’t get where he is by underestimating the stupidity of legislative bodies. In case Olympia gives him the money, he has a backup plan:
“The Boeing Co. owns the roughly 22 acres that the Sonics want, but a Dallas-based developer, Harvest Partners, has the first right of refusal to buy the property …. And, Harvest Partners on Tuesday gave no indication it was willing to sell. ‘We are moving forward to build a shopping center on that land …,’ said Natalie Quick, a Harvest Partners spokeswoman. ‘ … Our plan remains the same.'” http://tinyurl.com/2v3ogs
I clicked on the ad for “Red Pill” to earn Goldy 5 cents — and came upon this interesting comment about Australia’s conservative P.M. John Howard:
“If Howard really believes that the U.S. pulling out of Iraq will lead to ‘chaos’ and a ‘victory for the terrorists’ and that it could be ‘catastrophic for the West’ and ‘have tremendously adverse consequences for Australia,’ doesn’t that make him the worst Prime Minister ever for only having 1,400 troops there?”
http://www.horsesass.org/?p=2538
Indeed.
No offense Roger Rabbit. BUT, I feel you should have said:
Clay Bennett should be arrested for A-G-G-R-E-S-S-I-V-E panhandling.
I’ve been worrying some. It’s not just those out-of-towners paying the restaurant taxes (sometimes even us Seattlelites get to feeling rich&splurgy enough to treat ourselves to McDonalds), or rental car fees (yeow, in gridlock bet some of them accident dudes need some wheels while their car is in the repair shop).
Nope, what I was worrying about, was after we Seattle folk were smart enough to say “E-N-O-U-G-H E-X-T-O-R-T-I-O-N already. These Renters haven’t even finished paying for the LAST KeyArena prettying-up they demanded.” Most landlords might say the word “Deadbeat” but I don’t think I want to be so mean.
But…back to my worries. After we Seattle voters said NO NO NO with our 75%, are we now going to get stuck paying to build another boondoggle in Renton? Seeings how Renton is still in King County and we have to pay all the taxes King County can dredge up as well?
Send the Sonics to Oklahoma, who apparently has a big new (empty) sports arena that’s already been sponged from their own poor taxpayers. Sonics are nice people, don’t get me wrong, but we are so tired of being extorted by all the legislators who have been bedazzled by sports teams.
State: Surface Option Won’t Work
Tomorrow’s P-I reports that Gov. Gregoire and Speaker Chopp ahve already considered and rejected a surface alternative to the viaduct:
“‘The question that keeps coming up is, “Would she be willing to look at a surface option?”‘ [Gregoire spokeswoman Holly] Armstrong said. ‘The reality is there isn’t one. They’ve looked at a surface option and it doesn’t work. It doesn’t meet capacity and you are putting a bunch of traffic out on I-5 and downtown Seattle.'”
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/.....uct15.html
Roger Rabbit Commentary: I agree the viaduct is ugly. However, I don’t want to pay for a tunnel, and I think it would be foolish from a traffic standpoint to dead end SR-99 in the downtown core, or convert it to an arterial with cross streets. That would leave Seattle with only 1 through route west of Lake Washington, and it takes only 1 accident to shut down I-5. Then where will we be?
I have a plan:
Let the team go. They suck, who needs ’em. Let Bennett run off with the team to a 3rd tier market where they will be cemented into permanent mediocrity.
Then, once they’re gone, let’s put up a bitchin’ 3/4-billion-dollar basketball palace the likes of which nobody has ever seen. Then we can get a spiffy, new expansion team with local ownership.
That way we get rid of Bennett, we get rid of the crappy Sonics, we get a new arena, and we can keep basketball. Everybody wins!
@4 This is what I’ve been saying over and over the last several days — the Renton city fathers are scheming to cop Seattle’s team, and stick Seattleites with the bill.
@6 Everybody wins? What about the taxpayrs who have to pony up the 3/4 billion? Sounds kinda obvious YOU aren’t planning to pay for your grand pleasure palace.
Scar Face – you want the NBA to give an expansion team to a city that just chased out its well know franchise?
What is in your cup this night?
I have no problem with pro sports and low level taxes that promote them.
And the stadium that is contemplated is finally multi purpose. Unlike Goldy I do not sit at a computer beating off 247 – love rock concerts. And this will be a pip for them.
There is no multi purpose regional stadium.
But then, the howling pseudo public policy mavens will most likely prevail – Chopp says no – it is no. He does not want to take on the never forget anti anti anti anti crowd that has a strong foothold in his district. Village people think they run the 43rd. – and hanker back to the small towns they were born in.
Here is hoping some of these people discover how cheap it is to live in Aberdeen.
BUSH’S IRAN FIASCO
The new issue of Newsweek has a lede article on Iran. It is the usual depressing litany of Bush’s criminal stupidity and stubbornness.
The gist of the article is that Iran cooperated with the U.S. in overthrowing the Taliban, and played a critical role in helping the U.S. put together the Karzai government in Afghanistant; then, Iran approached the U.S. at least twice wanting to discuss a major thawing of relations between the U.S. and Iran, even offering to put their nuclear program on the table — but Bush refused to allow a frustrated Colin Powell to engage in talks with the Iranians because Bush didn’t think the Tehran regime should be in power and therefore would not negotiate with them. Consequently, Bush missed an opportunity for rapporchement with Iran equivalent to Nixon’s establishmetn of relations with China.
And now, hawks in the administration are trying to provoke Iran every way they can, hoping to start a war, which the article suggests is a very real possibility: “Sunni insurgents in Iraq need only kill some Americans and plant Iranian IDs nearby to start a full-scale war.” For example, the U.S. may have had its fingers in the kidnapping of an Iranian diplomat in Iraq, which appeared to be carried out by Iraqi black-ops personnel who report directly to U.S. Special Forces.
As for what a U.S.-Iran war would like like, “The targets would include Iran’s air-defense systems, its nuclear- and chemical-weapons facilities, ballistic missile sites, naval and Revolutionary Guard bases in the gulf, and intelligence headquarters. But generals are convinced that no amount of firepower could do more than delay Tehran’s nuclear program. U.S. military analysts have concluded that nothing short of regime change would completely eliminate the threat — and America simply doesn’t have the troops needed.”
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17...../newsweek/
@9 You want it, you pay for it. Its all yours.
Lordsman: if it’s done right, it will work.
Not that I expect that level of cunning from out public officials, mind you. Hey, a guy can dream, can’t he?
I’m just saying… dump the Sonics, dump Bennett, build the arena… but don’t let the Okie benefit from it.
Lordsman at 9: The “multi-purpose” facility is one thing. The problem is the Sonics will get all the benefit of the “mutliple uses”. The way the Sonics want the deal to be structured, we pay for the Arena, we pay for the upkeep and take the risks associated with owning property (liability, etc.), and then the Sonics get the exclusive right not only to Sonics ticket sales, but to rent it out to anybody else and the Sonics get to keep the revenue.
And then eight years from now when they decide that its not the newest, nicest arena anymore, they will want us to re-build it again or they will threaten to take their ball-club and go home (again).
It’s a sucker deal. I don’t think its a coincidence that the cost of the deal, to the taxpayer, suddenly increased 1/3. By next fall (Oct. 31st) Bennett will declare that the state/city/county wouldn’t “work with him”, and he has no choice but to take his team elsewhere. Oh, and by the way, the last two years of the lease on the Key Arena? He said we could forget about that, too.
Hey, I’ve got a great deal for anybody who is interested. I want to have access to some vacation property near the ski resorts at Aspen, Colorado. I only want to use it for part of the year. So here’s my plan.
I want you to buy the property, build the vaction home (be sure to make it really nice), and then lease it to me. I’m willing to pay about $500.00 per month.
Part of the time I will be staying there, during ski season. That’s why it’s such a good deal for you. My mere presence is so valuable, you should pay me for the priviledge of viewing me. In fact, I will charge you a fee for each time you (or anybody else) takes the time to watch me ski.
The rest of the year, well, you don’t get to use the vacation home either. I get to rent it out. Of course, rental rates in that area are about $5,000 per week, and I get to keep all that. But don’t worry, I’ll make sure you are a full and equal partner – you get to pay all the maintenance and repair expenses.
And once the vacation home starts to get a little dated in five or six years, I will find somebody else who will offer me a better deal, and I will be gone.
Would it be the end of the World if the Sonics moved to Oklahoma City?
I supported both the Mariners’ and the Seahawks’ stadiums because I want major league sports in this town, and because the Kingdome, built on the cheap, was a piece of garbage that was falling apart and that no really wanted to attend, to see teams play on plastic under concrete.
I opposed Initiative 91 because Chris Van Dyk is a sports-hating maggot who never shows up for “more important things” like health care, education, transportation, or anything else besides sticking it to sports teams and sports fans.
His initiative tied the city’s hands altogether in negotiating with the Sonics and just about ensured that they would be out of the Seattle Center as soon as they could be. Nice going, Chris. Those of you who voted for this piece of idiocy can pat your backs and feel smug now.
Now we come to this “multiple-purpose” proposal in Renton. Sounds reasonble, right? We soak the tourists and the high rollers to pay for it, right?
Wrong. Wrong six ways from Sunday. Never, ever forget the history of the Seattle Center Coliseum (I do not use “corporate” names for stadiums and arenas; they didn’t pay ME a nickel for “naming rights,” after all).
Every attempt, every single attempt, to enlarge the Coliseum to accommodate hockey has been opposed, and opposed as a deal-breaker, by one party: The Seattle SuperSonics. It would mean competition for the winter dates, don’t you know?
I used to go to Sonics games all the time, from the team’s inception right through the 1980s. When they began subjecting paying fans to commercials over the PA system, I was out of there and haven’t been back.
Someone can check the terms that they are demanding. I bet one of them is “no outside food.” Do people remember how we had to spit blood to avoid that at the Mariners’ new ballpark, paid for by OUR taxes? Do people think it is acceptable to give this tenant, or ANY tenant, such control over the management of OUR arena?
I love pro sports and would love to keep the Sonics in town. But they are blackmailing us, and like every other blackmailer, they keep asking for more and more and more.
I say not a nickel. They have a perfectly good place to play at the Seattle Center. If that does not meet the NBA’s “financial profile,” then too bad. They can go to Oklahoma, and from there straight to hell.
Ivan at 16 has said it well.
The only thing Clay is sincere about is this: if you give me the $300 million to construct a building for my PRIVATE business (which I don’t have to report to the IRS), I will keep my team here and take all the profits the building you gave me can generate for the term of the lease.
The fine print:
Unless, and until, a sweeter deal comes along.
I had heard (on Q-13 fox news, so perhaps not completely reliable) that the Sonics ownership does not even control the property on which they wish to build their stadium. In fact, they haven’t even started negotiations with the property owner.
Honestly, if we give them tax money to build the stadium they need to sight an agreement to refund the full amount when they move the team to Oklahoma City.
Tell ’em if they win an NBA championship, we’ll give them what they want.
That’s called , “negotiation”. They’ve asked for the moon, so we ask for the moon. Then we both get down to brass tacks.
13 Oh, great. It’s bad enough to be ripped off to subsidize the NBA, but helping Clear Channel make even more money is even worse.
If the NBA really cares about the Pacific Rim, and TV, then Seattle is a lot more valuable to them than the 47th largest media market, Oklahoma City.
One thing that should be going through Bennet’s mind: the Ford Center in OKC is not fully sold out. The seating capacity is 19,599 for basketball. Source:
http://www.okfordcenter.com/ar.....facts.html
(and by the way, the arena cost in 1992 was just $89 million.)
Here are attendance figures for three most recent the New Orleans Hornets home games at the Ford Center in OKC. The Hornets play there this season as a result of Hurricane Katrina. They show 2846, 2460 and 2235 empty seats. And this is when the team has a record of 25 and 38 (5 more wins than the Sonics) and is right in the hunt for the last playoff spot in the Western Conference. Attendance should also be higher because of the novelty factor: the Hornets return to New Orleans after the season is over. Here’s the attendance:
Feb 14, vs Kings
16,753
Feb 10, vs Grizzlies
17,139
Feb 8 vs Bucks
17,364
Source URLS:
http://www.nba.com/games/20070.....score.html
http://www.nba.com/games/20070.....score.html
http://www.nba.com/games/20070.....score.html
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If Bennett is looking at the total financial picture, he’s probably going to lose less money staying at Key Arena in Seattle because of the TV, radio, and inevitible fact that at some point the Ford Center will also require a big infusion of cash. It is one thing for him to try to stick the bill to out of towners, but he and his cronies will have a really hard time sticking the bill to his neighbors. And will he blackmail them, saying “give me $200 million or I ‘m going to move the team?” I somehow doubt it. Pardon the pun, but he’s in a “hornets nest.”
It will be fascinating to see what happens.
@17 “The only thing Clay is sincere about is this: if you give me the $300 million to construct a building for my PRIVATE business (which I don’t have to report to the IRS), I will keep my team here and take all the profits the building you gave me can generate for the term of the lease.”
Wrong. If we give Clay the $400 million (not $300 million; that was last week), the cost of “public participation” in his (not our) arena will go up to $500 million; and if we give him $500 million, it will go up to $700 million …
And let’s not forget that Howard Shultz of Starbucks knew exactly what he was doing when he sold the team to this shark for $80 million profit …
@18 It’s worse than that. The property is owned by Boeing, but a Houston developer has right of first refusal on it, and the developer says they’re going to use it for a shopping mall and it’s not for sale.
@21 I say call him and raise him. Play in Key Arena, or play in a horse barn in a cow town. His choice.