A modest proposal: let's not reconstruct or replace our 10-year-old NBA arena at taxpayer expense
SEATTLE – Seattle Sonics principal owner Howard Schultz said Wednesday he'll look at all the options — including moving or selling the team — if the state Legislature fails to earmark $200 million for the Sonics to refurbish KeyArena or build a new home. Seattle Times / AP, February 1, 2006But most of the coverage does not also note things like this:
[B]y the early 90's it became apparent that the Sonics would need a new home with all of the amenities of a more modern arena. In an unusual move it was decided that the Coliseum would be closed for a year and it would be remade into a state of the art venue. In the meantime the Sonics would use the Tacoma Dome as a home base and in the fall of 1995 the Coliseum reopened its doors as Key Arena. [LINK]For those who don't remember, they tore that place down to the studs and rebuilt it just over ten years ago. And now it needs to be refurbished or scrapped? That's insane. Safeco Field opened in 1999. Should we expect that it will need to be refurbished or scrapped in another three years?
Did the Howard Schultz group not do its due diligence when they bought the club? Did they make a bad business decision? Did they overpay? Quite possibly. Did they base their purchase price on an assumption that they would shortly be able to extort a new venue from Washington taxpayers? Maybe. Should we really be refurbishing or replacing a facility that was, for all intents and purposes, new ten years ago, because a recent buyer of the team got the math wrong? I don't think so.
posted at 3:03 PM
2 Comments:
Amen to that mister! I'd be more inclined to care about this if the ball club hadn't balked about paying for their share of the last overhaul.
It's hard for me as a citizen of the world to expend millions and millions on sports. Yes, it's big business and it has an economic impact on our region - but to say that they need a new arena just sounds greedy.
To be fair, the overhaul was done when Ackerely owned the franchise. Howard should have done some more homework when he and the new ownership took over. That said, Howard still has Wally Walker as a Sonics employee so things might not improve. However, I doubt anyone would argue that Safeco and Qwest Field haven't been hugely successful as new venues for the Mariners and the Seahawks. If I'm understanding this correctly, I think the proposal in front of the legislature is to allow the revenue from the hotel tax to cover Key Arena (and the arts facilities at the Seattle Center. Sounds reasonable to me. The problem isn't the facility as much as it is the lease agreement.
I know people hate paying for arenas; I don't particularly like it either but I do think a combination of public/private money makes sense. Holding a city/state hostage does not. I am upset with the chair of the City Council for telling Sports Illustrated that there would be no social or economic impact felt if the Sonics left. What a completely stupid thing to say. Of course it would have an impact. What does he think goes on in the Seattle Center/Key Arena in the winter? There are only so many concerts you can schedule.
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