Seattle Supersonics
Because of a vote yesterday that blocked the city from helping to build a new basketball stadium, the Sonics are leaving Seattle, the mayor and the new owners basically said today.
Good riddance.
The ballot measure didn't explicitly block new construction, but as I understand it, it held that the city could contribute to a stadium only if its contributions were returned in full as part of the stadium revenue sharing arrangement. That's a huge "only."
But a necessary one.
Seattle, a city which has always supported the Sonics, a city which has filled 90 percent of the seats even though the team missed the playoffs a few years in a row and even though most NBA cities don't come close, a city which is the 15th largest market in the country, somehow needed to tell the NBA to go, umm, screw itself.
This ballot measure did that.
Despite Seattle's strong embrace of NBA basketball — it rebuilt a stadium for the team less than 15 years ago — the NBA has been rattling its sabers so loudly that the city is fed up. Me too. I don't live in Seattle so I was unable to vote for the giant 600,000 person middle-finger, but I would have gladly helped flip the bird.
When the city rebuilt Key Arena, it negotiated a lease agreement that gave a chunk of stadium revenues to the Sonics franchise, but which also reserved a sizable revenue stream for the city.
Unfortunately, consecutive Sonics ownership groups have complained that the lease doesn't work for the Sonics. Last spring, NBA commissioner David Stern even called the lease the worst in the NBA. I believe Stern. But, while it might be the worst lease, that does not make it a bad one.
Look at the finances. Since Starbucks' Howard Schultz (and a group of 50 others) purchased the team roughly five years ago, they said they have lost $60M. They blamed the lease.
OK. That's what Schultz says. I hear him. Unfortunately for Schultz's credibility, I also hear him when he admits that he sold the team for $150 million more than he bought it for — $350M this summer from $200M in 2001. Umm.
How does that work, Mr. Schultz?
What sort of lunatic purchases a negative $12M annual cash flow? And, what colossal idiot pays nearly double the price paid only five years earlier? Nobody. No lunatic does that. Regrettably, I am forced into the sort of radical disbelief that I never respect in others. I am forced to conclude, very simply, that Schultz must be lying.
The new ownership group, led by Clay Bennett, took over this summer. Their rhetoric isn't that a new lease must be signed, but that a new building must be built. With a new building, Bennett says, the team will stay.
Unlike most of Seattle, I believe Bennett when he says that he wants to stay in Seattle. I believe him. He purchased the Sonics, I think, with the hope that Seattle would be so afraid of losing the Sonics it would give him a sweetheart deal and he would get to stay in a sweetheart city. Again, the 15th largest market in the country. Oklahoma City, by the way, is 46th, less than a third the size of Seattle.
Bennett hoped Schultz had scared Seattle straight. Sorry, buddy. Schultz scared Seattle furious.
I'm a huge NBA fan. I loved first the Portland Blazers and Clyde Drexler. I grew up in Portland. I have 50 Drexler cards minimum. I loved second, and much more deeply, the Seattle Supersonics. Detlef. George Karl. Vinny Askew! Mac 10. Gary. The Reign Man. Without those guys, I would never be a sports fan. But, I'm fed up.
Seattle deserves to be treated better. That the NBA continues to threaten us makes me furious.
Threaten Atlanta, where nobody attends games. Or New Orleans, where nobody came. Threaten even Portland, which now plays to a third-quarters full stadium on a good day. I don't care. But, to threaten Seattle's loyal fans for a better stadium lease even while the team's financial health flourishes is an abomination.
Ugh.
I need to stop. I'm furious.
You want to allow the franchise to go, David Stern? Fine. At least I can be happy knowing that we refused you publicly before you refused us.
Good riddance.
The ballot measure didn't explicitly block new construction, but as I understand it, it held that the city could contribute to a stadium only if its contributions were returned in full as part of the stadium revenue sharing arrangement. That's a huge "only."
But a necessary one.
Seattle, a city which has always supported the Sonics, a city which has filled 90 percent of the seats even though the team missed the playoffs a few years in a row and even though most NBA cities don't come close, a city which is the 15th largest market in the country, somehow needed to tell the NBA to go, umm, screw itself.
This ballot measure did that.
Despite Seattle's strong embrace of NBA basketball — it rebuilt a stadium for the team less than 15 years ago — the NBA has been rattling its sabers so loudly that the city is fed up. Me too. I don't live in Seattle so I was unable to vote for the giant 600,000 person middle-finger, but I would have gladly helped flip the bird.
When the city rebuilt Key Arena, it negotiated a lease agreement that gave a chunk of stadium revenues to the Sonics franchise, but which also reserved a sizable revenue stream for the city.
Unfortunately, consecutive Sonics ownership groups have complained that the lease doesn't work for the Sonics. Last spring, NBA commissioner David Stern even called the lease the worst in the NBA. I believe Stern. But, while it might be the worst lease, that does not make it a bad one.
Look at the finances. Since Starbucks' Howard Schultz (and a group of 50 others) purchased the team roughly five years ago, they said they have lost $60M. They blamed the lease.
OK. That's what Schultz says. I hear him. Unfortunately for Schultz's credibility, I also hear him when he admits that he sold the team for $150 million more than he bought it for — $350M this summer from $200M in 2001. Umm.
How does that work, Mr. Schultz?
What sort of lunatic purchases a negative $12M annual cash flow? And, what colossal idiot pays nearly double the price paid only five years earlier? Nobody. No lunatic does that. Regrettably, I am forced into the sort of radical disbelief that I never respect in others. I am forced to conclude, very simply, that Schultz must be lying.
The new ownership group, led by Clay Bennett, took over this summer. Their rhetoric isn't that a new lease must be signed, but that a new building must be built. With a new building, Bennett says, the team will stay.
Unlike most of Seattle, I believe Bennett when he says that he wants to stay in Seattle. I believe him. He purchased the Sonics, I think, with the hope that Seattle would be so afraid of losing the Sonics it would give him a sweetheart deal and he would get to stay in a sweetheart city. Again, the 15th largest market in the country. Oklahoma City, by the way, is 46th, less than a third the size of Seattle.
Bennett hoped Schultz had scared Seattle straight. Sorry, buddy. Schultz scared Seattle furious.
I'm a huge NBA fan. I loved first the Portland Blazers and Clyde Drexler. I grew up in Portland. I have 50 Drexler cards minimum. I loved second, and much more deeply, the Seattle Supersonics. Detlef. George Karl. Vinny Askew! Mac 10. Gary. The Reign Man. Without those guys, I would never be a sports fan. But, I'm fed up.
Seattle deserves to be treated better. That the NBA continues to threaten us makes me furious.
Threaten Atlanta, where nobody attends games. Or New Orleans, where nobody came. Threaten even Portland, which now plays to a third-quarters full stadium on a good day. I don't care. But, to threaten Seattle's loyal fans for a better stadium lease even while the team's financial health flourishes is an abomination.
Ugh.
I need to stop. I'm furious.
You want to allow the franchise to go, David Stern? Fine. At least I can be happy knowing that we refused you publicly before you refused us.
Labels: Seattle Sonics
posted by Chris at 5:33 PM
2 Comments:
As I re-read my post, I realized that I forgot three important facts:
1. The current lease in Seattle is supposed to expire in 2010, I think, and that doesn't seem like a terribly long time. To move instead of wait out four years seems rash.
2. Clay Bennett has been pursuing other stadium arrangements in cities near Seattle like Bellevue and Renton, which might be large enough to support stadiums, but will present challenging traffic problems.
3. The vote thwarting the Sonics nascent stadium plans passed by a 3-1 margin.
Word, Fyall. I told the NBA to screw itself with my vote. -April
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