Frustrating
Posted on Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008 at 4:01 am by Brian Robinson
My posts keep getting eaten. Not sure why.
I have tried to respond below in comments and it is not working. Sorry for splitting the threads. Please anyone e-mail me at brian@saveoursonics.org if you’re having this problem.
My input is as follows:
I am getting tired of people just slamming the mayor left and right.
Yes he folded and took a buyout when the pressure got really great. Yes I disagreed strongly with that decision at that time and YES I think the recent losses of Aubrey McLendon show that the buyout was probably the wrong choice.
No I don’t think he deserves to be villified because he was the only politician to take this very unpopular and hard to resolve issue on. Who else ever called a press conference on this issue? Is there any certainty that, after recieving a vote for relocation and a new deal in OKC Aubrey McLendon wouldn’t have just sold to another OKC owner or maybe San Jose, Kansas City, or Las Vegas? Nickels thought this team was gone for nothing and he took the best deal he could find. I didn’t like it but his decision was based on sound logic.
He stood toe to toe on this issue for months, waiting for any politician to join him. Nobody did. Not Gregoire, not Ron Simms, nobody on the council. NOBODY. It makes me angry that suddenly he is the bad guy. Who else put money up? Right now the city has $150M on the table to bring the team back because neither the county or the state will put up any money at all. This $150M may be one of the largest city investments by a mayor anywhere in the country because these deals are almost always regional with money coming on a county or state level.
So while I do think Nickels deserves a share of the blame I just want to be on record with some support. There is plenty of blame to go around. Lots of people made mistakes and lots of them intentionally went bad to better their own interests. Lets stop pointing fingers and support the only man I know of right now with any type of a concrete plan to get us a team back.
Now in response to that article specifically…
Keep in mind that Kesslers statements are from last spring. They upset me too but I’m going to just try to put them in some context and start fresh with a new deal. Its what we’re asking them to do and it is what we should do.
The new tax proposed is a continuation of an existing tax on hotel/motel stays within the city of Seattle and the city of Seattle only. It is not county or state wide and does not require any county approval. If the state approves it, even conditionally upon us getting a team, then the city can implement it without going for any approval on a county level.
Currently there is a 7% tax on hotel/motel stays. 1% of this tax goes towards convention center maintenance and for the last several years this tax has been unused and into a reserve The city financial offices have determined that the convention center does not need these funds and reviewed with them for confirmation.
Under the mayors plan 1% of the tax would be diverted to the renovation of Key Arena and that would be the final funding piece to satisfy our requirement and get Clay on for $30M, ostensibly getting us a new team. Funny but this “tourism only” tax that is “city money only with no obligation by the state” seems to be almost exactly what Christine Gregoire described as acceptable during her debate moment last week. Its almost like she had read the proposal and discussed how she could have an answer that fit those criteria…
Legislature seems much more accepting of this tax. For starters the fact that it is city only removes the argument that there is not support on a county level. most importantly it leaves the restaurant tax “pie” available for other uses by legislature. They are not competing with the UW or a variety of other interested parties. What is most important right now is for the city to verify and make widely known that there are no backside state ramifications. They don’t want the shell game where they approve this re-allocation of tax and then suddenly find a different city request for $85 million in other state taxes to go to the convention center(although why they shouldn’t pay a share I have no idea. It is called the WASHINGTON STATE Convention Center). That is a big concern amongst the legislators I have talked to and something the city needs to address early in the process.
The biggest obstacle right now is simply the highly contested governors race. Dino Rossi is clearly more willing to go out on a limb over this issue but Governor Gregoire remains aware and supportive. Democrats claim, that she has a better chance than Rossi of actually getting it done. Neither is speaking out against this but virtually all of the leadership in Olympia is terrified about this becoming a campaign issue when the election is going to be decided by a handful of votes. This has not stopped either candidate for Governor to avoid meeting on the issue but Lynn Kessler is going to be noticably unavailable until Nov. 5th when she knows who she will be dealing with.
Lobbying for this plan has been in play for several weeks now both on our end and the cities. There is a second “coalition” meeting scheduled for next month and also an effort to get some of the visible Sonics alumni more involved than in years past. We’ll have to see how that shakes out as NBA players (or even former NBA players) are fickle and tough to pin down.
October 22nd, 2008 at 5:18 am
“He’s lost tens of millions of dollars with the Bobcats.”
“He didn’t understand the market place, that Charlotte is really a small town where people want to believe you’re a part of the fabric of the place. He’s miscalculated a lot of things.”
“He’s been quietly feeling the market out for buyers,” one league executive said.”
“There are still plenty of people in the NBA who believe it’ll be his failing franchise on the market.”
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=Avm_qIc5wj17XbDNiIcXsKK8vLYF?slug=aw-bobcats102008&prov=yhoo&type=lgns
October 22nd, 2008 at 7:55 am
much of this was set in motion last spring, and became more solid when SB 6638 became law on July 1.
WSTCC had David Brewster voice their desires for the 7%, they want to expand, it is notgoing to happen over the freeway, it is not going to happen at Seattle Center for them, if it does happen in the air above the King County bus proprty then they really are not looking at having an actionable plan for a year or two, that likely could not start in time to be a meaningful factor to this 2-year budget cycle. They have a want, that is not a plan.
A week from yesterday the NBA season will start, there will be stories, and yes she has a set answer, it is called SB 6638 and the Task Force.
Ross Hunter is also running for office, he, too, can not talk about this until Nov 5th.
Regardless, there will be stories before the election, the finer points Brian made above always need to be part of an answer.
As I posted yesterday, Rossi said in a campaign email back to me that the sales tax back to the state over 10 years is about 20 million, the B&O tax from the Sonics is 25 million over the same period.
Getting a commitment for enough years to pay back in taxes to the state resolves worries outsiders have, those that are able to reason by using facts. The commitment should have an out to relocate to a new facility in Seattle where the state is paid back the state tax revenue.
Kings, Bobcats, maybe the Hornets, the Griz, when the music starts you should have a chair ready for one of those to sit in.
The Kings just look like they are going to have a tough time with their plan, they may be the one that ends up in Vegas.
October 22nd, 2008 at 8:52 am
interesting story phenom, last wee GP was “talking out his ass” about the possibility of a team being available in 2011. Hopefully this yahoo writer, and the statement that they could not get a buyer in this current market, and the Jordan has “two years”, isn’t more talk comingout of somebody’s ass.
Larry Brown, George Karl, Gary Payton, no connection there, nope, none. (Yes, the Dick Tate trap has been set, shhhh, don’t tell him).
Waiting for the market to come up in two years, Bobcats are not likely the only ones.
October 22nd, 2008 at 10:15 am
“Yes he folded and took a buyout when the pressure got really great. Yes I disagreed strongly with that decision at that time and YES I think the recent losses of Aubrey McLendon show that the buyout was probably the wrong choice.”
He still did the right thing, its not what fans wanted him to do, but he did the right thing.
You don’t judge the outcome by circumstances that no one could have seen coming. And never -ever- try to sell anyone on a bill of goods that anyone saw McClendon losing 2.3 billion in three months.
In hindsight, maybe there’s a possibility to keep bleeding them till they sell. I’d argue that the more likely solution there would have been for them to be so furious that they sold to Ellison or found measures to keep afloat.
October 22nd, 2008 at 10:23 am
Dino Rossi was on BJ Shay’s show this morining and briefly discussed the Sonics/Key Arena issue. Don’t know if KISW podcasts this or not.
October 22nd, 2008 at 10:29 am
It makes me angry that suddenly he is the bad guy.
He was always the bad guy (along with a host of others). The decision to hold the Sonics to the lease combined with opposing new arena developments elsewhere, instead of offering up a new building solution to keep the team here, doomed the franchise to extinction.
Funny but this “tourism only” tax that is “city money only with no obligation by the state” seems to be almost exactly what Christine Gregoire described as acceptable during her debate moment last week.
She said she didn’t want tourists to pay for it. She wanted team owners to foot the bill.
(Yes, the Dick Tate trap has been set, shhhh, don’t tell him).
My lips are sealed.
October 22nd, 2008 at 12:05 pm
“She said she didn’t want tourists to pay for it. She wanted team owners to foot the bill.”
In that exchange I took that as the team paying for that part Ballmer has already said he would pay for. I thought she took a tough stand on something that has already been figured out.
October 22nd, 2008 at 12:12 pm
I think that even though Aubrey got kicked out of Danity Kane and lost 2 Billion it still would not have stopped the intentions of the owners and the NBA. Aubrey was not the only person involved who had gobs of cash.
These handkerchief wearing cow poke have too much pride to let something like a few billion in losses stop their triumphant march into the dusty streets of OKC with Seattle pride and joy on display.
We were pillaged like an old English town ravished by vikings. Howard unlocked and opened the cities gates and our legislator ushered the rabid OKC barbarian hoards in. Mayor Nickles, the peoples champion, could only provide false promises and a false sense of hope to save what little face we had left. Kinda like then your mom says everything will be OK when she knows dam well what is coming and that it will not be alright. the enemy was past our emerald gates by the time Nickles did something. Which was MORE then any other elected official did. I would rather him try and fail then to no try at all.
I think this travesty was planned by the evil Stern many years in advance and there was nothing that could stop it. (actually if Howard did not sell to OKC that would have stopped it)
This was a man made corporate natural disaster with ground zero being the Key Arena.
I just hope our passionate chants of “Save our Sonics” on the last game in Sonics history will be listened to by the basketball gods.
Martin Luther King said:
‘The Arc of the Moral Universe Is Long, but It Bends Toward Justice’
http://tinyurl.com/5w5njp
SAVE OUR SONICS!!
October 22nd, 2008 at 12:47 pm
http://tinyurl.com/5teu2t
Scapegoat. Focus all blame on STARBUCKS. Another battered stock left in the wake of The GHOST OF THE SONICS!!
October 22nd, 2008 at 4:22 pm
“I think that even though Aubrey got kicked out of Danity Kane and lost 2 Billion it still would not have stopped the intentions of the owners and the NBA.”
-hahahaha!!
October 22nd, 2008 at 4:25 pm
Obviosly there are so many people to blame in this horrible event of losing our Sonics. Weve been through this many times on here before but its definately 100% Shultz fault. (IMO) Next is Nickels. But reading Brians post makes me look at him a little bit different and realize that he really was in a hard situation. I still think that he made the wrong choice and always will, but if he is active in trying to get a new team, maybe he wasnt just “selling us out.”
October 22nd, 2008 at 7:11 pm
Neither is speaking out against this but virtually all of the leadership in Olympia is terrified about this becoming a campaign issue when the election is going to be decided by a handful of votes.
No kidding. They should have done something last year and maybe this would not have happen. It just shows that they were more worried about there job than finding a way to keep the Sonics. As for Nickels. He knew from day 1 that he was going to take a buyout. The question was that 26 million was not going to do it so he waited until he got a better deal. If he has any balls he would have stand up and not take a buyout like he said he would never do. If a leader can’t stand on his own and is worried about what other people think then he should not be the guy we want in leadership. He blew it. If he gets another team for us then great but he has lost my respect.
October 22nd, 2008 at 8:26 pm
“Neither is speaking out against this but virtually all of the leadership in Olympia is terrified about this becoming a campaign issue when the election is going to be decided by a handful of votes.”
What came to my mind reading this were
1) Why are they afraid? Chances are good they will escape the whole thing as it seems less people (fans or politicians) care now than they did when the Sonics leaving was just a threat.
2) If they are afraid it will become a campaign issue then why doesn’t someone (SOS?) make it one? Get in their face or something?
October 22nd, 2008 at 9:07 pm
It’s getting kinda late in the game to be making it a campaign issue, isn’t it? And I agree with your first point, Laporbo. Terror? C’mon.
October 23rd, 2008 at 2:10 am
B-Rob (Da Man) said: “…virtually all of the leadership in Olympia is terrified about this becoming a campaign issue when the election is going to be decided by a handful of votes.”
And so they should be terrified. Someone should make it a campaign issue - it would highlight a whole boatload of inaction.
October 23rd, 2008 at 2:13 am
Thank you Brian!!! I have been saying ever since that tragic day that Nickels deserved the least of the anger from us. He actually tried. He actually cared. He actually went in the ring against the mighty NBA. Sure he caved at the last moment, but I promise you in 10 years you will be glad he did.
To this day my beef is still with the NBA, not Bennett, not Gregoire, not Nickels. The NBA could have shown at least a hint of interest in getting this done. Instead they wanted to flex their power and make a point out of Seattle and do well by one of their chums (Bennett).
I also don’t blame the elected officials since they were doing what the majority of their voters wanted, nothing. I hate to say it but it’s true. There was so little support for another multi-hundred million dollar arena, especially for the Sonics who got an arena in the mid 90s.
My anger is with the NBA and its crooked business model, and the passive and close minded Seattle public that complained anytime the arena issue came up.
October 23rd, 2008 at 5:47 am
If you make this a major campaign issue and Dino wins then we face an uphill battle from the democrats who have a supermajority in legislature and feel completely burned on this issue.
if we make it a major campaign issue and the Governor gets re-elected then the bridge is burned, completely and totally.
It seems like the stakes are way too high to mess with. Besides, I think the Governor was definately part of the problem but she did not create the problem. There is a strong feeling amongst people who have dealt with her that she is supportive of this issue and will help get it done in a lower profile manner than the public challenge she was issued last session.
It was a good threat. it got us in the door many times. At the end of the day I don’t think that our issue could have swung 20-35ooo votes of angry, single issue sports fans. When you discount those people, there is enough overwhelming apathy and misinformation on this issue that they could simply shut the door on us. I was not willing to double down, go all in, or endorse either candidate. I personally do not have the energy to challenge a sitting governor or sitting mayor on an issue. U personally advocate bringing in allies and being inclusive rather than continuing to point fingers.
Since nobody else organized rallys agaisnt Gregroire on this issue I can assume there isn’t a body out there willing to take ip SOS’ roll in pointing fingers.
October 23rd, 2008 at 12:24 pm
well Brian, I do agree with the position in your last message, and have taken this position for the past 3 months.
What the “voters” need to keep in mind is that if the person they are voting for does not get elected did your path to that vote burn your chances for a solution that both gov candidates are willing to support?
To the degree that either is supportive, you might want to avoid pushing one of the gov to take a political position against an issue to defend positions in the past, you keep them from changing positions when the facts change. There is the distance of time between Clay Bennett asking for 350 million in state money, and 150 in Renton. Many people came out against that as a political position, the situation and facts are significantly different, do not keep those ignorant politicos from understanding what is different and being able to support something that is significantly different.
We all see this in much greater detail and understand it, do not expect a voter in Holqium to follow this to the same degree.
Allow people to take a new position when faced with new facts, about an old subject: the Sonics.
That said, vote out everybody that you do not see as supporting your interests, that is what the act of voting provides us all.
Vote with affimation. Let whoever know that this is important to you, that you are voting for the person that supports your interests now and in the future. That person should know on some level that even if they do get elected that you see a given interest as important now and in the future.
Your candidate might lose, it’s true.
If this becomes a political football over the next 2 weeks where somebody feels like they should take a position against you, that will hurt efforts from November 5th and on, no matter who is in office.
October 23rd, 2008 at 12:56 pm
Brian, the assumption that nobody else is willing to take up the position of finger pointer runs in contradiction to your, and really my, position that we should not be pointing fingers right now.
Political power exists in the ability to get a pool of people to act together. You did get plenty of people to act back then. I am sure that you could lead a reduced number to act again. I am not convinced that there are not now a significant amount of people who will not only not support more efforts, and may act individually against you. They may not be in the same numbers, they may not pool together, they may not have a named leader, but that does not matter to much if they behave as if they did.
Some people may not act at all since the efforts to bring the NBA back have been back room activities, they don’t know what they don’t know.
The press has set this issue down. There isn’t much communication here on a regular basis.
Assuming that nobody will take up SOS’ role in pointing fingers while you have gone out of your way to encourage people to not point fingers is cpnfusing, to say the least. The repeated request by others asking how to get involved, and what to do, has been meet by you saying what you are saying today.
I do not dissagree with what you are saying, I just don’t completely by your assumption.
As far as I can tell, SOS is you and Steve, and a few people here. I can assume it is much more, nobody really knows if it is.
I am not seeing the unseen organization. I know what I know, I see only what I can see. Right or wrong, that is what it looks like outside the SOS bubble to me.
It is a product of communication.
October 23rd, 2008 at 3:02 pm
Not enough people outside of the small group of SOS followers gives enough of a crap about the Sonics leaving to make it an election issue. Simple as that. Not only are there not enough fans out there who care enough. What ones there were, are slowly fading away. As with the team leaving, it’s out of sight, out of mind.
I am starting to believe that the ONLY way we ever see the NBA and the Sonics return, is if a building is built and funded 100% privately. This region isn’t in the mood to pay one cent. Not going to happen. There is no small town inferiority complex that cities like OKC have that spurs them on to pay what it takes to lure the NBA. The government and the citizens of Washington state simply do not care enough to get done what needs to happen. Been there, done that. Whatever. And with how utterly crappy each and every sports team is right now, you are not going to find too many people period who care if we have any sports teams at all. Let alone who’ll want to spend money and effort to get another one.
October 23rd, 2008 at 3:26 pm
I think if I have any major regrets in the way we handled SOS it was that I kept the team too small. There was nobody we dealt with in a position of power or even who had meaningful information who was willing to come out of the closet and the best barter material we wound up having was the fact that people knew they could deal with me in confidence and I would keep information very, very tight. It was a big deal. It allowed us to meet with a ton of people and have some input and participation. I spent hours and hours on the phone every day and met with people from here Oklahoma to NY to Utah to Memphis. Political consultants, former government officials, NBA People, players both current and former. The list goes on. None of them wanted their name out there so we kept it veyr, very secretive. Looking back it also disenfranchised a bunch of people who could have been much more active had I loosened the strings.
One other thing was that there are just an absolute TON of dead end roads in an operation like this. I always worried, and it happened on several occasions, that someone would get involved, see the first two projects go absolutely nowhere, get demoralized, and tell everybody that we couldn’t get things done. There were 50 unsucesseful attempts for every single meaningful accomplishment and I was just worried at how people would handle it. For example I when Rashard left the team there was a significant amount of talk about hosting a fundraiser and his vacant Mercer Island home. He was really supportive and we got really excited. Then his agent and other people involved started fretting about isnurance, the effect of a major fundraiser on the yard, landscaping, etc. It just never materialized. It is hard to get that high about something, then fall down low when it doesn’t happen. Telling people he bailed because of landscaping wouldn’t have made anyone happy. It would have pissed people off.
We have an incredible core group of volunteers. I would stack the 15 or so people who ran the organization at the end up with any major company when it comes to brainpower and abilty to get things done. People have no idea how much effort and planning went into that rally to coordinate celebrities, the city, the media, and all the various issues. We were completely unsure it would happen until about 3 days before it was time to go.
I should have had 15 people like that in place earlier and 100 by the time we got to the end.
What I don’t know is if involving more people and sharing more information would have cut me out of other details and other information we needed to work with. I think it probably would have but still would have nettted me a better result. perhaps I got caught up in my own abilities.
Right now there are some of the same faces and several new ones. You’ll likely see the roll-out of our campaign for a new team as early as next week. It is much more of a politically oriented movement with an olympia flair that is very different than what we had. i can already tell that we will be much better at fundraising and also at lobbying. The question now is whether the popular support will come back when there is no team to rally behind.
Spilt milk…
October 23rd, 2008 at 4:06 pm
The Sonics are an emotional appeal that in the end is always battled on the logical appeal of money.
If the argument is made, and I think it easily can, on net returns on the public money back to the public, then the opposition will not show in such great numbers.
Those that are for it can have facts to use in arguments and not just future happy memories.
As far as communication lessons from the past, I would suggest asking the private party if there a message you can be public about that would protect their privacy. Enlist the effected party in a solution.
October 23rd, 2008 at 5:15 pm
the communication campaign to keep the Sonics and remodel Key Arena ended on July 2nd. They Sonics portion was complete on August 15th or 16th. That is over, any lessons learned and not corrected were not learned but simply remembered. Any group that had its identity based on that ended, they need other reasons to be a group or they stop grouping (or teaming if you prefer).
The franchise is gone, the Sonics name & such is part of the Museum of History and Industry. I think that is not the best place for the Sonics. The communication campaign to change that sounds like it will change soon, and is a direct result of an arena solution.
The arena solution we are hurtling toward was really set in motion last March with the no-nothing legislators changing the stadium and exhibition funding law, to a stadium, exhibition, and art & culture funding law.
The public communication campaign has been next to nil on this for a variety of reasons, mostly political, with the co-chair of the task force running for re-election. The private communication campaign to the public has also been next to nil, out of respect of the wishes of the private parties and political realities of the public parties. It still doesn’t poll well since there hasn’t been enough informative communication.
I do have to commend the few news sources for reporting on the dark nights at the arena, the loss of naming rights funding.
As far as group forming, norming, rule making, effecting and affected by interacting with the greater society, it is not going to happen around a non-existent basketball team. That group can really only form for and great length of time around the arena solution, short term and most likely resulting in the return of the Sonics, being Key Arena. The arena is a part of the Seattle Center, the center has a master plan (its greater society).
It is not sexy, sorry, but it does draw broader support to have 300 million dollar upgrade to a public facility where the public money is returned in tax revenue based on the tenants ability to generate that kind of revenue. Few things do, and this really is it for Key Arena.
If this fails then we are looking much further down the road, a private arena, and a Jey Arena white elephant.
If a group forms around a civics lesson in public/private co-operations then you are going to have to involve the public in a communications campaign, with policies your group hlcan not only embrace emotionally, but defend logically.
October 23rd, 2008 at 6:28 pm
what if we renovate the key and no nba team returns?
October 23rd, 2008 at 6:37 pm
Nobody is going to spend money without a team, that includes Ballmer. No Ballmer, no city, no city, not state. You end up with funding authorized but not acted on.
If there isn’t a team then the city is still on the hook for some improvement to make the building more attractive to non-basketball activities.
Clay Bennett would be on the hook for 300 million dollars.
The state must authorize funding, spent or not, by 12/31/2009.”, in order to put Bennett on the hook.
That is one vote for relocation of a franchise to Seattle you can count on.
October 23rd, 2008 at 7:23 pm
Nobody is going to spend money without a team… You end up with funding authorized but not acted on.
That isn’t what Brian said in the last thread…
Brian Robinson Says:
October 23rd, 2008 at 3:34 pm
It is possible that funding contingent on a team could be approved but that is not likely to be in the ask. There are concerns that conditional funding could be legally contested by Clay Bennett as reason to not pay the $50M(sic).
They are going to request the $75M as funds allocated towards Seattle Center and is needed renovations. If we get a team they will go towards the public, non-basketball portions of key arena. If we don’t get a team then they go towards a yet to be determined upgrade of the center that could be key Arena, the fun forest, parking, or some other general improvements that are sorely needed.
If the funding package were approved, I was originally skeptical that the City would not be interested in pursuing a team if they could just sit back and collect $30M in five years to spend as they saw fit. Now that it looks like the City could sit back and collect $105M in 5 yrs for doing nothing, I’m more skeptical than ever. I really really hate this plan! I want a plan that’s guaranteed to build something - not one that leaves fans twisting on a vine for five years, only to see the City get another reward for screwing the fans over once again, while delaying any sort of alternate plan from getting off the ground during that time frame. The City is once again playing us all for suckers.
October 23rd, 2008 at 8:07 pm
yes, 105 mil in cash, or 150 mil from Ballmer and 75 from the state.
Bennett could challenge anything, anyway.
October 23rd, 2008 at 9:25 pm
Question regarding Clay Clay’s remaining $30 million payment.
Am I correct that he only has to pay this amount IF an arena funding plan is in place by a certain time AND we are not successful in getting a team back? And if there isn’t one, he is off the hook? If that’s the case, you’d hope that state politicians would look at this as a reason to get something done. But I highly doubt that happens.
What really pisses me off is how this has turned into a Seattle vs the State of Washington on a political level. Whenever you hear comments from politicians, the Seattle reps are all for what needs to be done, but any and all state politicos spit nothing but venomous crap about not being bullied by the city, and that they have a state to run, not just Seattle. Sorry, but that is despicable. That we have such us vs them people making decisions at our highest level of political office. They are nothing more than a bunch of catty high school girls.
October 23rd, 2008 at 10:28 pm
yes EJ, you have that right. If the state fails to authorize a funding source for 1/4 of the cost of a remodel/rebuild of an arena by 12/31/2009 Bennett is off the hook for the 30 million no matter what else happens after that.
Dick, I know what Brian has written, and I know that I have written something different.
The city portion is going to be paid for by user fees on people going to the games, parking, ticket and sales taxes. It isn’t as if they are taking a dime from the general fund. Having them turn down 150 million in other people’s money so they can avoid redirecting Sonics generated user taxes so they can pocket 105 million is just not an argument I see a council person being able to make with James Donaldson hovering around, with Key Arena taking a kick in the nuts on the naming rights. They would still have to spend 75 million at Seattle Center while the master plan is going to cost 565 million.
They are struggling to fill dates.
The stadium taxes are not going away, ever.
The schtick that this will pencil out is looking dumb, even among the sports haters.
October 23rd, 2008 at 10:33 pm
The whole $30 million Bennett payment if when this or that plan is a big joke. PBC totally owned Nickels in that negotiation. Weak amounts of $, shared history, and apparently since Bennett can fight everything, no teeth.
The way I see the negotiation is like the scene from Deliverance with the hick and Ned Beaty:
Bennett (to Nickels): I bet you can squeal like a pig. Weeeeeeee!
Nickels: Weee!
Bennett: Weeeeeeee!
Nickels: Weee!
Same result as well.
October 24th, 2008 at 6:52 am
In regards to the election, I am resolute in finding elected officials, or potential elected officials, that are educated on the isssue.
Looking at my absentee ballot, I have emailed many potential state reps/senators to find out their position on allowing local government to vote on reallocating current taxes for potential improvements to facilities etc. (I have tried to keep the words Sonics out of my emails so that the larger issue of improvements and drawing in visitors)
What really needs to be known by those running is that sports fans do vote and can help decide an election.
October 24th, 2008 at 7:44 am
I do not think the point of the 30 million is to put pressure on Bennett, other than minor motivation when the time comes to locate a new, or gently used, team here.
The 30 million does not exist without the state acting by 12/31/2009. It is to motivate them, the people that think 30 million is a lit of money, that the possibility of shutting the door on that is at best political fodder, at worst used against them at election time. You (insert politicos name here) screwed Washington out of 30 million dollars by not acting in a revenue source that returns more money in taxes than it sends out.
An NBA team has more value than the 30 million.