Stern criticizes city, state governments in Sonics dealings</p> <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'></p> PHOENIX -- NBA commissioner David Stern warned Thursday that if the SuperSonics leave Seattle he sees no way the league would ever return to the city.</p> "I'd love to find a way to keep the team there," he said, "because if the team moves, there's not going to be another team there, not in any conceivable future plan that I could envision, and that would be too bad."</p> At a news conference following his announcement that the 2009 All-Star Game would be held in Phoenix, Stern criticized the city of Seattle and the Washington legislature for its handling of the issue of funding a replacement for Key Arena.</p> Stern repeated earlier criticism of the mayor and city council for promoting a measure, overwhelmingly passed by voters, that requires any funds to help build an arena earn money at the same rate as a treasury bill.</p> That measure simply means there is no way city money would ever be used on an arena project, Stern said.</p> </div></p> Glad Stern is speaking out. Sonics need to stay in Seattle, they own it to the fans to do so.</p>
Wow. The NBA needs to be in Seattle. I would be bitter as hell if I lived there. It's not their fault.</p>
And the thing is that they support the team and always go to the games.</p> It just doesn't make sense going from Seattle to Oklahoma City. (nothing against them but theres a big difference between the cities)</p>
If Seattle officials don't want to build an adequate facility....then the city doesnt deserve a team. It cannot be seen any other way. Key arena is the worst arena in the entirety of the nba (thats right, even worse than the Izod Center)</p>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (CelticKing)</div><div class='quotemain'></p> Worse than Arco Arena?</p> </div></p> </p> Arco gets the nod for the incredible atmosphere it has during games. Also, Sacremento has at least pledged to build a new facility.</p>
This was a dumb thing to say by David Stern. All it does is make the few Sonics fans in the city hate him. He's not saying anything substantial. Nobody expects another expansion team to materialize from thin air in Seattle if the Sonics leave.</p>
Stern is employed by the owners and now since their is pressure from the owners for him to do whatever he can to put pressure on Seattle to get an arena deal done than he will play the political gain and do it. No one wants to see the Sonics leave Seattle outside of Aubrey McClendon but Clay does not want to pay any of his own money to have this arena built. He knew that when he bought the team -- he just thought that Seattle leaders would cater to him because of the threat of him moving. They called his bluff so now he is forced to play his rags.</p> It is a shame but I can understand it from both perspectives. I'd like to see both sides compromise to keep the team in the area but Clay obviously doesn't want to spend any more money on an investment that has already lost a ton of money. For the Sonics to stay in Seattle someone is going to have buy Clay out...and considering how bad the Sonics are I don't envision that happen.</p>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Iron Shiek)</div><div class='quotemain'></p> Stern is employed by the owners and now since their is pressure from the owners for him to do whatever he can to put pressure on Seattle to get an arena deal done than he will play the political gain and do it. No one wants to see the Sonics leave Seattle outside of Aubrey McClendon but Clay does not want to pay any of his own money to have this arena built. He knew that when he bought the team -- he just thought that Seattle leaders would cater to him because of the threat of him moving. They called his bluff so now he is forced to play his rags.</p> It is a shame but I can understand it from both perspectives. I'd like to see both sides compromise to keep the team in the area but Clay obviously doesn't want to spend any more money on an investment that has already lost a ton of money. For the Sonics to stay in Seattle someone is going to have buy Clay out...and considering how bad the Sonics are I don't envision that happen.</p> </div></p> I thought a local businessman offered to buy the team to keep them in Seattle, but was turned down.</p> </p>
Where does seattle rank in attendance? Middle of the pack? If they aren't supporting their team then they don't deserve a team, and if they leave why would they get another team? Kind of sucks that they get Durant and will probably move. If i was a seattle fan that actually supported the team through the tough times I'd be furious</p>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (meltz1)</div><div class='quotemain'></p> If Seattle officials don't want to build an adequate facility....then the city doesnt deserve a team. It cannot be seen any other way. Key arena is the worst arena in the entirety of the nba (thats right, even worse than the Izod Center)</p> </div></p> </p> Have you ever been to Key Arena, your comment assures me you have not. It is considered one of the most intimate and fan friendly arenas in the country. This is part of the reason locals are reluctant to fund a new arena. The ONLY reason there is demand for a new arena is because the NBA business model demands more revenue streams than those offered by Key Arena to the team ownership. It is too small to offer parking, sizeable restaurants or shopping and the Luxury suites can't be fancy enough to be competitive with the new suites at Safeco field and QWest field. You are completely inaccurate and uninformed in your statement.</p>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Fred)</div><div class='quotemain'></p> Where does seattle rank in attendance? Middle of the pack? If they aren't supporting their team then they don't deserve a team, and if they leave why would they get another team? Kind of sucks that they get Durant and will probably move. If i was a seattle fan that actually supported the team through the tough times I'd be furious</p> </div></p> Attendance is not and never has been an issue. The arena onlyseats 17,000+ fans keeping its attendence in the middle of the NBA pack. The new arena designed by the current owners had around 18,000 seats. It is not accurate to measure attendance numbers straight up against larger markets like LA and NY, comparing percentage of capacityis better and Seattle is perfectly fine there. The owners are not concerned about the number of people in the seats, but rather how much money they can make from OTHER activities onsite on game days. That is the area where the Sonics lag behind other teams because they don't have enough revenue streams around the games. Attendance has nothing to do with this.</p>
Pheeshy I'm not familiar with the surrounding area of Key Arena, but would it be possible to develop in the land around the area to build restaurants, shopping etc.?</p> </p>
Former Owner Howard Schultz had a plan to expand to the pavillions around the arena as part of his original proposed rennovation. That one was focused on the luxury suites, increasing the "club" level seating and expanding the shopping/dining options. That one fell apart because of Schultz's demands about who got what share of the profits from those concessions (he wanted 100%). Sadly, today that proposal would likely fly, but Bennett is not interested. There are a couple of proposals floating in the early stages that have some other ideas, including rebuilding the Seattle Center itself (the city owned recreational complex of which Key Arena is a keystone)which would builda new Memorial Stadium for high school football and a new arena for pro basketball.</p> In essence the answer to your question is yes, but at this point Bennett is refusing to meet with the local politicians who are refusing to talk about any potential stadium proposals. Stern keeps talking about I-91, but even the guy who wrote it says that the language of the bill does not prevent the City from building a stadium, it just prevents them from entering into one sided deals where the city pays and rich owners reap all the benefits. It is also a weak law that could quickly be struck down by a good legal challenge, and it has some easily exploitable loopholes.</p>
