Howard Schultz is making this Sonic fan scream: GO! Sonics.

That sounds reasonable.

Of course because of that, it'll kill the deal.

Which part of NO! NO! NO! don't the Sonics get?

C'Mon Josh!
Don't let the council condition-setters stop there.

Insist of more conditions:
1) The Sonics agree that ticket prices shall not exceed the median weekly salary of a stranger staff writer.
2) Short Stranger staff writers get face time with Squatch.
3) The Sonics agree to sign a decent big man -- no Brics.
4) The Sonics agree to win more often.
5) No, the Sonics agree to never lose.
6) Sonics agree to support the no-build Viaduct option.
7) Sonics agree that strip joint zoning is unfair.
8) Sonics agree to join the sit in at Cantwell's office.

As my Uncle Joey used to say: "Give the ball to Spen-sah!"

Any proposed lease should require the Sonics to pay irregardless of whether they're actually playing there.

No lease breaking shennanigans to get out of the contract...

"Irregardless" spotting!!!! That non-word is like nails on a chalkboard for me!

Oh no she didn't! Alexia had to throw out my least favorite word-that-shouldn't-be-a-word: irregardless.

How is it, that after reading about this subject for weeks, I'm just realizing that this means the Storm would go, too. I don't give a damn about the Sonics, but I'd be a little sad to lose the national champs.

That said, I like Spencer's requirements, too.

Longball: According to merriam-webster, it is a word. it just should never be used http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/irregardless.

Well, after we paid a BILLION DOLLARS to build sports palaces for the Seagulls and the Mariners, of course the Sonics want their bite at the apple. Who can blame them?

We should have never shelled out that kind of money for two new stadiums back to back. It is going to be all the harder now to tell the Sonics to shove it.

Irregardless, irregardless is a real word irregardless of whether you would like to acknowledge irregardless' legitimacy.

And seriously, I wish people would stopping inserting Ls into my name, irregardless of their presense.

Irregardless.

FWIW, arenas are cheaper to build than baseball and football stadiums. They're smaller and hold fewer seats.

However, you know the Sonics will play hardball and they will take their 35-47 sideshow elsewhere.

They'll need twice as much tax $$$ to build a brand-new facility in the burbs than to renovate in Seattle--never gonna happen. The Sonics are playing Bellevue and Renton like chumps.

SDA: The thing is the Sonics got their bite of the apple with the rebuild back in 94-95.

The problem is that rebuild was a short sighted approach where the Seattle Center people allowed Ackerley to build it in such a way so as to not allow other competing major sports, e.g., NHL, and because of that, the Key became outdated very quickly.

If the Sonics can't get Kemper Freeway and his rich eastside buds to build an arena and they don't like the parameters of the the Council terms, let the Rat City Rollergirls bout at the Key and lets get a NLL-indoor lacrosse franchise.

We built the damn thing to begin with in 1962, and we rebuilt it again in 1994 - that time with the added insult of having to cede the name to a grade Z bank (is Key Bank even around anymore?)

Who gives a shit if we have a pro basketball team, other than a few restaurant owners and miscellaneous morons who think a "world-class" city HAS to have an NBA franchise? The only people who even go to those games, other than the aforementioned morons, are bratty families and businessmen with height issues.

Let the damn thing move to Bellevue or Renton, or Boise.

No way should Seattle build the Sonics a new arena before solving the huge traffic problems on the access freeways. If the Sonics left town, many people would get home to their families and friends earlier in the fall and winter.

The city shouldn't be proposing ANY subsidy of the Sonics. Besides, how come the proposal is coming out of Council's parks committee instead of its finance committee? Maybe because the nitwits in the finance committee just lost $4.5 million in city funds getting "outnegotiated" (Richard McIver's moronic explanation) by Paul Allen's refusal to help pay the cost overruns at South Lake Union Park?

In any case, I can't see how Key Arena qualifies as a park grounds even if the most of the Seattle Center does.

As far as the proposed terms seeming solid, I sense a loophole benefiting the Sonics every time the word "should" appears in place of "shall."

Whoa, unanimity in the Slog.

Eerie! Cool!

It may be cheaper to build an arena than a full-on stadium (at least in Seattle, where our stadiums have twice now come in at twice or three times what other cities pay) but is it cheaper to build the same arena over and over again?

The Sonics don't want or need a new ARENA. They want a thousand more luxury boxes to sell to area businesses. The punters who sit in the regular seats are not particularly valuable except as atmosphere. Oh, and as a captive audience for the shopping mall and food court they have in mind for the ring around the arena proper.

They've even admitted that the reason they have to do that is because when Safeco and Qwest opened they poached their luxury-box business, and they agree that the market for such is limited. They've admitted that their marketing plan is to poach those businesses right back from the Mariners and Seahawks.

This is a good strategy for the city to get behind how?

I think Renton sounds like a fabulous idea. They've got the land, they've got the depressed economy, they've got the highways in every direction up the ying-yang, they've got the large pool of necessary desperate labor (the vast majority of employees at sporting events are minimum wage vendors, sweepers, ushers, security guards, not genetic-freak athletes or suits).
There's an argument to be made for central-city walk-up baseball stadiums, but football and basketball can thrive just as easily (or more so) out in Edge City. It's much easier for all their Eastside fans, for instance.

I'll bet Fry's isn't looking forward to the traffic tieups, though...

Renton doesn't have the people with deep pockets that can finance an arena.

Well, I know there are traffic issues, but if you live in Queen Anne, you have to drive around Seattle Center one way or the other. Rush hour is rush hour, game or no game. It's a gradation.

I think it's a bit bullshitty that the Sonics would move out to the burbs. I don't feel very convinced that Seattleites would drive out there; I think the traffic issue would be even more car-heavy. Don't you think they'd just move out of the state altogether? Or, perhaps, build a smaller capacity arena in Renton? And say holy-fuck-hello to the I-5/I-405 and I-90/405 interchanges! SR 900, too.

Also, the whole manbasketball spectacle is stale. I think that part of the reason why so many people don't give a crap.

Key Arena is a pretty cool building accessible to any Seattleite by mass transit, and to my QA self, by walking. If you're driving, it's the same as going to anything on a large scale: traffic and parking suck. You think that's gonna be any better in Bellevue or Renton?

I'd like to see some new events in the place anyways -- Lacrosse, Rat City, more hockey, more diversity of sports. Geesh, if there's the chance that Seattle Center might become a park, make the Key amenable to public use even. Not so big-bucks I know, but it would be great for the city to offer it up to the public too. Let 'em skate and not kiss ass, I say.

Anyone know how the Everett Events Center is doing? No pro basketball, but my sense is that the facility is a success so far.

The Sonics should relocate to Tacoma and change their name to the Aromas.

Wow, I totally agree with Fnarf's post. Who woulda thought?

Renton's a great Sonics arena locale for all the reasons listed. I'd even argue it was perfect. And playing in the burbs is no big deal: the NBA's Detroit Pistons are one good example of a team that plays their home games deep in the suburbs (Auburn Hills) and doesn't suffer in terms of revenue.

Hate to burst your bubble, Peter, but the Rat City Rollergirls cannot consistently fill 8000, let alone 14000 seats in KeyArena.

I don't deny that roller derby is entertaining. However, the reason they drew as many as 4500 in Everett is because there's NOTHING to do in Everett or the surrounding areas. I've gone to Everett Aquasox baseball games (single A minor league affiliate of the Seattle Mariners) and that stadium's nearly packed every game. They're so starved for something to do most nights that they'll pay to see anything remotely interesting.

People in Seattle are far more preoccupied and have far more options for entertainment. You'll be hard pressed to draw 5000 fans, let alone come close to selling out the lower bowl of seats.