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Monday, June 16, 2008

Whoa! The City Strikes Back

posted by on June 16 at 16:56 PM

First of all, I don’t know if they saw my Slog post about their underwhelming performance in the morning, but they did pounce on the question, “Why didn’t Bennett try to re-negotiate?”

The city got the chance to “re-cross” Nickels and they went straight to the point:

“Would you be wiling to re-negotiate the current KeyArena lease?” the city’s attorney asked.

“Yes I would,” Nickels said.

“Has Mr. Bennett ever asked to re-negotiate the KeyArena lease?”

“No.”

“Has Mr. Bennett ever offererd any money to renovate KeyArena?”

“No.”

“Would you be interested in that?”

“Certainly.”

But more important was Virginia Anderson, former director of Seattle Center. Hello star witness.

Unlike Mayor Greg Nickels, she didn’t let Bennett’s attorney push her around. Quite the opposite: She jumped on the questions to turn them around on Bennett’s lawyers.

And she wasn’t just being contrarian for the sake of being contrarian. In fact, Anderson completely blew up one of Team Bennett’s main points.

To make their big point that the lease from 1995 no longer makes sense for anybody, they contend that the revenue-sharing lease, once a “win-win,” has turned into a “lose-lose” for both the Sonics and the city.

While Nickels accepted that characterization, Anderson—who negotiated the lease back in ‘93 and ‘94—pointed out that it wasn’t so simple.

She described the original situation not as a “win-win” but as an investment based on shared risks. And she wasn’t sold on the current state as a “lose-lose,” pointing out that the Sonics would be much worse off right now if the city hadn’t of floated the bonds in the first place. Indeed, if the city hadn’t given the Sonics such a friendly deal in the first place, she explained, the Sonics would be in massive debt right now.

She also disputed Team Bennett’s simplistic explanation about the Sonics current woes—competition on luxury suites from SafeCo and Qwest Fields, nonexistent in 1993, have made the original lease untenable. Anderson repeatedly pointed out that part of the problem was the Sonics’ crummy record.

She noted that if they ever made the playoffs they could double their revenues. Bennett’s attorney tried to derail Anderson by pointing out that a recent study showed even if the Sonics sold out every game of every season they’d still be making less than the NBA average. But, quick on her feet, Anderson said his number lacked context, explaining that he was discounting all the concessions, sponsorship, and media revenues that come with a successful team.

Oh, and there was a HUGE “Save Our Sonics” rally outside the courthouse.

sonics.jpg

RSS icon Comments

1

Any SLOG Flickr pics of the protest?

Posted by Will in Seattle | June 16, 2008 5:15 PM
2

"...if they ever made the playoffs..."

Oooh, that's gotta hurt.

Posted by Mike of Renton | June 16, 2008 5:16 PM
3

just like you called it v. anderson would be the star...er... what happened to ceis?

Posted by ouch | June 16, 2008 5:27 PM
4

Nicely reported. That rally was surprisingly big, but not so surprisingly...lacked direction. Oh, Seattle...

Posted by GrantG | June 16, 2008 5:29 PM
5

sorry to be the grammar jerk, but "hadn't of"?

Posted by momster | June 16, 2008 5:37 PM
6

But why would they have seen your Slog post, Josh? Are you under the impression that you and/or the Stranger is a legitimate news source? Criyi, you have some twink on the left side of the page here grabbing his moose-knuckle "It's All Yours" - right, I'm sure The Slog is a must-bookmark in Olympia. You're a once-source Sally. Fisher-Price to the Big Kid Media. Don't overinflate yourself.

Posted by And you are with who? | June 16, 2008 5:46 PM
7

And for the record - NO ONE wants the Sonics to stay here more than I do. I love basketball and it's horrible to see what greed has done to a fucking great team in a great town. Stern's a jailhouse punk. Clay's even worse. Just wanted to clear that up...

Posted by And you are with who? Part II | June 16, 2008 5:48 PM
8

I don't care how great the Sonics or any professional athletic team is, the public should not have to give them tax money for their arena AND pay admission to see their games since the team owners rake in billions of dollars in profit. It's corporate wellfare for greedy pigs.

Posted by Y.F. | June 16, 2008 6:05 PM
9

@7 - if you left Seattle and took the Sonics with you ... nobody would notice.

Yeah, the Sonics suck THAT much.

Posted by Will in Seattle | June 16, 2008 7:32 PM
10

@ 9 - stop being a trolling shithead. You don't like special effects or basketball, good for you - stop fucking up threads that are clearly about those things and stick to getting taken apart by fnarf and making shit up about yourself and architecture and whatever else it is you do.

Also, I like how your measure for what's relevant is popularity and yet you're shitting on on the Sonics and Predator/T2/Aliens while hyping Mermaid.

Posted by UnoriginalAndrew | June 16, 2008 8:42 PM
11

This must be hitting Durant particularly hard. He's looking pale, short, and is really having a bad hair day.

Posted by kinaidls | June 16, 2008 8:46 PM
12

What @8 said.

Oklahoma City Mariners, sounds good to me.

Baseball games here are environmental disasters, huge traffic jams to watch these two-legged ruminants.

Posted by Karlheinz Arschbomber | June 16, 2008 9:29 PM
13

Nice coverage. Please keep it up. But, that would've been re-direct, not re-cross. Whatever. Please keep slogging the proceedings.

And, 11, nice one.

Posted by California | June 16, 2008 9:51 PM
14

Unlike you, @10, I watched both a golf and a baseball game tonight. Both were way better than the Sonics.

Posted by Will in Seattle | June 16, 2008 11:57 PM
15

I wish the Sonics haters would fucking die and stop commenting on this shit. Oh wow, youre so progressive, you hate sports teams! Good for you...let the ten of us who actually read the stranger AND like sports get our licks in. I dont suck dick, I dont go to theater, I like basketball, leave us alone! Go supes!

Posted by DowntownFreddyBrown | June 17, 2008 1:16 AM
16

@15
you are getting your licks in.

Posted by PC | June 17, 2008 7:47 AM
17

@15 FreddyBrown you made my morning!

Posted by Fortuna Mandolin | June 17, 2008 9:25 AM
18

DowntownFreddyBrown @15:

I wish the Sonics haters would fucking die and stop commenting on this shit. Oh wow, youre so progressive, you hate sports teams! Good for you...

I don't hate sports teams.  Far from it.

What I do hate is for-profit entities trying to extort local governments for massive public subsidies to avoid the hard work of running a self-sufficient business, sucking money from every citizen in the area and rewarding the non-fan with naught but traffic jams.

Posted by lostboy | June 17, 2008 10:41 AM

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