Does Seattle need the Sonics?
So, how ’bout them Sonics?
Surely you heard the buzz over the last couple weeks (months, years?) about the Sonics owners’ dissatisfaction with Key Arena and their threat to pick up and move if they don’t get some tax revenue to renovate it. The issue will be on the back burner, legislatively speaking, until next year, but while it’s fresh in our minds I thought I’d take the pulse of Seattle Metblog readers. What do you think? Would you be sorry to see the Sonics go, and if so, would you support a public subsidy to help make it happen?
Personally, I share the stadium fatigue that seems to be sweeping America. I don’t think that building stadia was ever a good route to economic development, and I don’t think that re-building the ones we have is any better. Furthermore, I’m sick of the astoundingly rich owners of sports franchises blackmailing local and state governments, threatening to pack up their toys and go home if they don’t get their way. It is nice to have the Sonics here, and let’s not forget the other teams that are in the mix here (the Storm and the Thunderbirds) … but do I think the taxpayers should keep shelling out whenever the Sonics decide that Key Arena needs more room for vendors? No.
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Unfortunately, I’m not a basketball fan–but I do think the Sonicsand the Storm should have gotten a new stadium, like with the Seahawks and the Mariners, just to be fair and also to avoid the whole contreversy about keeping them or not.
I for one am fed up with the whole deal - lets face it Seattle, it really doesn’t matter what we the taxpayers want to pay for, or approve of - the truth of the matter is that if they want it, and the local government deems their business worth to be substantial enough, the local officials will find a way to stick it to us anyway. They gave concessions to the Mariners, and the seahawks, but didn’t for that little airplane maker Boeing. I mean really - the nerve of Boeing asking for business and financial incentives to stay here. Who do they think they are - an employer of thousands? I guess we showed them! Compared to the Seahawks, Mariners, and now the Sonics, Boeing is just small potatoes… ;)