March 10, 2006
No arena funds for Sonics this year
The Washington state legislative session ended yesterday with no action on public subsidies for a new or renovated Seattle Sonics arena, after Gov. Chris Gregoire said she had been unable to reach an agreement with the team on a $200 million financing package. It also didn't help that the Sonics owners balked at a public referendum for an arena deal, according to the Olympian newspaper, because they "not want to wait for a November ballot measure." Now instead they can wait for a new legislative session in 2007.
The Sonics management issued a statement that "we will now need some time to reflect on next steps," which presumably will include re-thinking whether threatening to yank the team out of town was such a bright idea. Seattle Deputy Mayor Tim Ceis, meanwhile, noted unnecessarily: "Primarily the issues [of disagreement] were the financial issues." What, not lack of emotional support?
—Neil deMause
