April 24, 2006
Funny math in Seattle
Here's a creative argument from the owners of the Seattle Sonics: That $18.3 million they've offered to put towards a $220 million renovation of KeyArena, they claim, actually represents a 35% team contribution to construction costs. And how do they arrive at that math? The Sonics want credit for $21 million they contributed to the arena's last renovation a decade ago, plus $77 million in ticket sales, naming rights, admission taxes and parking revenue that the city has collected since then. Everyone who tried that argument with the IRS last week, best of luck when the men in shiny shoes come to your door.
As the Seattle Post-Intelligencer notes, the Sonics' inventive calculations stem from a desire to meet Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels' demand that the team put in about the same share as the Mariners and Seahawks did for their stadiums, which Nickels puts at 25-30%. The P-I article is well worth reading, as a reminder of just how tough it is to get an arena project to pay its own bills: Those back arena taxes that the Sonics now want credit for were supposed to be going toward paying off $73.4 million (in 1994 dollars) in city debt on the previous renovation - but have fallen well short, according to city officials. Concludes the P-I:
A decade ago, some insiders questioned the unusual math behind the promise that fans - and not taxpayers - would be on the hook to pay off the renovations to what is now KeyArena.The skeptics were right.
If you're curious whether funny numbers will win the day again, the Seattle city council parks committee meets this Wednesday at 2 pm at City Hall to debate the KeyArena re-renovation. As always, eyewitness accounts welcome.
