March 20, 2008

Sonics madness

The Seattle Sonics' Oklahoma City move threat is getting crazier and crazier. Over the last few days:

• Oklahoma state legislators announced they're working on a proposed lease for the team that would offer tax breaks to the team, on top of the $122 million in arena upgrades (to an almost brand-new arena) they'd already be getting. The Sonics would pay $1.7 million a year in rent, but the city would pay arena operating costs, which could easily eat up that entire amount. And the team could opt out of the lease entirely if attendance fell below certain thresholds - but with a huge metropolitan arena like OKC and a successful team like the Sonics, that could never happen.
• The Washington state legislature said it won't consider a $300 million KeyArena renovation plan until next year, whereupon the local billionaires who proposed the deal (and pay for half of it if the state and city pay the other half) declared that if it isn't approved by April 10, the deal is off the table.
• NBA commissioner David Stern called the plan to renovate Seattle's KeyArena "a late PR stunt," and blamed local elected officials who supported a ban on public sports subsidies for the team leaving: "When Seattle does move, whether it's the end of this season or two more seasons, what the mayor has managed to do was have a building that's still going to have $26 million of bonding left without a major tenant. It's a terrible situation. It's not very fair for the fans of Seattle, but that's the situation we got put in."
• Oklahoma City councilmember Pete White questioned whether the $20,000 a year the city has set aside for maintenance to a new team practice facility would be enough. Yeah, you read that right, $20,000 a year. I think we can guess what their intended capital improvements look like.