Liberals for Corporate Handouts (or Why I Will Miss My Supersonics!)

People are always surprised when they find out I was born 9 weeks early. My response to this has always been that I was so excited about the Sonics winning the Championship (my mom took me to the Championship Parade inside her belly) that I just had to get out of that womb and into the real world. Little did I know that that would be the last time Seattle would celebrate a professional championship (yes yes, all you Storm fans, I know…they won the WNBA Championship. In fact, I was at both games that they won in the finals that year and celebrated their WNBA Championship with the crowd in Key Arena…BUT IT IS NOT THE SAME!). And today it was ensured that my beloved Sonics would not be winning another as they are on their way to Oklahoma City.

That’s right, the city of Seattle has settled its lawsuit with the Sonics and the team is now officially free to move. What does the city get in exchange? $45 Million… and another $30 million in 5 years if the state legislature does not authorizes at least $75 million in public funding to renovate Key Arena or we don not get a new NBA franchise by then. Seattle also gets to keep the team name, history, and colors. According to the city, this put the pieces in place to regain a franchise, as the NBA has said a renovated Key Arena would be suitable to replace the team.

Now, those of you who know me well know how liberal I am. So how could I possibly support the sort of corporate handouts that comes along with professional sports? I am a man full of contradiction…I love my Seattle Sports teams. I have season tickets to the Seahawks. I split season tickets to the Mariners with 7 other people. I have season tickets to the Sounders FC and they don’t even start until 2009. I go to most Washington Huskies football games, and I attended every home game but one from 1986 through 1998. And last year I had a 25 game plan (over half a season) to the SEATTLE SUPERSONICS! So, when all the liberal groups I was a member of starting saying all those years ago how no money should go to the Sonics, I broke rank and talked back to them, igniting a flame war causing me to no longer associate myself with such groups.

For those liberal groups, it was as simple as corporate handouts. Why should we give this large corporation money? They would bring in evidence of the negative impact that bringing a team to a region had on the local economy. Although I repeatedly tried to point out to them that 1) the team was already here so these stats were meaningless, 2) what should be looked into is how many jobs would be lost and how many local businesses would be affected, 3) there are many monetary and intangible benefits of having a team including how much money is raised for charity and how the city can come together around sports franchises, and 4) the way the team sought to create this “corporate handout” was through the extension of a pre-existing tax.

First, like I said, they would constantly cite figures about the negative economic impact a new team coming to the region brings. When I tried to point out that these statistics were not relevant to the current discussion because the team was already here and we should instead focus on the economic and intangible benefits that the team brings and balance that against the investment that would be made, they were having none of it. Logic be damned, as long as the Sonics left, they didn’t care what route they would be takes.

Then came the discussion of the money that would leave along with the Sonics and the other monetary benefits of having the team in Seattle. The millions in charity work that the Sonics do (which is more than the Seahawks and Mariners combined, the $20 million in sales tax that was paid to the state each year that has ALREADY been figured into the state budget (and thus spent), the 1200 jobs that would be lost by those who work directly for the Sonics and events surrounding the team, and, as economist Lon Hatamiya, former Secretary of Commerce of the State of California, estimates, the direct impact of nearly $1 billion in the last five years that the Sonics have brought into King (and an adjoining) County. In short, A LOT OF REVENUE THAT THE CITY AND STATE WOULD BOTH DIRECTLY AND INDIRECTLY NOT BE SEEING. This isn't even considering such benefits to local business as detailed by the local business owner I heard on the radio today who talked about how Sonics games brought in an extra $1000 worth of sales those 41 days per year, something that does NOT happen for him during concerts at the Key...he is now going to have to lay off 10 employees and his business may just out right fail!

What this meant was that the money given should not outweigh that received. So how did the Sonics under then owner Howard Schultz want this handout? By extending a tax on hotel rooms, rental cars, and restaurants that already existed (yes the same thing that the city was against then but IS NOW IN FAVOR OF, or so Mayor Nickels would lead us to believe at his press conference this afternoon). Now, the people who argued against extending this tax said that it should go to schools, hospitals, and roads. Other than certain state constitutional restrictions that may preclude such a thing, I would support that. Fine, let’s extend this tax and use it for schools. Seattle Public schools could sure use the improvement. But you know what? It didn’t happen. It wasn’t going to happen. So as long as that is the case, why not use it to preserve the $1 billion in economic impact the Sonics have brought us over the last 5 years? Afterall, sometimes you have to invest money to get a return (as Tacoma surely knows, after investing $21 million in a new golf course that will translate into a total economic impact of at least $100 Million from the 60,000+ fans that will be attending the 2015 U.S. Open at Chambers Bay.)

People ask me about the Key Arena, and why Seattle deserves a team if the Arena is so bad. Those of you who ask such things (mostly you folks down in the Bay Area) obviously have never been to a Sonics game. The Arena itself is one of the best possible places for a fan to watch a game. While you may be sitting way up in the rafters, you still have a great seat. The whole issue for it not being NBA friendly is that it doesn’t have good enough corporate boxes. I don’t know about you, but whether a stadium had great luxury suites has NEVER influenced my opinion of the stadium…you know why? Because I have probably been in one for one Sonics game, one Seahawks game, and a handful of Mariners games in my entire life.

And finally, for those of you who think that Seattle shouldn’t get a team because no one goes to games…the fan base is still here. People just didn’t want to support a lame duck franchise that is deliberately losing to try and leave town. Just listen to these chants at what has now officially become the final Sonics home game ever.
Save Our Sonics!

Bennet Sucks!
And here is the final minute of Sonics basketball at Key Arena. Somewhere in the stands I was weeping as Kevin Durant led the Save Our Sonics chant. Even my dad couldn’t hold back the tears.

Now, to the settlement itself…if the city was going to lose the lawsuit and the Sonics would leave anyway (which was unlikely), it was a good deal. If it would have prevented the NBA from working with us in the future, and the team was just going to leave after 2 years and we’d never get a franchise, it was a good deal as long as we get a team. But for me, nothing can replace the memories the team brought me. And I hold both the ownership group of Howard Schultz and the politicians across the board accountable for that.

From staying up past midnight in about 1986 and hiding under my covers listening to a triple overtime shootout against the Trailblazers to sitting in the very last row during an early 90s playoff game with my mom, the Seattle Supersonics were an important part of my life. Lest you forget…I was the fat kid growing up. Girls didn’t like me. So what did I have? Music and sports. While you were off going on dates, I was watching Big Smooth knock down threes in the Colisseum. I was watching GP steal the ball like it was nothing. And I was watching Squatch sail down from the rafters in front of sold out crowds. You had Sarah and Erin and Allison. I had Gary Payton, Shawn Kemp, Nate McMillan, Xavier McDaniel, Dale Ellis, Detlef Schrempf, Sam Perkins, and Steve Scheffler.

Maybe someday, when a team moves here, I will be sitting in the new Seattle Supersonics arena with my very own kids. In the meantime…Squatch and I will be here crying in our beers: