December 1st Seattle's Arena Funding Proposal is Due

Today is November 9th, between now and the December 1st meeting of the Washington State Task Force on Local Funding Options in King County will meet at Bellevue City Hall the City of Seattle will have to produce a formal proposal requesting funding.

The formal agenda for December 1st has not yet been published. Between now and then I expect the agenda to fill with a variety of proposals for the task force to revue prior to the meeting. I expect that as the city gets closer to the meeting date that the public will become more engaged, even in minor ways, by interested parties.

What, if anything, will Steve Ballmer and Matt Griffin's Seattle Center Investors (SCI) say in support of the city's efforts with the state?
What, if anything, will Brian Robinson's lobbying group Sports and Activities for Families (SAF) say in support of the city's efforts with the state?
And will there be columns and editorials written by the Seattle newspapers?
And will there be resistance expressed by the Washington State Convention & Trade Center written by David Brewster at Crosscut.com?
To the last question, the city has work to do there. There is the point to turn resistance into common support.

The state committee members that were running for re-election have won. The governor, Chris Gregoire has also won re-election. Gregoire mentioned in one of the press conferences this past week that she is hopeful the federal government will provide a jobs based stimulus package. She also mentioned that she will be proposing a stimulus package near the end of the year. She said that now is not the time to be raising taxes, but what of existing taxes? Well, she has to cut spending to balance the budget. State Senate Bill 6638 went into law last July 1st that prevents the state from taking money from hotel tax for general fund uses (again) but there are funds there. Those funds can only be spent on infrastructure of stadium, convention, cultural centers.

I expect to hear the words "stimulus package" in connection to the proposals by the City of Seattle, and Kent, and Renton, and. . .
This is one of the few revenue sources that can be used to stimulate jobs right away.

Have a great day,
Mr Baker
Sent from my iPhone

CrossCut.com: New tax for KeyArena? A big maybe

David Brewster at Crosscut.com has taken another run at expressing the Washington State Convention & Trade Center's (WSCTC) point of view on the City of Seattle's desire to use the hotel tax that is collected within Seattle for the state/public portion of Seattle's Key Arena renovation.

WSCTC is closer to identifying an actual site to expand to, they are not there yet. They are closer to knowing how big the new facility will be, they are not there yet. They do want to expand in order to satisfy the over population of hotels in Seattle.

It is interesting that people comment at Crosscut and in the stories at the Seattle Times and Seattle PI that the money should go toward Pike Place Market because it is such a tourist attraction. The question there is: is Pike PLace Market the reason people come to Seattle?

The hotel folks are wanting an expansion of convention space to draw people in from far and wide. I do not see them asking for Pike Place Market to be expanded. I am sure they do not want it to look like a dump, and the city has responded with a measure on the ballot next Tuesday. People will vote for that, not me, but people that comment on these kinds of stories in media outlets.

Having a 15 to 17 thousand seat arena that can actually attract major out of town non-sports events seams to be more in line with what the hotel people are wanting, a place for people to gather for events. While those people are here from out of town I am sure they will go to Pike Place Market as something to do while they are here for their event.

As far as WSCTC providing construction jobs, they are much further away from having an actionable plan than the Key Arena project. If the city had money 6 months ago I think we would see hard hats at Seattle Center today marking up the site for construction.

Something not quite said in David Brewster's story is that unstable timeline of getting a team into Key Arena, and Steve Ballmer paying for the sports effected portion of the renovation, 150 million dollars worth. That is an unknown to them, and I do not think they want the schedule sliding into a window where the WSCTC would want to break ground and have funding for its activity, fair, or fare enough.

What Deputy dog Tim Ceis is telling David Brewster is that they want to use the state money and do the public portion of the renovation even if there isn't an NBA team available right away. That is the hard sell, that isn't the impression they had been giving in public. They had position much of this as just having revenue available if a NBA team could be procured by Steve Ballmer.
The city had a study two years ago that said that Key Arena would need at least 30 million in basic upgrades just to make it a minor league venue without the NBA. That infrastructure and non-sports construction would have to happen no matter what happened with the NBA or state. It looks to me like Ceis and the state are resolving the WSCTC uneasiness with the soft NBA timeline by funding that statement of work, and whatever else they are including (parking garage, or enclosure of the Key footprint?) with the state portion. If this is the case then it does make some sense for the effected WSCTC, and it could infuse the area with construction jobs in a hurry.

This could satisfy WSCTC timeline concerns, stimulate the economy with some jobs right now, and show the NBA that we are going to improve the facility on our own no matter what Ballmer does do. Being able to commit putting an NBA team in Seattle would go much faster if construction was in motion, even if it isn't the sports effected portion of the statement of work.

Seattle PI: A new NBA team here?

Reported in the Seattle PI today, front page, above the fold was a story titled A new NBA team here?
Guys with little else to do right now, that happen to be newspaper reporters, were noted sports columnist Art Thiel, and former Sonics Beat reporter Gary Washburn.

This is the time that I expected stories to come out, to quote myself from Saturday, September 13, 2008:

The reality for the city, Hunter, Chris Gregoire, Rossi, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, and Brian Robinson, is that the first NBA season without the Sonics in Seattle is Tuesday, October 28th, one full week before election day. This is in time to be right in front of the majority citizens that vote by mail.

The first NBA preseason game is October 5th (I had to look it up). The sports columnists, reporters, journalists, bloggers, sports radio, will have nothing much to cover in the two weeks leading up to that because the Seattle Seahawks have a bye week the prior Sunday. That is two weeks without meaningful local NFL coverage. The Seattle Mariners season officially ends September 28th. The NBA, and the missing team story, will fill the hole in the sports section at some point during that period. What else are they going to write about?

Well, Mr Thiel and Washburn have made great use of their downtime between baseball season and whatever it is that is being called football right now. I was worried that the kind of story that would be written would rip down any real hope, or present such an incomplete story that the average reader would dismiss future efforts out-of-hand.
Thankfully, this is not the case.
The dynamic duo did a reasonably thorough job of stating the basic parts of the tax elements, and the needed quotes from the three legs that an NBA deal is set on: political figures, ownership, and David Stern.
Many of the details I have speculated about here, or re-reported from a variety of places.

Let's take a look at the meaty bits from the report.

A new plan to divert a portion of hotel-tax money from the state convention center to a remodel of KeyArena could help Seattle begin pursuing a replacement NBA team as soon as 2010.

That is pretty solid: tax revenue, Key Arena, replacement team as soon as 2010. My early guess was 2011, I would feel good about being wrong there.

NBA Commissioner David Stern said Thursday "positive" talks have gone on between the league and a potential ownership group headed by Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer, who led an ill-fated plan to save the Sonics earlier this year.

Stern, and Ballmer have talked according to Stern. This really should put to rest the fretting some fans have been doing about this situation.

Deputy Mayor Tim Ceis confirmed the talks, and said he was optimistic that this time around the city's request for state authorization will meet little resistance when the Legislature convenes in January.

"It should be noncontroversial, because it's a city-only tax that already exists and will not be an increase," Ceis said of the latest attempt to find a long-sought public portion of a proposed $300 million renovation for a building currently deemed financially obsolete by the National Basketball Association.

"If we can get our funding package together this session, we can start to work with the Ballmer group on identifying a team for Seattle, but probably not until 2010."

Stern, speaking to reporters on his annual season-tipoff conference call, made his first public comments on Seattle since the Sonics left.

"I don't want to mislead, so I will say that we have had some contact and we're aware of what's going on," he said. "I'd rather not deal with the specifics of it at this time, but we have had some positive contact."

While no city official has talked to Stern, Ceis said standard procedure always has been for Stern to go through the owner, or potential owner. He confirmed that Stern and Ballmer have talked, and Ballmer conveyed the new funding plan for the public portion of the remodel.

That is your deal right there. The city has insulated a funding resource from as many people that thought they had a right to say no about it. Until there is an official source for the money you are not going to get solid responses from David Stern, and why should he.
Here is the tax:

The tax under consideration is different from the so-called stadium taxes from King County that the Sonics, as well as the University of Washington, pursued in recent sessions to fund their sports building projects.

A 7 percent tax on all hotel bills within the city long has been dedicated to convention center operations. The city, which is still negotiating with the hotel industry and center officials on the proposal, seeks to divert one-tenth of the revenue to Seattle Center and the KeyArena project.

Ceis said that growth in hotel-room rentals over the past 10 years is generating enough revenue for the diversion to produce over a 15-year period the $75 million necessary to finance construction debt without compromising convention center operations.

There is more than was planned, nobody gets hurt, and he didn't mention that the tax really can't be used for anything else, not for schools, not for lost puppies. It doesn't come from there and the hotel owners that are impacted by its application don't want it going there. That's a general fund responsibility, this isn't general fund money. It's the law.

The settlement, which paid off the $34 million in construction bond debt remaining from a remodel completed in 1995, included a provision for another $30 million to the city by 2013 if an NBA team had not moved to Seattle. But the city had to have an NBA-ready arena, or the funding committed for one, by Dec. 31, 2009.

For practical purposes, that means the pending session in Olympia will be last chance for any funding requiring state authorization.

Asked why the city didn't come up with this idea while the Sonics were still in town, Ceis said the focus was on finding revenue that didn't require state approval. Even though this revenue still requires a legislative OK, the source is strictly city taxes, not county, and provides an upgrade for a city-owned building that helps draw tourists to city hotels.

"It's the path of least resistance, and there's no competition for the funds," he said.

At the time of the settlement, which was widely criticized as insufficient for the loss of a 41-year civic institution, the city defended itself in part by saying it was necessary to repair the damaged relationship with the NBA in order to have a shot at another team. The $30 million penalty gave the NBA and Bennett a financial incentive to help fill the void.

Ceis said that if the $300 million funding were in hand, the city would firm up the remodel plans that would allow Ballmer to pursue a team. He stressed that the city would not go forward with the remodel until an ownership group secured a team.

What Ceis is not saying is that the law that this funding was part of, and Safeco Field that the University of Washington wants, wasn't changed until March, and didn't go into effect until July 1, 2009. The source was there, but not available to Seattle to use.
Senate Bill 6638
Passed by the Senate March 13, 2008
YEAS 43 NAYS 6

Now, bring in the undertaker:

Since the NBA has no current plans to expand domestically, the only option would be to relocate a team from another city.

As many as half the teams in the NBA may have had operating losses last season, and some of the smaller-market teams have been in financial trouble for a while, including Memphis, New Orleans and Milwaukee. The Sacramento Kings also have been stymied in securing public funding for a replacement building for Arco Arena.

Unless a team is at the end of its lease, the Ballmer group would be in the same position Bennett was in Seattle -- an out-of-town owner attempting to pull away a team under contract with its city.

Ceis said that if a team is secured, the city has provisions to do the remodel before arrival, or to work around a six-month NBA regular season.

Matt Griffin, a Seattle real estate developer and Ballmer friend who served as his spokesman in the earlier attempt to save the Sonics, confirmed by phone Thursday night the group's awareness of and interest in the city's new initiative, but said little about the potential pursuit of a team.

"The first thing has to be the funding," he said. "We told the mayor in April that we were interested in keeping KeyArena from becoming a white elephant that drags down Seattle Center and lower Queen Anne.

"We can't take step two before we take step one. Once the funding happens, we can roll up our sleeves and take a look at what needs to be done."

A new NBA team here?
Tax diversion plan could give city the money for KeyArena
By ART THIEL AND GARY WASHBURN
P-I REPORTERS

That's right, Seattle will likely take a failing franchise from another city, a city that will be a smaller market, that may have been placed in that market by design of David Stern's plan to have his teams be the big show in smaller towns. Well, some of those towns simply can not afford David Stern's NBA, even when they supply a new building.

What David Stern wanted in Seattle was a building that can support a franchise. Hopefully the lesson beyond the building, that will be the second relocation to a remodeled building, is that it isn't always the newness of the building, but the community and businesses that support it. Not being able to make the NBA work here for the Sonics has everything to do with the NBA's business model of growing beyond its habitat and always expecting the place to be more plentiful.
If there is a bubble economy, it is the NBA, and doing anything for them beyond a remodel is foolishness. So, unless you have a much bigger reason to build a new and bigger building, don't build one.

I rank the possible related team by who is most likely to come here after 2010:
Memphis Grizzlies, New Orleans Hornets, Charlotte Bobcats, and Milwaukee Bucks have been walking the tightrope for as long as I can remember, I think they stay. The Sacramento Kings are more likely to be the team to get to Las Vegas.

Have a great day,
Mr Baker
Sent from my iPhone

Gary Payton Raises the Flag

Before the Seattle Seahawks football game yesterday Gary Payton was given the honor of raising a cerimonial "12th man" flag by the Paul Allen owned NFL team.

Paul Allen was one of two NBA owners to vote no one the Sonics franchise relocation to Oklahoma City. He also has ownership of the Portland Trail Blazers. He also has the Experience Music Project rock-roll / sci-fi museum situated next to the Seattle Center. He also has a major land development nearby in the South Lake Union neighborhood. He also has something to do with the company Steve Ballmer is CEO of, Microsoft.

Steve Ballmer is is the major money player in the Seattle Center Investment group that, not obvious in its name, is offering to be the private portion of a public/private partnership to rebuild Key Arena and buy an NBA franchise to occupy it. They tilt toward reviving Seattle Center (so do I).

Back to the future, yesterday, and Gary Payton.

Payton was quoted as saying (see 2 prior posts) that he thinks the NBA will return to Seattle by 2011. He is contacting other former players to put a group together to approach the local financial interests to get a Key Arena solution done. He identified one name, James
Donaldson. Donaldson is interested in running for Seattle City Council next year. He was the first NBA player I had bumped into in public, the summer he was drafted, before his rookie season, my brother and I ran into Mr Donaldson at . . . the Seattle Center between the Center House and the ferris wheel. He was there with his sister, from WSU, I was 15, he was really stood out above everybody else.

No, really, back to Gary Payton.

Some people make news, some people are news, Gary Payton is both. What this whole situation needs is a champion for the cause, an NBA Hall of Famer, and a direct connection to Seattle and the fans. I like Lenny Wilkins, but I love the Glove, it is generational. Payton is one
of the few in this world that could revive NBA interest in Seattle by 2011. He is still a superstar in Seattle. His interest is in the return of basketball to Key Arena. This should fit in with Ballmer's group. Maybe they can play on the same ownership team since they are looking at the same could. Maybe Gary can play public point man for this home as part of the ownership team.

Payton was critical of the former ownership group, lead by Howard Schultz, before Schultz sold and sued Clay Bennett. Are his critical remarks now a plus for him in the eyes of David Stern?
I doubt it matters now.

In the end the odds of Durant being a Seattle Sonic again just went wayyyyy up.
This is goodness.

Have a great day,
Mr Baker

Sent from my iPhone

"Gary Payton trying to get NBA team in Seattle" Seattle Times Newspaper

This is great, a competing group to the Ballmer group, competing to be the one to own the team in this market.
Matt Griffin has said in the past that his group, Seattle Center Investors (SCI), is as their name implies. They do not want a dead Key Arena, that hurts the Seattle Center, in turn hurts Seattle.

GP's comments center around getting a franchise back here by 2011.

Let's get together and it will be alright.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/sports/2008259022_webpayton12.html

Have a great day,
Mr Baker

Sent from my iPhone

Enough! Back to the arena.

What is supposed to be coming up in September is another meeting of the state task force.

Back on August 18, Eric D. Williams posted on the Tacoma News Tribune, With Sonics gone, KeyArena looks to future (in my link list).

TASK FORCE STUDIES ARENA’S FATE

The City of Seattle is working with a task force created by the Legislature, co-chaired by Rep. Ross Hunter, D-Medina, and Sen. Tracey Eide, D-Federal Way. The seven-member group is charged with evaluating the options for using King County taxes, some of which are being used to pay off debt on Safeco Field, Qwest Field and the demolished Kingdome.

Though none of the money is from state taxes, the Legislature must authorize the county or city to use the money for anything other than what was originally intended. And the Sonics aren’t the only ones in line – the University of Washington, looking for financial help on a stadium renovation of its own, along with local arts groups and organizations involved with low-income housing and Puget Sound cleanup also want their share.

The task force will meet at least two more times to listen to presentations from groups seeking money before making recommendations to state lawmakers late this year.

“What I would love to see is some kind of consensus of, here is what we should do with this,” Hunter said. “I don’t know if we’ll get there. Every person has a different interest. But my personal interest is letting people make decisions on their revenue.”

Alex Fryer, a spokesperson in Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels’ office, said Nickels is asking the Legislature to consider restoring the city’s ability to raise money through the hotel-motel tax that funds the Washington State Convention and Trade Center.

The tax rate in Seattle is 7 percent, but Fryer said about 6 percent is needed to pay off the remaining bonds. So the city is asking the Legislature to reduce the Convention Center tax to 6 percent and restore the remaining authority for the city to extend 1 percent of that tax as part of its overall finance package to remodel KeyArena.

Fryer said the tax would apply only to hotels and motels inside the Seattle city limits. That change could potentially make the proposal more politically palatable.

“We believe our chances are good next year,” Fryer said. “We hope the Legislature values professional basketball as a cultural benefit, an economic engine and a regional attraction. We have a good deal with the Professional Basketball Club and a good venue with KeyArena. We need state action, and we hope to make a strong case.”

Lawmakers last session considered several proposals for financing a $300 million KeyArena remodel, but none of them gained enough steam to merit a vote.

The task force had an information gathering meeting in July and will meet again in September.

Brian Robinson, co-founder of Save Our Sonics, a grass-roots organization that worked to keep the team in Seattle, is involved in a coalition of sports-related and business groups interested in seeing KeyArena remodeled. He said Save Our Sonics plan to hire a lobbyist to help with the city’s effort during the 2009 session of the Legislature.

“I think the city understands that having gone there four years straight with the same approach that they have to try some new things,” Robinson said. “And I think the city will change their approach, and hopefully they change it in a positive manner.”

Robinson said he’d like to see the city use some of the $45 million it received in the settlement to bring another professional basketball team back to Seattle.

“They took $45 million toward the city general fund in exchange for our team,” Robinson said. “And from the perspective of a sports fan, I don’t think it’s unrealistic that some of that money is dedicated to an effort to secure a new team.

“They have to put their money where their mouth is. They promised a strong effort toward pursuing a new team, and so far they are. But we’re going to watch them very closely.”

This is really the hard part, convincing people that should not be involved to not get in the way.

BALMER’S GROUP COMMITTED

The private investment group headed by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer still is interested in working to bring professional basketball back to Seattle, said Matt Griffin, a spokesperson for the group.

Griffin said his group has had conversations with the city to make sure it is taking the lead on the initiative to secure state funding to remodel KeyArena. The private investment group, which includes Ballmer; Griffin, a Seattle developer; wireless magnate John Stanton; and Costco CEO Jim Sinegal offered to put $150 million toward a KeyArena remodel, along with pursuing the purchase of an NBA franchise. The city has offered to pitch in $75 million, and now needs $75 million in state-authorized local taxes to complete financing for the deal.

Griffin said he became involved in the project because of his concern about what would happen to KeyArena, the cornerstone of the Seattle Center, without a prime NBA tenant. Griffin said he thinks the KeyArena remodel is a viable option for an NBA team, and doesn’t see his group getting involved in a privately financed arena.

“I personally worry about KeyArena,” Griffin said. “And we want to solve that problem at the same time.”

Griffin said he hasn’t heard anything from the NBA about the availability of a franchise

“It’s (a) hard discussion to have when you don’t have an arena for them to play in,” Griffin said. “We will go and make an effort. We are clearly committed to the process, but it still takes a willing seller of a franchise.”

That's really where we are at with Key Arena. There is a willing buyer for an NBA team . That buyer is willing to pay $150 million dollars to remodel the parts of Key Arena that effect the NBA.
The City has committed to user the sports generated revenue t pay for its' 75 million dollar portion.
The city is working with the state to direct locally collected funds that are currently used for the Washington Convention Center in Seattle, to the Key Arena remodel in Seattle.

July 16, 2008 there was a state task force meeting:

Local Financing Options for King County, Joint Task Force* - 07/16/08 9:00 am
Full Committee

House Hearing Rm C
John L. O'Brien Building
Olympia, WA

REVISED 7/15/2008 9:56 AM

Agenda:

1. Task Force administration - selection of Chair, discussion of Task Force goals and meeting schedule.
2. Overview of stadium related revenues in King County including: history, scheduled uses of revenue, and bond repayment timing, and including the current 7%/2.8% hotel-motel tax levied within the City of Seattle / King County dedicated to the State Convention Center.
3. Review of 2008 Legislation: SB 6638 - Reallocating existing lodging taxes for heritage and arts programs in a county with a population of one million or more.

~

Let's go further back to July, 3, 2008

"Comment from Sen. Ed Murray and Rep. Ross Hunter on Sonics settlement
Posted by Niki Sullivan @ 11:56:39 am" [Tacoma News Tribune]

Here's what Sen. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, has to say about the Sonics settlement. Murray, a member of the task force to meet this summer on King County local taxes, said he hasn't read the settlement but has been briefed.

"My concern is that some of the sources we're looking at give me puase. An example would be the convention center and some of the funding that would come out of the money that we're getting out of the convention center... I think we need to look at renovating and expanding the convention center before we talk about diverting that money into KeyArena."

He said the Legislature wasn't involved in the deal-making. "That wouldn't be appropriate."

"We have time now to look at our options through this task force. Again, I think we need to be very cautious about where we get the money so that we don't hurt other needed projects or tax sources."

"I'm not saying we won't act, but I think we need to be deliberative. We have time ... using public money for the use of sports facilities is very controversial and I think we need to be very careful."

On whether the less-than-optimistic revenue forecasts have any effect on this, he said, "It's certainly something we have to take into consideration."

Update 2:37 p.m.: I just talked to Rep. Ross Hunter, who's also on the task force. Here's what he had to say after reading the settlement:

"It's very vague and it's intended to be vague," he said. "They want the state to take some action that makes $75 million available to this. Obviously we could just give them $75 million, which is unlikely – heavily unlikely. Or we could allow the city to shift funds from one account to another."

That fund-shifting is in reference to a pool of unused money from the Seattle hotel-motel tax that pays for the convention center. While Murray didn't seem hot on the idea, Hunter described it as excess money that could be used without affecting the convention center's future.

"If it's in Seattle's best interest to remodel KeyArena and attract a professional basketball tenant, that would be a reasonable basis."

He said projected budget shortfalls and decreasing revenue forecasts could have an effect on the political wrangling. "We have a number of things that are more important than dealing with this problem."

He said he's a skeptic on the idea of subsidizing sports teams. "It's just not attractive to me. I don't think that's what we're doing here."

"If the basis is, we want to spend taxpayer dollars to subsidize players' salaries, then no."

It should be noted that neither House Speaker Frank Chopp, D-Seattle, nor Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, are willing to talk today. (Brown did issue a statement yesterday, though.)

Percy Allen Explores Seattle's Chances with NBA

SEATTLE - Percy Allen of the Seattle Times has a story published today that explores the chances of Seattle landing another NBA team to replace the one the politicians let get away. A few things of note from the story, though you should read the entire article, are these:

Save Our Sonics is working with the City of Seattle Mayor's office to help secure funding for the rebuild of Key Arena, by leveraging public support. Part of that effort will have to be keeping public interest in support going while a team is not here. In order for a city, like Seattle, to have a chance at getting an NBA team you have to have three things: committed business support (Ballmer, Griffin, SCI); an arena and public interest (see SOS not above); and the support of the NBA (see NBA statement on the settlement between Seattle and the PBC).

Other cities that are, or were, going after NBA teams have had arena deals fail, or no commitment from a potential buyer of an NBA team.
Las Vegas - no arena
San Jose - no arena
Kansas City - no owner, "settling for NHL"

Some in the story put Seattle at the top of the NBA list. Making sure we are at the front of the line depends on following through on financing of the Key Arena rebuild, and your support of it completing, while keeping the three parts together over the next 18 to 24 months.

To quote Bill Murray from the movie What About Bob, "Baby steps, I'm at elevator".

Step #1. (as always): fund Key Arena, encourage people that decide this funding to support your interests.

Percy Allen's column at Seattletimes.nwsource.com

I think that it is fair to say that Howard Schultz's lawsuit against Clay Bennett's PBC ,and now the NBA, could help make sure that Seattle is at the front of the line for the next expansion team or relocation. The case may ensure that the line that looks like one city, Seattle, stays a list of one city.
If the league did expand it would most likely be two teams to keep the Eastern and Western Conferences the same number. That is just not going to happen before an existing team is available for sale and relocation. An owner that wanted to relocate to Seattle but not sell to SCI (Ballmer, Griffin) would have to pay the 150 million dollars that SCI has committed to rebuilding Key Arena.
Have a great day,
Mr Baker

Sent from my iPhone

Welcome Lost Children of Sonics Fandom (that's near Greenlake)

SEATTLE - The franchise is gone, and the baton of blame has been passed around from the Mayor of Seattle, to the State of Washington, back to the mayor, and wrapped up in a settlement with Clay Bennett and David Stern and passed back to the state. That's the short story, very few details are meaningful now.

Currently, the City of Seattle is ready to collect revenue generated from Sonics activity in and around Key Arena and spend 75 million dollars toward the public portion of Key Arena in a sizable rebuild. The city will spend some money on infrastructure on the structure no matter what else happens. The major rebuild is depending on the State of Washington to authorize the City of Seattle to collect hotel and motel taxes within the city of Seattle and direct that revenue toward the Seattle Center. This would provide another 75 million dollars to the Key Arena rebuild.

There is a private contribution from a group the calls its self the Seattle Center Investors. They plan to contribute 150 million in private funds, an NBA basketball team, cost over runs.

From NBA.com

NEW YORK, July 2, 2008 -- NBA Commissioner David Stern has issued the following statement:

“We are pleased that the Sonics and the City of Seattle have settled their litigation. While the decision has been made to relocate the Sonics to Oklahoma City, the NBA continues to regard Seattle as a first-class NBA city that is capable of serving as home for another NBA team.

In order for this to occur, a state-of-the-art NBA arena must be funded and constructed in the Seattle area, a subject that has been extensively debated -- but not ultimately acted upon -- by local political and business leaders over the past four years. We are pleased that the City remains committed to addressing this fundamental requirement for the return of NBA basketball to Seattle and we hope that other elected officials critical to a solution will support the City’s efforts.

We understand that City, County, and State officials are currently discussing a plan to substantially re-build KeyArena for the sum of $300 million. If this funding were authorized, we believe KeyArena could properly be renovated into a facility that meets NBA standards relating to revenue generation, fan amenities, team facilities, and the like.

Assuming the funding can be committed, the league is willing to work with the City on the design and construction of the re-build to facilitate this result. Under these circumstances, if an opportunity arose in the future for an NBA team to be located in Seattle, we would support that team playing its home games in a re-built KeyArena, if it wished.

However, given the lead times associated with any franchise acquisition or relocation and with a construction project as complex as a KeyArena renovation, authorization of the public funding needs to occur by the end of 2009 in order for there to be any chance for the NBA to return to Seattle within the next five years.

We are pleased that Steve Ballmer has expressed the continuing willingness of his group, Seattle Center Investors, managed by Seattle developer Matt Griffin, to be a part of the solution for returning NBA basketball to Seattle. The NBA will keep SCI and the City informed if opportunities arise in the next five years for franchise sale, relocation and/or expansion. Under the circumstances outlined above, the NBA would be happy to return to the City of Seattle.”

Okay, who are the Seattle Center Investors again?
From Seattle.gov

City of Seattle
Gregory J. Nickels, Mayor

NEWS ADVISORY

SUBJECT: Statement by Mayor Nickels on the settlement of the City's lawsuit with the Seattle Sonics
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
7/2/2008 5:00:00 PM FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Alex Fryer (206) 684-8358

Statement by Mayor Nickels on the settlement of
the City's lawsuit with the Seattle Sonics

Today, I am announcing a settlement with Mr. Bennett and the Professional Basketball Club. Our goals for the settlement were two: To protect the taxpayers’ investment in KeyArena and have a long-term future for professional basketball.

In exchange for terminating the lease two years early, Mr. Bennett has agreed to settlement package with a payment up to $75 million to the City of Seattle. Under the agreement, $45 million will be paid to the City immediately. That covers rent and loss of tax revenue, and allows us to pay off outstanding debt on KeyArena.

Our agreement calls for Mr. Bennett and his co-owners to pay an additional $30 million in 2013—if the NBA has not approved a team to play in Seattle.
The NBA was an important part of our negotiations—agreeing that a renovated KeyArena can be a competitive NBA facility. This is a crucial point for us. A KeyArena with professional basketball is a cornerstone for a vibrant Seattle Center.

The NBA has committed to helping us secure a future team—informing us of any sale, relocation or expansion opportunities.

Committed local ownership is critical—and we are grateful that Steve Ballmer and his group, represented here by Matt Griffin, are working to secure a new team.

The city is ready to do its part. Local investors have stepped up. Now, the State Legislature must act. If it fails to approve public funding next year to remodel KeyArena, we will lose our rights to that $30 million payment if we do not get a team.

I believed all along that enforcing our lease would create time for a better deal. We now have that deal.

The Sonics name and history stay in Seattle. Seattle is a natural home for professional basketball—loyal fans, and a rich, 40-year tradition.

Working together, we are now in the best position to continue that legacy in Seattle.



Visit the mayor’s web site at www.seattle.gov/mayor. Get the mayor’s inside view on efforts to promote transportation, public safety, economic opportunity and healthy communities by signing up for The Nickels Newsletter at www.seattle.gov/mayor/newsletter_signup.htm

Better yet, contact the mayor on this page HERE!

Wait, you still don't know who Seattle Center Investors (SCI) are?

From the SeattlePI.com Reporter, Greg Johns.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Nagging question: Fix KeyArena?

City hopes it can finally get the Legislature on board

Friday, July 4, 2008
Last updated 1:07 a.m. PT

By GREG JOHNS
P-I REPORTER

Even as the team formerly known as the Sonics begins packing for a one-way trip to Oklahoma, the story line of the NBA's long-term prospects in Seattle seems to have come full circle.

We're back to this. The region needs a new arena. Without a state-of-the-art facility, there will be no pro basketball franchise in Seattle again.

Whether it's a renovated KeyArena, which NBA Commissioner David Stern suddenly says would be just fine, or a brand-new palace, which Sonics Chairman Clay Bennett briefly pursued, no new ownership group is going to emerge without a modern building to host its team.

Microsoft Corp. Chairman Steve Ballmer and his three local partners remain interested in buying another NBA team to eventually wear the Sonics' green and gold, according to Seattle developer Matt Griffin, but won't even begin scanning the waters until a firm financing plan is in place for a KeyArena makeover.

"Without that, you're going into any negotiation with one arm tied behind your back," said Griffin, who'll continue serving as spokesman for the group that also includes Costco Chief Executive Jim Sinegal and software mogul John Stanton.

Two weeks ago, Griffin was on the witness stand in U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman's court being grilled about his group's role in the city's plan to force Bennett to sell the Sonics. The experience wasn't pleasant, but being dragged through the mud didn't diminish the quartet's interest in pursuing a pro basketball solution in Seattle.

"The good thing about the body is it doesn't remember pain very well. It's the reason we do a lot of things the second time," Griffin said with a laugh. "We're ready to work the problem. That doesn't mean it's going to happen, but we're ready to work it."

So fire up the political debates, the battles over public vs. private money and the Citizens for More Important Things against sports fans who place tremendous value on the entertainment provided by professional athletics.

Bennett's basketball team might be gone, but questions over what comes next are just beginning.

City of Seattle leaders are still hoping to leverage a KeyArena solution out of the Legislature. If a financing plan can be committed during next year's session, Ballmer's group -- now dubbed the Seattle Center Investors -- remains willing to foot half the projected $300 million renovation costs.

Just don't expect a replacement NBA team to hurry into Seattle on the wings of Bennett's departure.

"Realistically, we're looking at a couple of years at the earliest," Deputy Mayor Tim Ceis said.

Brian Robinson, chairman of the Save Our Sonics fan group, said it's going to take some people time to even decide how much emotion they want to invest into a push for a replacement.

"The next step is for people to kind of deal with their grief and decide if they want the NBA here again," Robinson said. "I'm not thrilled with the decision to let the team go. But I do understand the logic is to increase the chances of getting a team in the next five years."

It's possible that a long-term solution might not even include KeyArena. Dave Bean, a local businessman, continues teaming with former Sonic Fred Brown on an effort to promote a privately financed arena in the region that could house both pro basketball and hockey.

Bean said their B2 firm has done further site analysis and investor searching in the past few months and hopes to step more to the fore now that the Sonics are gone.

"What this does is perhaps accelerate the process for all parties involved," Bean said. "We're going to continue to go down our private road and see what develops. We've been making progress, but we do have some concerns about the direction Mayor Nickels is talking about, going back to Olympia for public funding and refocusing on KeyArena.

"That's not our plan. I guess it's going to get down to who can deliver a suitable facility to the NBA and do it in a way that makes the most sense. We think we've got a much better approach with no tax dollars."

But Bean's ambitious project remains an admitted long shot, given the plan requires both NBA and NHL tenants to pencil out financially. Not to mention, he and Brown are swimming against the political stream, as city leaders are invested heavily in trying to salvage KeyArena.

"They've given our product zero recognition, but that's fine," Bean said. "We understand that game. We're going to keep doing our thing, and we're happy with the progress we've made over the last three months."

Bean believes Seattle's vibrant market and size make his proposal possible and that Stern will be interested once the pieces are in place.

"The NBA is very facility-driven," he said.

He'll get no arguments there from Griffin, but Ballmer's partner indicates his own focus is almost exclusively on a KeyArena solution.

"You never say never," Griffin said. "But my interest shrinks considerably when it's not Seattle Center. One of my reasons to get involved is I worry about the Center being empty."

Ultimately, it might take some interesting partnerships to get pro basketball back to the city. City Councilman Nick Licata, viewed as an obstructionist to previous KeyArena proposals, sounds willing to work toward a solution.

"The best thing right now is the NBA is willing to help Seattle get a team," Licata said. "That wouldn't have happened if we'd gone the straight court route (and not settled with Bennett).

"Quite honestly, the road may get a bit rougher as we approach the state Legislature," he said. "There may be some differences of opinion there. The devil is always in the details, but we'll see how it works. We have to present something that makes sense to the Legislature, just like it makes sense to the council and public. I think we can do that."

King County Councilman Pete von Reichbauer said the city will even need to look at Bennett as a potential ally toward getting a replacement.

Bennett will owe the city $30 million if a new team doesn't come to Seattle by 2013, assuming the Legislature also approves a tax plan for KeyArena by the end of next year.

"This region is going to need to work with him if it wants another team," said von Reichbauer, a staunch sports fan who helped broker a Seahawks solution between Ken Behring and Paul Allen in 1997 that resulted in Qwest Field's construction.

"He's one of the youngest members of the NBA Board of Governors. He's going to be there awhile."

P-I reporter Greg Johns can be reached at 206-448-8314 or gregjohns@seattlepi.com.

© 1998-2008 Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Yes, it is a lot. Yes, I pasted entire articles. No, I will not make a habit of it.