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November 23, 2005
Should We Renovate Key Arena?
The Sonics want us to pay $180 million to update Key Arena. Keep in mind that we still owe $50+ million for the last renovation in 1995. This seems just a bit absurd to me, but the Sonics say they can't compete or whatever.
On the other hand, consider this. Who was the last major Seattle team to compete in a championship? It was the 1996 Seattle Supersonics, barely beaten by the Michael Jordan led Bulls. (No shame there.) And the last team to win a championship? The 1979 Seattle Supersonics. Let's not forget the championship 2004 Seattle Storm, who also play in Key Arena.
Meanwhile, in the last five years we have built a stadium complex to replace the Kingdome (which we still hadn't finished paying for). That stadium complex cost nearly $1 billion. Over $500 million of that was spent on Safeco Field, a stadium used exclusively by the Seattle Mariners, who have never been in a World Series and are currently one of the worst teams in baseball.
The other stadium is the even newer Qwest Field, built for $300 million. It is used by the Seattle Seahawks, who have never played in a Super Bowl, and who haven't even been close to a championship since the 1980s. (Furthermore, Qwest Field is only used for this purpose for a few weekends of the year. The rest of the time it sits relatively idle.)
Now, we don't have $180 million to give to the Sonics. Not if our highways our going to come crashing down and sinking into the water, like our government would have us believe. But of all the teams here, aren't they the ones who most deserve it?
Posted by March at November 23, 2005 06:27 AM