Seattle Says No to Big Bucks for Pro Sports Subsidy
As a follower of the late Montreal Expos, I could not help but applaud folks in Seattle and sayiong it's about time when I read of the decision not to pay out a huge subsidy to keep the NBA Sonic in Seattle.
The New York Times reports that on Election Day, residents rebuffed their once-beloved Seattle SuperSonics, voting overwhelmingly for a ballot measure ending public subsidies for professional sports teams.
The owners, who bought the Sonics in October for $350 million from Howard Schultz, the founder of Starbucks, had warned that the team would leave unless the city provided a new arena, said the Times article.
The vote delighted Citizens for More Important Things, a group that, with the help of a statewide health care union, spent $60,000 to sponsor the initiative. Other cities “may be so desperate to lure tourists there that they have to overpay for an N.B.A. team,” said to the Times Chris Van Dyk, a founder of the group. “Seattle doesn’t have to lure anybody.”
The Sonics were Seattle’s first professional team and first love, especially after they won a National Basketball Association championship in 1979. But the team’s record, aside from a playoff run in 2004, has been middling for years.
KeyArena, the smallest of any N.B.A. team, was renovated in 1995 with $75 million from taxpayers.
Public sentiment turned against the Sonics last winter when Mr. Schultz, the Starbucks chairman, demanded that the state provide $200 million to refurbish the city-owned arena. The team would have contributed $18 million.
With Oklahoma City and others waiting in the wings for their shot at "big time" sports, this brave act by folks in Seattle will likely not stop the big bucks game of pro-sports francise blackmail. But it is an act that merits admiration for someon on this side of the border is finally taking a stand similar to that seen in Canadian places such as Montreal (Expos) and Quebec (Nordiques)- communities that drew a line based on principle at the expense of a loss of a professional team.
Thanks, Seattle.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/13/us/13seattle.html
The New York Times reports that on Election Day, residents rebuffed their once-beloved Seattle SuperSonics, voting overwhelmingly for a ballot measure ending public subsidies for professional sports teams.
The owners, who bought the Sonics in October for $350 million from Howard Schultz, the founder of Starbucks, had warned that the team would leave unless the city provided a new arena, said the Times article.
The vote delighted Citizens for More Important Things, a group that, with the help of a statewide health care union, spent $60,000 to sponsor the initiative. Other cities “may be so desperate to lure tourists there that they have to overpay for an N.B.A. team,” said to the Times Chris Van Dyk, a founder of the group. “Seattle doesn’t have to lure anybody.”
The Sonics were Seattle’s first professional team and first love, especially after they won a National Basketball Association championship in 1979. But the team’s record, aside from a playoff run in 2004, has been middling for years.
KeyArena, the smallest of any N.B.A. team, was renovated in 1995 with $75 million from taxpayers.
Public sentiment turned against the Sonics last winter when Mr. Schultz, the Starbucks chairman, demanded that the state provide $200 million to refurbish the city-owned arena. The team would have contributed $18 million.
With Oklahoma City and others waiting in the wings for their shot at "big time" sports, this brave act by folks in Seattle will likely not stop the big bucks game of pro-sports francise blackmail. But it is an act that merits admiration for someon on this side of the border is finally taking a stand similar to that seen in Canadian places such as Montreal (Expos) and Quebec (Nordiques)- communities that drew a line based on principle at the expense of a loss of a professional team.
Thanks, Seattle.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/13/us/13seattle.html
posted by eric model | 9:14 PM
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