Perri Nelson's Website 

Hope that the Sonics will finally "go"

Good riddance to whiney multi-millionaires wanting more public funding for their games. It's about time that the constant threats to leave if they don't get millions of dollars in public funding were called.

OLYMPIA -- Sonics and Storm owner Clay Bennett said the teams now have "little hope of remaining in the Puget Sound region" after state lawmakers announced Monday they will not vote on public funding for a proposed $500 million Renton arena before the Legislature adjourns this weekend.

Despite last-minute pleas from arena backers, legislative leaders emerged from closed-door meetings with Gov. Christine Gregoire on Monday night to say there was not enough support for the proposal.

Please... we need public funding to be able to survive. Ticket sales and merchandising just aren't enough.

Gregoire called Bennett to ask whether talks could continue after the session. But Bennett did not seem convinced that would do any good.

In a written statement, Bennett called the lack of action in Olympia a "staggering and quite likely a debilitating blow" to prospects for a "world class" arena.

"By its inaction the Legislature has delivered the message that they are indifferent to the notion of the Sonics and the Storm leaving the market," he said.

How about not "indifferent", but tired of the [expletive deleted] extortion!

Bennett said he remains willing to work with Gregoire and lawmakers "to explore every conceivable funding option," including private funding. "But at this time we have no other concepts on the table," he said.

Private funding? What a concept. They want the arena for private purposes.

It was the third unsuccessful attempt in as many years by Sonics and Storm owners to get stadium deals similar to what the Mariners and Seahawks got in the 1990s.

Deals that should have never been made in the first place. The people voted against funding the Mariners stadium deal. The legislature had to declare an "emergency" to ram it down our throats. The Seahawks deal was just as bad, but it narrowly won public approval.

At first, the teams tried to get more than $200 million for an expansion of Seattle's KeyArena. When that failed, owners set their sights on a new suburban arena.

...

Bennett has pledged to make a "good faith" effort to secure an arena deal in the Seattle area. But unless he gets a deal by Oct. 31, he has said he may relocate the teams after their KeyArena leases end in 2010.

The Sonics' legislation sought authorization for up to $300 million in King County taxes for the Renton arena. The taxes on hotels, car rentals and restaurants are now used to pay off debt from Safeco and Qwest fields and the demolished Kingdome.

So they couldn't get $200 million out of Seattle, so they asked for $300 million from King County? What part of NO don't these extortionists understand?

Isn't it time we held these multi-million dollar entertainment franchises to their word? Mr. Bennett says if he doesn't get his public money he'll move the team in 2010. It's time we called his bluff.

But Kessler said she thinks the Sonics -- aware that people were wary of another stadium deal -- tried finesse instead of force.

"I think they tried to keep it sort of low-key so they wouldn't frighten anybody into an early 'no,' " she said.

Maybe they know that we're tired of bending over for every sports team that threatens to take their ball and play in another neighborhood if they can't pick our pockets. They can't leave fast enough for me.

Cross posted at NWBloggers.com

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