Teamsiliconvalley - Sports Blog

What Crap

July 4th, 2008

Greg Nickels is the guy?  He's the man we have representing Seattle, sad.  I can only say that I am extremely disappointed in how the Sonics trial turned out, after all this time and investment the city cowardly cuts a deal at the last second.  The worst part being that it's a crappy deal.  

I've made my opinions clear that I would not want a replacement team but I also know that I may be in the minority in that regard.  From my perspective the least that Greg could have accomplished was the promise of the next available team but instead he spinelessly caved at the buzzer.  This trial was a last second shot by the city at the end of a game and our representatives couldn't even get a shot off, pathetic.

In the end it all came down to money and in the grand scheme it was just a pittance.  $45 million sounds so large but only in the short term; the sum is dwarfed when weighed against the revenue that could be and has been generated by the Sonics, the only team in the Seattle area with an arena centrally located in a residential district in the city.

It's sad that a mere weeks ago the value the team added to the city was incalculable, yet somehow we came up with a figure.  $45 million, about one million per year of history left behind.

So now we go back to the drawing board, an arena renovation will be proposed with our tax dollars at risk but not only will we not have a team, we won't even have the promise of a team.  If we weren't able to get the legislature on board while we had a team why does Greg Nickels and Tim Ceis think that we can get it passed while in a recession and without an immediate tenant?  The reasoning involved boggles the mind.  So what we are left with is a building that is extremely dated, no tenants - now that both the Sonics and the Thunderbirds are gone but don't worry it's completely paid off.  Great, we own the delappidated and rapidly depreciating building that's lost it's only guaranteed income year after year.

Is it reasonable to think that David Stern has been endeared by the city enough that he will actively promote Seattle as a destination for the next NBA relocation or expansion?  I think not.  He has acted in collusion with Clay Bennett during the entire proceedings, ignoring obvious lies told directly to him, joining in with Clay in antagonizing the team's fans and local legislature while practicing a blatant double talk regarding  proposed renovations of Key Arena that would make John McCain do cartwheels - from lobbying for the renovation three years ago, then saying it wasn't suited for an NBA team and now saying that a renovation would be agreeable for an NBA team in the future.  The smugness that he has conducted himself with is deplorable.  That such an obvious egomaniac is allowed to operate in such fashion is remarkable.

As far as Stern's negotiated statement is concerned it reeks of Greg Nickel's cave in.  What does the NBA and Commissioner Stern concede here?  Nothing.  All he has to do is say Seattle is a first class city and promise to tell us if a team becomes available - apparently he doesn't think we can figure that out on our own.  He offers us absolutely nothing that we either didn't know before hand or couldn't figure out in the future.  

His product is under an intense scrutiny right now and perhaps justly so.  Complaints from fans have been building about the product on the floor for years now.  Just how far would David Stern go to mold the game to his whim?  Would he go so far as to direct his officials to manipulate games?  It's purely speculation at this point but I see nothing in his actions in dealing with Seattle and the PBC that would suggest he would be above such manipulation.

Congratulations Oklahoma, you get to deal with these people now.  You get to deal with the owner who has already threatened to move the team before playing game one in OKC if no NEW arena deal is considered.  How long do you think it will take until Clay officially asks for $300 million plus for a brand new arena?  One year, two?  Well you get to shell out another $120 million in the mean time to remodel an arena that is under 5 years old.  And lastly you get the ego of both Clay and David, enjoy.

I will say that Howard Shultz is not taking his case lightly and it's is wrong of Clay to laugh of the threat of losing the team; just as it's wrong for David Stern to laugh off the allegations of Tim Donaughy.  The case by Richard Yarmuth and Howard won't be filed officially for about a year making any potential unwinding more difficult as it would require ripping the team from Oklahoma after one season but thems the breaks I guess but that is a year of preparation and fact finding - plus they get the added bonus of seeing Clay's legal team (which was quite good) in advance and the use of testimony in the trial with the city.

I'm a silver lining type of guy so here's mine, Clay, while under oath, admitted to not giving the good faith best effort for the entire year.  In fact, he even dated his efforts at six months.  My understanding is that it wasn't a good faith best effort for as long as he felt like, but for an entire year.  He (Clay) also admitted to fumbling his arena proposal, delaying the presentation twice and then not presenting a complete proposal, omitting specifics that were requested from Gov. Gregoire for any chance at approval - including the owners' up front contribution, a potential site and who would be responsible for construction overruns.  It is important to note that Clay has since said the owner's contributions would be $100 million but all of that money would come from revenues generated by the facility, including naming rights, thus none of it upfront and none of it from their pockets.

People like Clay rely heavily on the notion that money is an appropriate remedy for any damage, he's already in over $400 million on this deal, and it's our legal system that allows people like him to operate effectively but his pockets are going to have run deeper than we've seen because his troubles and check writing aren't over just yet.  The fact that written into the buyout of the lease in Seattle are monetary responsibility instructions in the event that Howard's case is successful are a testament that despite his public statements disregarding the suit as baseless he or his lawyers view it as a very credible threat and I take more than a small bit of joy in that fact.

Entry Filed under: Sports