by Seahawks4Ever » Thu Mar 01, 2018 10:39 pm
The venue at the Seattle Center was renovated in the middle 1990's, one of the3 ways the chronically CHEAP Seattle City Council paid for the "face lift" was to sell the naming rights, hence, it was renamed Key Arena, or, the KEY. One of the OTHER ways the council was able to pay for the repairs (it was originally supposed to be a temporary building to be torn down after the 1952 Worlds Fair) was to sign its anchor tenant the Seattle Super Sonics to an "iron clad" 20 year lease with a penalty clause should the Sonics be stupid enough to try and break the lease.
We ALL know what happened, Clay Bennett and some other investors bought the team from that PUKE Howard Schultz (I STILL will not patronize Starbucks) who, like a BABY decided to sell the team when the state legislature balked at paying for a brand new venue when the renovations of the Key had only been done a few years earlier and were not yet paid for. Shultz and that even bigger PUKE David Stern, the former NBA Commish. both got their panties in a wad after the legislature turned them down. Stern had previously had PRAISED the Key and the renovations and had NO PROBLEM with the venue. But, since that time the legislature had been integral in building both the Mariners and the Seahawks BRAND NEW STADIUMS. Since between the 3 our Sonics had been around longer and had been much more successful( 3 championship trips and 1 title) than the perennial loser Mariners and at that time almost as bad Seahawks. So, you can understand that the Sonics were a little put out.
What is REALLTY BAD is that the Mayor at the time Greg Nickels instead of enforcing that iron clad lease Nickels CAVED IN when it was challenged in court. He claimed that the BEST WAY to go was to LET the team go so as to NOT anger David Stern and the NBA and THAT would be the best way to get a new franchise. WE ARE STILL WAITING!!!! To add insult to injury the judge said later she would have ruled in favor of the city. To add even FURTHER INSULT to INJURY Bennett's main partner and Bennett were recorded admitting that IF they had lost the case (they would have!) that their financing scheme would have CRASHED and they would have been forced to give up the team, it would have REVERTED BACK TO SCHULTZ who by then wanted the team back.
Now, I could post on how both the city of Seattle AND King County conspired to mess over David Ackerley, but THAT is another story.
BUT, one more thing! David Ackerley was suing both the city and the county for conspiring to confiscate the land that would eventually become Safeco Field. Ackerley was suspicious of the city and didn't want to play second fiddle to a possible NHL team which h the city was even then pursuing. SO! Ackerley had a few demands, one was luxury boxes though there was no good place to put them but, they agreed. The Sonics never did make very much money on THAT mistake. The OTHER demand that the city agreed to was that the new seating configuration would be such that would make the KEY very very unsuitable for Hockey, especially NHL hockey. The main way they destroyed the venue for hockey was because they took out the ice rink that was UNDER the basketball floor.
The T-Birds and before them the Totems had played hockey for years at a smaller venue at the Seattle Center simply called the Arena. But, the Coliseum (the Key) HAD been used for hockey before just as for exhibitions such as the Ice Capades and Ice Follies but after the renovations the venue would NEVER be any good for NHL hockey.
But WAIT! The T-Birds DID play there for several years before they for their new arena in Kent, Wa. Until their new venue opened watching hockey at the Key was HORRIBLE! They had to bring in portable seats and a temporary ice rink and the seating and site lines were BEYOND BAD. It was an oval seating arrangement at one end and open ended at the other. So, in order to make that building viable again they WILL have to TEAR down the old building and start all over and I have NOT heard or read anywhere that they are prepared to do that.
One big problem is that the city doesn't want to lose revenue to the county which is exactly what will happen IF an arena is built on the Hansen sight, which IS the best and IMHO the ONLY sight which is viable. So, it boils down to politics, plain and simple. If you knew the story about how Ackerley tried to build his own venue (where the Mariners play) people would understand how it got to this point and it is NOT the fault of the legislature and lies at the feet of successive Seattle Mayors. County Executives, and both of their respective councils. Did I mention democrats controlled both government entities???