Viva les SuperSonics!
Thanks to corporate greed, the SuperSonics are leaving Seattle.
After a long legal tussle, the City of Seattle and team owner Clay Bennett reached an agreement yesterday. Bennett and his corporate cronies at the Professional Basketball Club LLC will pay the emerald city as much as $75 million in exchange for the immediate termination of the team’s KeyArena lease, which was to expire in 2010. Bennett will now move the team to Oklahoma City, his hometown, which was his intention from day one. The SuperSonics’ name and colors, though, will be staying in Seattle (thankfully) to await a potential expansion team or relocated franchise.
Seattle’s 41-year love affair with their Sonics has been put on hold for none other than… inadequate restaurant space. That’s right. KeyArena, which was renovated for $74.5 million in 1994 didn’t have enough space for restaurants, shops, and luxury suits to be deemed financially viable for the ownership. Sure, with a capacity of 17,098 it was the smallest arena in the NBA, but to completely give up on an arena and city because there aren’t enough places for people to pay outrageous prices for beer, food, and replica jersey’s is detestable. Revolting.
Unfortunately it’s what professional sports in America has sunk to. Corporate greed has razed the character rich, historic, dirty, loud, legendary stadiums and arenas across the country to make way for soulless, sterile, money making behemoths — malls masquerading as sports venues. The Boston Garden, Chicago Stadium, Comiskey Park, Tiger Stadium, County Stadium, Cleveland Stadium, Busch Stadium, Orange Bowl, Tampa Stadium, and Mile High Stadium have either crumbled under the demolition ball or been abandoned. Even famed Yankee Stadium, “the house that Ruth built,” will soon be replaced by a newer, bastardized version. (Actually, the stadium was rebuilt in the mid-1970s anyway, so the real Yankee Stadium has been gone for over 30 years.)
Around 1999 the Red Sox were exploring the option to build a new park and relegate Fenway to a family-friendly neighborhood ball diamond. Blasphemy! In the ‘80s the Cubs considered leaving Wrigley for a new stadium in the suburb of Rosemont or Schaumburg. That would have been absolute sacrilege. In 1994 the Raiders decided to move back to Oakland because Al Davis was fed up with “the hole” he considered the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Built in 1988, the 24,000 seat Charlotte Coliseum was deserted by the Hornets in 2002 and Bobcats in 2005 because there weren’t enough luxury boxes. It was demolished in 2007.
Other venues have been completely rebuilt or altered; the stands and playing field are now dwarfed by towers of private suites. Lambeau Field and Solider Field are the best examples. Hell, even Kinnick Stadium is now scarred by the giant new “press box” opened in 2006. When I was a kid I heard rumors the Hawks were planning to build a domed stadium at Mormon Trek and Melrose. Phew! Thank god that didn’t happen.
(On the other hand, many teams have benefited from leaving their long time homes, most of which are baseball teams who were cursed with playing in the multi-purpose, “cookie-cutter” concrete hell-holes built in the ‘60s and ‘70s. The Astros, Braves, Giants, Mariners, Nationals, Orioles, Padres, Phillies, Pirates, and Reds are much better off not sharing their home with a football (or soccer) team, and soon the A’s, Marlins, and Twins will have their own stadiums (though the A’s will be leaving Oakland proper).)
This phenomenon is not confined to the United States, either. European soccer teams are leaving their spiritual homes for sparkling new stadiums in the suburbs or completely renovating their grounds to accommodate private suites and luxury boxes.
But I digress from the point. I’d be naïve if I said professional sports has never been about owners making money. It’s what pro sports is all about. We pay to watch the best athletes in the world work their magic on the hardwood or turf, and team owners invest in good players and success to put butts in seats. Back in the day that’s all those seats were for, really. But things have changed, especially recently, and the case of the SuperSonics is a testament to that.
Stadiums and arenas are no longer built just for fans to enjoy games. They are now purposely outfitted with restaurants, shops, and museums to sucker fans into forking over more of their hard earned money, all so a few millionaires can pull in a little more income. If stadiums are inadequate and the locals balk at financing a new facility (stand defiant against corporate greed), owners threaten and often move their teams to cities that will cooperate and bend over backwards.
It’s happened a lot in the world of professional sports. Seattle won’t be the last city to have its sporting heart and soul stolen from it by rich, fat, corporate cocksuckers.
Long live the SuperSonics!
After a long legal tussle, the City of Seattle and team owner Clay Bennett reached an agreement yesterday. Bennett and his corporate cronies at the Professional Basketball Club LLC will pay the emerald city as much as $75 million in exchange for the immediate termination of the team’s KeyArena lease, which was to expire in 2010. Bennett will now move the team to Oklahoma City, his hometown, which was his intention from day one. The SuperSonics’ name and colors, though, will be staying in Seattle (thankfully) to await a potential expansion team or relocated franchise.
Seattle’s 41-year love affair with their Sonics has been put on hold for none other than… inadequate restaurant space. That’s right. KeyArena, which was renovated for $74.5 million in 1994 didn’t have enough space for restaurants, shops, and luxury suits to be deemed financially viable for the ownership. Sure, with a capacity of 17,098 it was the smallest arena in the NBA, but to completely give up on an arena and city because there aren’t enough places for people to pay outrageous prices for beer, food, and replica jersey’s is detestable. Revolting.
Unfortunately it’s what professional sports in America has sunk to. Corporate greed has razed the character rich, historic, dirty, loud, legendary stadiums and arenas across the country to make way for soulless, sterile, money making behemoths — malls masquerading as sports venues. The Boston Garden, Chicago Stadium, Comiskey Park, Tiger Stadium, County Stadium, Cleveland Stadium, Busch Stadium, Orange Bowl, Tampa Stadium, and Mile High Stadium have either crumbled under the demolition ball or been abandoned. Even famed Yankee Stadium, “the house that Ruth built,” will soon be replaced by a newer, bastardized version. (Actually, the stadium was rebuilt in the mid-1970s anyway, so the real Yankee Stadium has been gone for over 30 years.)
Around 1999 the Red Sox were exploring the option to build a new park and relegate Fenway to a family-friendly neighborhood ball diamond. Blasphemy! In the ‘80s the Cubs considered leaving Wrigley for a new stadium in the suburb of Rosemont or Schaumburg. That would have been absolute sacrilege. In 1994 the Raiders decided to move back to Oakland because Al Davis was fed up with “the hole” he considered the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Built in 1988, the 24,000 seat Charlotte Coliseum was deserted by the Hornets in 2002 and Bobcats in 2005 because there weren’t enough luxury boxes. It was demolished in 2007.
Other venues have been completely rebuilt or altered; the stands and playing field are now dwarfed by towers of private suites. Lambeau Field and Solider Field are the best examples. Hell, even Kinnick Stadium is now scarred by the giant new “press box” opened in 2006. When I was a kid I heard rumors the Hawks were planning to build a domed stadium at Mormon Trek and Melrose. Phew! Thank god that didn’t happen.
(On the other hand, many teams have benefited from leaving their long time homes, most of which are baseball teams who were cursed with playing in the multi-purpose, “cookie-cutter” concrete hell-holes built in the ‘60s and ‘70s. The Astros, Braves, Giants, Mariners, Nationals, Orioles, Padres, Phillies, Pirates, and Reds are much better off not sharing their home with a football (or soccer) team, and soon the A’s, Marlins, and Twins will have their own stadiums (though the A’s will be leaving Oakland proper).)
This phenomenon is not confined to the United States, either. European soccer teams are leaving their spiritual homes for sparkling new stadiums in the suburbs or completely renovating their grounds to accommodate private suites and luxury boxes.
But I digress from the point. I’d be naïve if I said professional sports has never been about owners making money. It’s what pro sports is all about. We pay to watch the best athletes in the world work their magic on the hardwood or turf, and team owners invest in good players and success to put butts in seats. Back in the day that’s all those seats were for, really. But things have changed, especially recently, and the case of the SuperSonics is a testament to that.
Stadiums and arenas are no longer built just for fans to enjoy games. They are now purposely outfitted with restaurants, shops, and museums to sucker fans into forking over more of their hard earned money, all so a few millionaires can pull in a little more income. If stadiums are inadequate and the locals balk at financing a new facility (stand defiant against corporate greed), owners threaten and often move their teams to cities that will cooperate and bend over backwards.
It’s happened a lot in the world of professional sports. Seattle won’t be the last city to have its sporting heart and soul stolen from it by rich, fat, corporate cocksuckers.
Long live the SuperSonics!
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