Not the sports city of Seattle, but the political city of Seattle. Clay Bennett’s original offer to buy out the lease was 26 million dollars, which was then trimmed to 10 million in the trial. They ended up with 45 million and an additional 30 million if they renovate Key Arena AND don’t get another team. Now, I seem to think the odds of Key Arena being renovated (with city money) is pretty unlikely. Pretty much from the day Howard Schultz bought the team he tried to get the city to fund a new arena or upgrades to the arena. It didn’t happen. The city and state always wanted at least half of it paid for, all the way until now. Neither ownership group ever offered to do this, so the team is now in Oklahoma. Maybe I am alone on this and I think I’m not, but I don’t see there being a huge public outcry against the city to build them a stadium so they can have another team. It’s clear that the league and Clay Bennett took this team. Seattle wanted the team, but the NBA didn’t want Seattle with it’s logical reasoning behind not footing the entire bill for billionaire’s stadiums anymore. I don’t see voters streaming out to vote in favor of more taxes so that Seattle can steal a team from New Orleans or Memphis (two teams that have already moved once) and give them a shiny new stadium. I simply don’t see that happening and I don’t see the NBA ever returning to Seattle. Which is fine with me, screw the NBA.
BUT WAIT… who is this? Someone willing to invest that money? Why didn’t Schultz sell to him in the first place?
Steve Anthony Ballmer (born March 24, 1956) is an American businessman and has been the chief executive officer of Microsoft Corporation since January 2000.[1] Ballmer is the second person after Roberto Goizueta to become a billionaire in U.S. dollars based on stock options received as an employee of a corporation in which he was neither a founder nor a relative of a founder. In Forbes 2008 World’s Richest People ranking, Ballmer was ranked the 43rd richest person in the world, with an estimated wealth of $15 billion.
He will pay 150 million of the estimated 300 it will take to update the arena to “NBA standards” in hopes of keeping the Sonics NBA in Seattle. The other half would be covered by the city, but what is the incentive to upgrade a vacant arena? The possibility of a jettisoned NBA franchise finding it’s home there? Is that worth it? I don’t think so. Not for a league who could have up to four teams looking to land there.
