Sonics Arena, ISC Track Issues Miss Deadline But Still Alive

Measure To Build New Arena For Sonics Still Alive After Missing Legislative Deadline

Measures to build a new arena for the Sonics and an ISC race track in Washington state “didn’t make it past a legislative deadline” yesterday, but supporters said that the “projects are very much alive,” according to Jennifer Byrd of the AP. Jim Kneeland, a local PR liaison for the Sonics ownership group, said that they were not “expecting the stadium bills to be out of [the] budget committee by the cutoff deadline.” Byrd notes Legislative leaders can “exempt bills that are tied to the budget from the deadline if they decide they want to.” State House Finance Committee Chair Ross Hunter said that “lawmakers had presumed the sports facilities would be considered after the committee deadline.” He added that members needed “more time to ‘pencil out’ the details of the proposals” (AP, 3/6).

EMPTY NEST? In Seattle, Casey McNerthney reports if the Sonics and WNBA Storm leave KeyArena, and the WHL Thunderbirds move to Kent, Washington, in ’08 as planned, the facility “could be without a major tenant as early as” ’09. The Thunderbirds have “always struggled to make money in KeyArena.” The team has “never received concession revenue for the regular season home games because the gross has never exceeded $300,000.” Also, the team does not receive a share of suite lease revenues, nor does it “share in any of the revenue generated from the suite-level clubs” (SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER, 3/6).