Seattle Still Feeling Impact Of Sonics' Departure One Year Later

Sonics' Departure Leaves Seattle's KeyArena With Far Fewer Events In '09

A year since the city of Seattle "agreed to a settlement that allowed the Sonics to leave town, KeyArena is still fighting an image problem created by its former tenant," according to Percy Allen of the SEATTLE TIMES. KeyArena in a '95 remodel was "designed exclusively for basketball," and the facility now is "attempting to remain relevant by marketing itself as an all-purpose building and attracting non-sporting events." KeyArena Manager Edie Burke originally "budgeted 117 performances in 2009," including the Sonics and WHL Thunderbirds, who have since moved to Kent, Washington. She "now expects 89 events this year." Despite fewer events, Burke said that KeyArena "will be profitable for the first time in nearly a decade because last year's $45[M] settlement with the Sonics that allowed the team to relocate enabled the city to pay off KeyArena's $34[M] debt from the previous remodel." Burke: "We obviously have to bring in all lines of revenue -- concessions, parking, sales, ticket fees -- that we get, but we won't be spending more than we bring in. So that's profitable." Still, Allen noted beyond KeyArena there are a "growing number of vacant restaurants and empty streets in a neighborhood that hasn't recovered from the exit" of the Sonics and the Thunderbirds (SEATTLE TIMES, 7/1).