Speaking of public funding of sports stadiums and arenas

(It's harder for me to blog because I don't have 30 hours in a day, but I've been meaning to write about this.)

Last Sunday's Seattle Times has a biting column about funding a new arena for the Seattle Sonics basketball team. Citizens of the City of Seattle passed a referendum banning funding for this. So the basketball team proposes decamping to suburban King County. So since Seattle residents live in King County, they will still get tagged for this.

In "A library lesson for the Sonics," Danny Westneat writes:

Guess which is more dependent on a government handout: An arena for a for-profit, pro basketball team? Or the public libraries? Now the libraries are so bad at business they let you enter for free and lend you their merchandise for nothing. So surely an arena for a commercial enterprise, where tickets can run more than $100, would attract more private money than a library? Amazingly, it isn't so.

The $500 million Renton basketball palace unveiled last week by the Sonics would get only about 20 percent of its financing from investors. The rest would come from us. Even that split is generous, says owner Clay Bennett. His team loses so much money it makes no sense for him to invest any more, he said.

"The model that works is that these arenas are public buildings," Bennett told the state Senate.
Yet when Seattle built or renovated 28 libraries recently, about 30 percent of the $275 million came from private donors. They were gifts, not investments. But 22,000 people gave $82 million to build and stock the libraries. Taxpayers paid the rest.

Bennett says he is perplexed that few seem to like his world's priciest arena. Here's a thought: If you won't invest much in it, and you can't find anyone else to invest in it, why should we?

It's not just libraries that make this arena look like a boondoggle. The $127 million ballet and opera hall? That was 57 percent private money. The $118 million symphony hall: 67 percent private. The $85 million Olympic Sculpture Park: 75 percent private.

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To see the opponents' take, look at Citizens for More Important Things. And this Seattle Times article, "The facts, figures behind the flap over Sonics arena ," for the details on the end around the City of Seattle.

And this, for DC, "District May Fund Arena Upgrades," subtitled "$50 Million Urged For Verizon Center," in yesterday's Washington Post.

And Dorothy Brizill writes about this deal in yesterday's issue of themail as well, including this juicy paragraph:

According to sources in the Wilson Building, important elements of the deal with Pollin are not contained or referenced in the legislation, although they may be in a private side agreement that has not been made public. When the legislation is approved by the council and the mayor, Pollin will provide government officials with a rent-free 24-seat luxury suite at the Center for their private use. To secure Vincent Gray's support, Pollin will host the citywide basketball championship game at the Center on March 5. And ownership of the Verizon Center will transfer to the District government in 2047, when the building will be fifty years old, well beyond the lifespan of most sports arenas.

Shades of Jack Abramoff.