Clay Bennett Frames the Discussion, Advantage: Bennett

SEATTLE - Clay Bennett arrived in town with a plan, that is clear. He has talked to local business and political leaders pitching an idea of building the best arena, as great as Safeco Field.

You want Seattle to have the best, don't you?
And this great thing would need something happening all year long and not just on days that basketball is played, maybe an NHL team, or Arena Football.

You like the idea of having something exciting happening all year long, right?
There are events that can't be held at Quest Field anymore because they are building on top of parking lots, according to Kemper Freeman JR.

You like the RV, boat, garden, affinity group of your choosing, being held in the Seattle area, at the best facility anywhere: you would like that wouldn't you?

You love many things about Safeco Field: you would like to have the finer things available to you at the new arena, don't you?

If you turn down the chance to have meaningful discussions about this wonderful thing then that is up to you.

No whining, no marginalizing, no hair splitting. There is a great opportunity to build something new, exciting and interesting and if you don't want something new, exciting and interesting then you are not new, exciting and interesting.

Clay Bennett has framed the discussion, changing the language from words like extortion used by local politicos to words of his choosing, words like "value proposition", and "finest building in the country" (TNT).


“Our job, as I see it, is a value proposition and a business plan relative to a new facility,” Bennett said. “It is not just a basketball arena. It is a multipurpose entertainment complex. (It will be) a basketball, potentially hockey, restaurant and retail development complex. And it is going to be our job to model that and understand the economic model. That is our objective, our methodology and our approach.” Clay Bennett in the Tacoma News tribune, August 10, 2006.

The Sonics have gone from one owner that sells a product that sells itself, partially on the fact that it is addictive, and on to an owner that is a businessman that wants his $350 million dollar investment to keep its value by staying in a top 15 market and not have that value sink like a stone by going to a top 50 market.

If this doesn't happen in Seattle then Kemper Freeman Jr. will make it happen in Bellevue. And if that doesn't happen then Bennett will shop around for a home before settling, and I do mean settling, for a 5 year old arena in the 50th media market in the United States of America.

Here's an idea, buy a house in Seattle and then move that house to OK City and tell me what it's value is then.

Let me help you:
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Median resident age: 34.0 years
Median household income: $34,947 (year 2000)
Median house value: $80,300 (year 2000)

Single-family new house construction building permits:
1996: 1953 buildings, average cost: $97,600
1997: 2040 buildings, average cost: $99,800
1998: 2402 buildings, average cost: $104,600
1999: 2867 buildings, average cost: $112,900
2000: 2044 buildings, average cost: $115,300
2001: 2373 buildings, average cost: $122,300
2002: 2997 buildings, average cost: $125,800
2003: 3402 buildings, average cost: $129,400
2004: 3815 buildings, average cost: $135,100

Do you know how many houses of any size or age list in Seattle for $135,000?
The answer is zero.
Check the listings for house values here!

Now understand, the point isn't that houses are freakishly expensive in Seattle, they are, it's that the people here have the means to buy them. Those people will pay a couple more bucks for a Sonics ticket, and buy an over priced beer at the game, and pay for parking (because there's not much choice in parking here). It's about the revenue this population generates, and the media market that feeds it, the 15th largest media market.

I'm sure Oklahoma City is a great place to live, great fans, great part of America. The fact is that those people are not building a new "Safeco Field" basketball arena in 5 years when the Ford Center is not churning enough money to justify a $350 dollar investment. The economy is not the same there as it is here. An asset that is based on the value of the economy is worth less there than it is here.

It's Seattle's team to lose.
OK is where they go if things go wrong.