13 November 2006

No new stadium for Seattle

With all the other election news, I missed this story about Seattle residents voting against a measure to pay for a new arena for the Sonics.

I gotta confess - as much as I love professional sports, I think they made the right choice, and my reasoning is reflected in the name of the group that opposed the measure: "Citizens for More Important Things."

Given the amount of money generated in pro sports, I find it hard to believe that there's no way to fund a stadium privately, or that there's no way for it to be funded publicly, but with taxpayers getting their money back.

If it costs $500 million to build - how long would it take to sell 500 million tickets that included a dollar surcharge to go back into the taxpayer kitty? Or even 50 million with a $10 surcharge?

Good job Seattle. I'm glad to see voters are finally getting smart about where their money is going.

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