Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles statement on settlement between City of Seattle and Professional Basketball Club, LLC

OLYMPIA – “While I am pleased that the agreement includes compensation to the City of Seattle, I am very disappointed that it did not result in keeping the Sonics in Seattle. And I’m deeply bothered that the state legislature was not able to pass legislation authorizing King County to seek voter approval of a funding system for a new arena.

I support the efforts to bring a new NBA team to Seattle. I will be working with the City to get funding for renovating KeyArena during the 2009 legislative session. We need to accomplish this for attracting other tenants and events to make KeyArena viable.

The impact of the Sonics' departure to Oklahoma City won't just be felt in the hearts of fans, but in the restaurants and businesses in the 36th district surrounding Key Arena as well. Now that 41 annual home games won't be bringing in the economic benefits that we've seen over the lifetime of the team, we need to ensure Seattle Center and the Uptown neighborhood remain a viable destination for visitors and local residents alike.”

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