Arts and Sports

They can co-exist. Really. I spent yesterday afternoon and evening at Seattle Center attending the matinee performance of the Pacific Northwest Ballet and a game between the Supersonics and the Denver Nuggets. It was the perfect day.

Seems that everyone is down on the Sonics right now because the ownership group led by Howard Schultz is asking for some serious cash to improve on Key Arena (and get some money for the arts as well). It’s hard to see how Howard can’t fund the whole thing himself as he probably takes home serious bank for his day job at Starbucks. But still, this is what owners do – and I’m hopeful that the city, county and state and the Sonics ownership will come to an agreement on how best to fund any renovations/upgrades/rebuilds. I’m still a bit miffed at Councilman Licata’s statement that there will be no impact if the Sonics leave. I do think some serious attention needs to be paid to Seattle Center and not just Key Arena. It could be an amazing place to see some theater, see the ballet, go to the EMP, catch a Sonics/Storm game, hang out, eat, mill around, enjoy the weather, etc. Right now, I think people tend to forget what’s there and the traffic presents difficulties as well. So an overhaul of the entire area would seem to be a good idea. I know I don’t want to go to Bellevue to see a game and I surely don’t want the team to leave town.