activa-t Chapter 609
Chapter 609
Chapter 609
Leaving aside a big deal, taking advantage of the shock of the media reporters, Zhao Ke grabbed his backpack and slipped away, the cute girl couldn't even shout...
Brother is a man with a family!
There is one last question left, the future of the United Arab Emirates?
You guys have to guess, UAE’s path to the NBA has changed. He will follow in the footsteps of Kevin Durant, the “Grim Reaper” in another time and space, and embark on a road to superstardom...
As soon as he slipped out of the locker room, Zhao Ke found Yi Jianlian waiting there with a smile on his face.
"Ah Lian, why are you here?"
"Well, those reporters couldn't find you, so..."
"You boy, this is bringing disaster to the east!"
"It's helping others!"
"Selling friends for glory..."
"Okay, Brother Zhao, let's go have a drink, can I make amends?"
"Orange juice or watermelon juice?"
"Kiwi juice!"
"Fuck..."
Yi Jianlian doesn't drink, neither does Zhao Ke.
After losing the system, Zhao Ke also gradually began to pay attention to his diet, and he no longer dared to skating...
Now he is just a Muggle in this fantasy world, without a body, everything is empty!
While drinking kiwi juice, wandering about the future, the night wind in Seattle is blowing, how nice it is to live like this!
However, Zhao Ke knew.
The hard-working Seattle SuperSonics are about to complete their final journey. Next season, it will become the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Thinking of this, Zhao Ke turned to Yi Jianlian and said:
"UA, the Seattle SuperSonics have made big changes this season."
Yi Jianlian lazily said:
"I've heard about it. The boss wants to move the team, but the state council disagrees. It seems like a lawsuit..."
This kid is quite well informed.
The Gongdou drama in Seattle, to put it bluntly, is exactly the same as Charlotte's situation——
They are all the bosses who were forced away by the arena!
The Seattle Supersonics' home key arena is the smallest arena in the league, not one of them.
It was originally designed to hold only 14000 spectators.
In 1993, the Sonics applied to the state legislature to pass a tax increase plan. With the help of taxpayer funds of 7400 million dollars, the home key arena was renovated and reopened in 1995.
After the renovation, the audience capacity of the arena has expanded from 14000 to 17000, but it is still the smallest arena in the league.
To make matters worse, its footprint is significantly smaller than the average NBA arena.
The area of the arena is too small, which is very unfavorable to both the capacity of the audience and the management of the event. It also seriously restricts the number of surrounding restaurants and entertainment facilities.
Fans have limited consumption options on match days, and arena operations cannot maximize revenue. Such a situation naturally makes the evil capitalism strongly dissatisfied.
Therefore, the team owner sold the Seattle SuperSonics to "Starbucks coffee tycoon" Howard Schultz in 2001.
As soon as the team got it, Schultz found out that he was cheated.
In his first season, he lost $6000 million!
So from the second year onwards, he fought for a huge public fund to renovate the Key Arena again.
Schultz pledged to invest $1800 million in the renovation plan, and the state finances will need to pay for the remaining $2.2 million in the budget.
Parliament hesitated.
Because several meetings were held, people felt very strange:
The arena was refurbished with such advanced technology in 1995 that the president of the league once boasted that "the key arena is beautiful and magnificent"!
How could it be outdated in only five years?
In fact, what the key arena needs is not renovation, but expansion.
Schultz doesn't really want to renovate the key arena, but plans to start anew and rebuild a new arena after cheating the $2.2 million.
So why didn't he just launch a proposal for a new arena?
State finances fail.
Because in 1995, the thriving Seattle Mariners (Major League Baseball) entered the playoffs for the first time and defeated the mighty New York Yankees.
At this time, their home stadium, the Kings Arena, was also in disrepair, and a new arena was urgently needed.
Taking advantage of the team's outstanding record and the surge in the number of fans, the Mariners owner threatened that if they could not have a new arena, they would relocate to Tampa Bay.
As a result, their threats were quite effective.
The Seattle authorities quickly passed a bill agreeing to allocate $3.4 million in public funds for the new arena—
The construction of Safikou Stadium was completed and opened in 1999.
This incident inspired another traditional strong team in Seattle, the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League, to have an evil idea!
In March 1996, the Seattle Seahawks first threatened the state legislature, either to give me a new arena, or I would go away!
Their attitude was too bad and they were dismissed miserably.
Owner Ken Behring became furious and moved the team office directly to Anaheim, Los Angeles.
However, since Anaheim did not have a stadium for the Seahawks to use directly at the time, and the NFL threatened to impose heavy penalties on the Seahawks, Ken had to temporarily return the team to Seattle in April 1996 and decided to sell the team.
Microsoft tycoon Paul Allen took the opportunity to take over the Seattle Seahawks.
In June 1997, Paul Allen initiated a special referendum vote (whether to provide $6 million in public funds to build the Seattle Seahawks' new home, Quest Stadium).
More than 160 million people participated in the referendum vote, and the final bill passed with 51% approval, and the Seahawks have their own new gorgeous home court.
As a result, Seattle's public finances are tight.
And in Mi Li's house, basketball is far less popular than football and baseball. The Seattle Supersonics belong to the kind that grandma doesn't care about and uncle doesn't love.
Team owner Schultz didn't even dare to initiate a referendum like Paul Allen did, because the Supersonics have always been such a lottery in recent years, which caused the hearts of fans to cool down.
The proposal was dragged on, but with the rapid increase in player salaries, the Sonics faced serious financial losses, and Schultz couldn't afford it.
2006年7年舒尔茨名下的董事会经过5票赞同4票反对的表决后，同意把超音速以3.5亿美刀的价格卖给克莱顿本内特所属的俄克拉荷马财团。
Clayton Bennett will definitely move the team.
Because, the entire consortium came out of Oklahoma, riches and honors do not return to their hometowns, walking like brocade clothes at night!
At the end of September, Bennett applied to end the team's final two-year lease with Key Arena, but was rejected by the Washington State Legislature.
The two parties finally went to court and started a protracted tug of war.
The case was not settled until a year later, when the state legislature agreed to release the Sonics from the final two years of their lease at Key Arena.
As a price, Bennett will pay $7500 million, of which:
A one-time payment of $4500 million.
The remaining $3000 million is paid over five years, provided Seattle has no NBA teams within five years and the Key Arena undergoes any necessary renovations.
In another timeline, two five years have passed, Seattle still failed to usher in its own team, but the Key Arena did not start the renovation project.
Bennett's consortium doesn't have to pay the remaining $3000 million.
The supersonic speed has disappeared without a trace.
(End of this chapter)