This makes me sick. Bill Simmons on espn.com has been following this story for a long time, and between this and the Donaghy stonewalling the league keeps looking worse. The most galling moment for me came when Stern stood there smirking while getting booed at the Celtics' trophy presentation. Clearly, he had to know what it was about. He's lost all credibility as anything other than a bottom-line hack for the owners.

But as this story points out, cities need to be a bit less short-sighted when it comes to acknowledging the advantages -- economically, culturally, etc. -- of having a major league sports team in town. Some kind of balance needs to be struck between letting them rob the taxpayers blind and working with them as partners to ensure their continued presence. And the league needs to be a lot less short-sighted, too.

There should be a way to estimate at least the first order of economic effects for the city by comparing the traffic that restaurants, bars, and other establishments in the area enjoy on a Sonics game night with the amount they receive on a normal night. The City isn't made whole unless they are compensated for the tax revenue they would have received on the difference.

I'm not a big basketball fan, so don't have much of a personal stake in the Sonics leaving, but I don't want to see the ownership group get away with stiffing the City.

I've been obsessing over the trial blog on the Seattle Times site, and I'm starting to worry about this judge, who, on paper at least, seems to be leaning towards the Sonics side of the legal issue.

I'm hoping that's just the effect of not being there to see how things are transpiring. Local poet/author Sherman Alexie testified today on behalf of season ticket holders...I'm gonna go obsess some more.

is the reason Stern needs to be fired. I can't stand even looking at the guy now, he just reeks of smug. And seattle fans don't deserve any of this. Of course, Vancouver didn't either. More of the same-old, same-old.

Why in the world would the City of Seattle have hired Andrew Zimbalist as an expert? He has built his career on the argument that sports arenas add only negligible value to their communities, and has made this argument persuasively for years, in books, articles and in the media. (He is a frequent guest on "It's Only a Game" for example.) I find his scholarship interesting-- he was a pioneer in the field of sports economics-- but just because he is a classy expert doesn't mean that he's the expert you should hire. You should find a guy who maybe thinks along lines that are helpful to your case.

For example, in Sports, Jobs, and Taxes: The Economic Impact of Sports Teams and Stadiums Professor Zimbalist wrote:

""To the extent that a new stadium is a central element of an urban redevelopment plan and its location and attributes are carefully set out to maximize synergies with local businesses, and to the extent that the terms of its lease are not negotiated under duress and are relatively fair to the city, the local community may derive some modest economic benefit from a sports team. The problem is that these two conditions rarely apply to monopoly sports leagues. Cities are forced to act hastily under pressure and to bargain without any leverage. Properly reckoned, the value of a sports team to a city should not be measured in dollars of new income but should be appreciated as a potential source of entertainment and civic pride that comes with a substantial net cost."

I could cross examine him for most of a morning on that paragraph.

Now, that's not to say, and Zimbalist is always careful to avoid saying that sports teams don't have a value to a community. It would be interesting to see the contract here, to find out if it contains language that speaks to the unique quality the Sonics' presence provides to Seattle. If there is language like that, Zimbalist's arguments about economics would be beside the point.

The whole thing is sad. Seattle is a great hoops town and deserves better.

Bill Altreuter