Mariners Against Proposed NBA/NHL Arena in SODO

[clarknova]

Apparently The Mariners feel that the crappy teams of the last decade have not alienated the Seattle sports fans enough. Now they (specifically Howard Lincoln) have written a letter to the Mayor, County Executives, and City Councils to oppose the free arena Chris Hansen wants to build so we can have basketball and hockey. I know that not all of you are fans of both or either sport, but you have to admit this just looks TERRIBLE. As PR moves go, this is about as bad as you can get. This actually really pisses me off, and honestly that's just about the straw that broke the camel's back for Howard Lincoln as far as I'm concerned. Screw that old skeleton and the Power Pad he rode in on.

Here is a link with a pdf of the letter:


http://www.sportsradiokjr.com/pages/softy_page.html?article=9991288

[JosephC]

Wow, pretty bold, although it doesn't really surprise me, seeing how the Mariners have been run the last 10 years. It is a terrible PR move, and I am sure people will be picking up on this. How'd you happen to find it? Was it mentioned on the radio someplace?

I am not a fan of neither basketball or hockey, but when the Sonics come back, I will do everything I can to get tickets to the first game they play. They are part of Seattle, and even if I don't like the sport, I support the team and those who care about the sport.

[clarknova]

Yeah KJR Seattle got a hold of it and read it on the air this afternoon. People are... Needless to say... Pretty universally disgusted by it. Except Softy who keeps chirping "what's wrong with taking a longer look at it"? The major difference between the year it took to find a spot for Safeco and this current plan is that WE PAID FOR SAFECO! It's just such an obvious attempt to keep competition out of the area with this thinly veiled support of "finding the best fit". It doesn't matter what the best spot is when it's not being paid for by tax payers. This just looks really bad for the Mariners, and it doesn't make much sense because it's not as if they can do anything about it. I mean, it'd be nice if they were ok with it in Chris Hansen's eyes, but he's already purchased the land. Done deal.

[clarknova]

This:

http://seattlesportsnet.com/2012/04/03/why-the-mariners-are-being-dickheads-about-the-new-sodo-arena/

[Mariners51]

While it sucks, HL is just looking at it from a business perspective. If it hurts his pockets in any way, of course he is going to be resistant.

[JosephC]

LOL, legit article...

Enjoy the crap out of that shit!” F**king f**ks. We’re not f**king short-bus riders, you douchebags. Stop treating us like we lack the mental capacity to understand what you’re doing. It’s cheaper to pour a couple thousand dollars into a tiny wooden statue built in Ichiro’s likeness than it is to go out and sign Prince F**kin’ Fielder, we f**kin’ get it. Don’t f**kin’ lie to us to make up for it. F**k.

[Nateyb24]

Another strike for Howard and Chuck for me you don't see Paul Allen pulling a stunt like this because he wants to give back to the community he doesn't view his team's as a business.

I still go to game's even though the team has stunk the last 9+ years but the problem for the Mariners isn't that they are competing with the Sounders and Seahawk's it's that there product has been awful.

[TellItToTheDA]

What a fucking joke this is. Put a subpar product on the field every single year, and then attempt to block new franchise competition from entering the market. Do the Mariners not want my money? Because that's the message they're sending to me, because reading that makes me not want to put a god damn red cent into this team.

[clarknova]

If it hurts his pockets in any way, of course he is going to be resistant.

How does it hurt the Mariners financially? Two, maybe three overlapping games IF the Sonics made the playoffs? What about the fans that do love their Sonics, or NHL hockey as well as the Mariners and now feel disenfranchised by their team who is going out of their way to oppose something that I really fail to see will have any real impact on the revenue of the Seattle Mariners. I mean, my first thought was that if I thought in any way that they could actually do something to stop this from happening, I wouldn't want to give them my money anymore. I'm not alone. I think they are vastly underestimating the fan support of the arena, and they are on thin ice as there are a lot of fans around here that still won't drink Starbucks coffee. Lot's of Mariners fans are also Seahawks fans and used to be Sonics fans. The Sonics were the first team that I followed fanatically. The Seattle Mariners front office would do well to shut the hell up.

[TellItToTheDA]

McGinn to Mariners, suck it up and deal.

http://www.komonews.com/sports/Mariners-say-new-arena-in-neighborhood-wont-work-146030465.html


"This is a Seattle-specific proposal to locate an arena in Seattle's stadium district, which was created for stadiums after an extensive process of review," McGinn said. "As mayor, I will work to address the Mariner's concerns, as I continue working with King County and Chris Hansen to bring an NBA and NHL team to Seattle."

[JosephC]

I hear a very sad tiny violin playing for chucky and linky in the background. Wait, I also hear a tinny piano playing swanee river. Oh how sad it is, almost enough to make my cry.

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How does it hurt the Mariners financially? Two, maybe three overlapping games IF the Sonics made the playoffs?

Well from twitter: Final season Sonics ('07-'08) Mariners ('08). 2 games were on the same date. April 2 and April 13. Linkey (https://twitter.com/#!/JasonPuckettKJR/status/187366317756657666)

[Igoe4Mariners]

I don't have a dog in this fight. I've never been to Seattle and don't care about the NHL or NBA there, just the Mariners...but sounds like a really selfish move by the M's.

[206HoopsFan]

This is ridiculous. The Sonics were around before the Mariners were, yeah the NBA business model sucks, but if a billionaire wants to throw a bunch of money into a building and bring back pro hoops don't stand in the way.

[Nateyb24]

McGinn to Mariners, suck it up and deal.

http://www.komonews.com/sports/Mariners-say-new-arena-in-neighborhood-wont-work-146030465.html

They could probably take legal action and even if they don't win it they would be delaying it they would be really alienating the fan base though in my opinion and make a lot of fan's angry.

[Nateyb24]

Chuck Armstrong says Hansen will "Rue the day" he puts arena in SODO. Im imagining Chuck on top of a mountain. Staff in hand. Wearing a veil

https://twitter.com/#!/Softykjr/status/187628873373069312

I don't know where Softy got this from but i doubt he would put this out there without any sources.

[JosephC]

Chucky will "Rue the day" he ever opened his mouth about this, the fans are not happy. Just check out facebook under the "bring back our sonics" page.

What the hell is "Rue the day" anyways? Definition of Rue: Rue is a genus of strongly scented evergreen subshrubs 20-60 cm tall. Who uses that term? Is he Spock?
So Chucky is going to "shrub" the day?

This is the picture that comes to mind: Click to see
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[TellItToTheDA]

Armstrong's a gasbag.

http://mynorthwest.com/?nid=577&a=40941&p=6&n=

And Lincoln's no better.

http://mynorthwest.com/category/podcast_player/?a=40937

[JosephC]

One of my favorite quotes by Lincoln "Both the Port and the Mariners are agast at the way this process has been handled". :eek::D

How do the seahawks feel about this? Surley they must have traffic too if it's such a big deal.

[TellItToTheDA]

One of my favorite quotes by Lincoln "Both the Port and the Mariners are agast at the way this process has been handled". :eek::D

How do the seahawks feel about this? Surley they must have traffic too if it's such a big deal.

Funny you should ask, Seahawks CEO Peter McLoughlin was on 710 this morning, and he didn't seem to indicate the Seahawks/Sounders had the same concerns.

[Nateyb24]

Funny you should ask, Seahawks CEO Peter McLoughlin was on 710 this morning, and he didn't seem to indicate the Seahawks/Sounders had the same concerns.

Yea he pretty much said they would do nothing to prevent it and that they would welcome it they have been pretty consistent with this as well because when the news first broke they were one of the first ones to say they would.

[clarknova]

Great column by Jerry Brewer on this topic yesterday:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/jerrybrewer/2017911170_brewer05.html#.T32listW4XA.twitter

One of the big issues for me is that as a pretty intense Mariners fan, this is embarrassing. I've actually stuck up for these clowns in so much as I've questioned the conspiracy theories and stated repeatedly that they're only guilty of hiring the wrong people. I don't mind casual fans, give aways, theme nights, whatever. I can separate that. Now, I'm at a point where I'm rooting for the team and the players exclusively, the organization above Jack Z can suck it. I can separate that too. They've crossed the line with me.

[clarknova]

Basically for those non-Sonics/NHL fans that live in the area- it would be as if the Mariners were purchased and moved to a different city. Just ripping your guts out. So, you drift to the NFL and start following the Seahawks passionately. Then, 4 years later some super rich Mariners fan comes out of the woodwork and says, "hey, I'll dump $290 million of my own money to build a stadium, buy an MLB team, and move them here and the tax payers won't be effected at all. I'm just a huge Mariners fan with a metric ton of disposable income." Then the Seahawks write a letter to the city and county governments opposing the deal and go on the radio publicly standing against someone bringing your team back for free because the traffic might get icky. It's pretty infuriating.

[flyboywhit]

I think they have screwed the pooch with this one. If the seahawks don't have an issue with it, especially when they stand to have the most overlap in schedules, then the mariners certainly don't. The way i see it, if you have a hockey game or a basketball game going on in the evening and a a day game, you actually might be able to bring in more fans. Give people something to do, go to two different games. Right now with the Mariner's performance and declining ticket sales, getting people even in the vicinity of Safeco would be a plus for them.
I think the Mariners should focus on their own issues with getting fans to their games instead of worrying about the hypothetical loss in sales they may get if there was another event going on the same day.

[Nateyb24]

Basically for those non-Sonics/NHL fans that live in the area- it would be as if the Mariners were purchased and moved to a different city. Just ripping your guts out. So, you drift to the NFL and start following the Seahawks passionately. Then, 4 years later some super rich Mariners fan comes out of the woodwork and says, "hey, I'll dump $290 million of my own money to build a stadium, buy an MLB team, and move them here and the tax payers won't be effected at all. I'm just a huge Mariners fan with a metric ton of disposable income." Then the Seahawks write a letter to the city and county governments opposing the deal and go on the radio publicly standing against someone bringing your team back for free because the traffic might get icky. It's pretty infuriating.

He is also willing to dump 10M more in to do the Transportation study and Environmental study and him and the Mayor would like to get it done by June.

[MontanaMariner]

this is some horseshit

[JosephC]

did someone say horseshit?
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