Clock is ticking for city's NBA hopes

Inside KeyArena these days it feels like a ghost town.

It is a spectral place. The echoes of the NBA still are in the building. The ghosts of Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp, Nate McMillan and Ray Allen still can be felt on the floor, in the stands, in the hallways underneath the arena.

The banners honoring great past Sonics and past seasons still hang from the rafters, reminders of how much that team once meant to this community.

The Sonics have left the building, and there is a profound sense of sadness inside here now. A sense of loss.

Even the nickname has been painted over on the hardwood behind the baselines. Where it once said "SEATTLE SONICS," the "SONICS" has been covered and the new paint, more of a mustard yellow, doesn't even match the original yellow.

It looks tacky and small-time. And the Key seems dingy and forgotten, like some musty museum.

In the past month, I've watched three college basketball games here. Washington State, Gonzaga and Seattle University played "home" games at KeyArena, and as happy as I was to be back inside this place the Sonics have abandoned, there is more of a sense of nostalgia now than expectation.

Even at the pre-Christmas, Saturday afternoon game between top-10 teams Connecticut and Gonzaga, the arena didn't feel like it was living up to the event. It felt cramped and uncomfortable.

The crowd was loud, but the gym, which reopened in 1995, seemed old and tired. After visiting so many bigger, more comfortable arenas in Kansas City, Philadelphia, Portland and Glendale, Ariz., in recent months, I thought the state of KeyArena was embarrassing to a city the size of Seattle.

What's happening here? Does anybody care about this place anymore?

What happened to the desire to remodel the place? What happened to the push for another NBA team? Where is Seattle's civic pride? Where is the passion that used to warm this place on cold winter nights?

Where have all the fighters gone? Where is the leadership from people who believe that a modern arena adds to a city's quality of life?

Where are the fund-raisers? Where are the rallies? Just because the NBA is out of sight, does it have to be out of mind?

Has all of the passion that grew before the city caved in to the NBA and allowed the Sonics to leave, dissipated?

The future of the building is in jeopardy, but where is the sense of urgency?

Clay Bennett, owner of the Oklahoma City team once known as the Sonics, still owes $30 million, but where is the arena plan that will force him to write that check?

It's wake-up time in Seattle. It's time to save KeyArena.

The clock is ticking.

It's crunch time for KeyArena. Crunch time for NBA basketball in Seattle. Crunch time for Seattle Center and surrounding businesses.

But why isn't the business community rallying to save the site? Why aren't the business leaders openly lobbying legislators?

Where's the buzz? Where's the energy? Where is the sense of desperation?

Why does everybody seem to be sitting this one out?

Seattle is developing a national reputation for what it can't do.

It can't keep a basketball team, can't fix its arena, can't build a light rail system, can't remove its snow.

Sometimes, it seems the only thing the city has going for it is its geography.

And these days, KeyArena looks more like a billboard advertising the city's failures.

The Sonics' team store sits like a white elephant on the southwest side of the building. And most winter nights, Seattle Center looks like a dark, wet, empty space.

Seattle needs a remodeled Key. It needs the 41 dates the NBA guaranteed. It needs the lights turned on in the arena. It needs a resuscitated Seattle Center.

Seattle needs a new showcase place. It needs a quality venue to see concerts and special events. It needs the hope that the NBA and maybe even the NHL will return. It needs another place that can give conventioneers and tourists a reason to come to town.

But mostly, right now, Seattle needs energy and leadership. It needs everybody, from legislators, to Seattle natives now playing in the NBA, to ex-Sonics, business leaders and fans to rally around an arena deal.

This session, the legislature has to authorize the $75 million needed to jump-start the remodeling program and assure that Bennett will pay his final $30 million.

If the mechanism for remodeling the arena isn't in place by the end of 2009, there is almost no hope of getting another NBA team for another 20 years.

Out of sight, out of mind will become out of luck.

We will remember 2008 as the year the city lost the Sonics. Will 2009 be remembered as the year we lost the future?

Wake up, Seattle.

Steve Kelley: 206-464-2176 or skelley@seattletimes.com