KeyArena
150px
Location	305 Harrison Street Seattle, Washington 98109 United States
Coordinates	47°37′20″N 122°21′15″W / 47.62222°N 122.35417°W / 47.62222; -122.35417Coordinates: 47°37′20″N 122°21′15″W / 47.62222°N 122.35417°W / 47.62222; -122.35417
Broke ground	May 12, 1960[1]
Opened	April 21, 1962
Renovated	1994–95
Owner	City of Seattle
Operator	City of Seattle
Construction cost	$7 million[2] ($53.8 million in 2012 dollars[3]) $74.5 million (1995 renovation)
Architect	Paul Thiry NBBJ (renovation)
Structural engineer	Peter Hostmark[4]
General Contractor	Howard S. Wright Construction[5]
Capacity	Basketball: 17,072 Ice hockey: 15,177 Concert: 16,641 Boxing: 17,459
Website	http://keyarena.com
Tenants
Seattle Totems – WHL/CHL – (1962–1975) Seattle Redhawks – NCAA – (1963–1980, 2008–present) Seattle SuperSonics – NBA (1967–1978, 1985–1994, 1995–2008) Seattle Storm – WNBA – (2000–present) Seattle Breakers/Thunderbirds – WHL – (1977–2009) Seattle SeaDogs – CISL – (1995–1997) Washington Huskies – NCAA – (1999–2000) Rat City Rollergirls – WFTDA (2009-present)

KeyArena at Seattle Center (commonly KeyArena), is a multipurpose arena, in Seattle, Washington. It is located north of downtown in the 74-acre (300,000 m²) entertainment complex known as Seattle Center, the site of the 1962 World's Fair, the Century 21 Exposition.^[6] It is used for entertainment purposes, such as concerts, ice shows, circuses, and professional wrestling events.

It has a seating capacity of 17,072 for basketball games ^[6], 15,177 for ice hockey games and ice shows, 16,641 for end-stage concerts, and 17,459 for center-stage concerts and boxing. Risers hold 7,440 on the upper level and up to 7,741 on the lower level, with luxury suites adding another 1,160 seats.

The arena's current primary tenants are the Seattle University men's basketball team and the Seattle Storm of the WNBA.^[6] The Seattle University Redhawks men's basketball team are currently the arena's longest serving tenant, having played in the arena from 1963–1980 and 2009 to present.^[7] Rat City Rollergirls of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association have been a tenant since 2009.^[8][9]

KeyArena was also home to the NBA's Seattle SuperSonics and the WHL's Seattle Thunderbirds. On July 2, 2008, the Oklahoma City based ownership group of the SuperSonics reached a settlement deal with the City of Seattle, releasing the team from the last two years of their lease with the city and allowing the team to relocate to Oklahoma City for the 2008-09 NBA season. After 41 seasons in Seattle (& Tacoma), the team became the Oklahoma City Thunder and the owners agreed to leave the SuperSonics name, logo, and colors in Seattle for a possible future NBA franchise.^[10] The Thunderbirds, who had called the KeyArena home for 32 years, followed the SuperSonics out the door at the end of 2008 for a new arena in nearby Kent.

KeyArena is the first publicly financed arena in the area fully supported by earned income from the building.^{[citation needed]}

History[link]

Seattle Center Coliseum[link]

The arena began life in 1962 as the Washington State Pavilion for the Century 21 Exposition, the work of architect Paul Thiry. After the close of the Exposition the Pavilion was remodeled as the Washington State Coliseum, one of the centerpieces of the new Seattle Center (the former Exposition grounds). When the newly renovated Coliseum opened the Seattle University men's basketball team became the arena's first major tenant. The Coliseum became home to the Seattle SuperSonics beginning with their inaugural season in 1967 and remained so throughout most of the team's lifetime.^[11] The Washington State Coliseum would later be renamed the Seattle Center Coliseum; operated by the City of Seattle and named after the Seattle Center grounds.

The Seattle Center Coliseum was the site of the only NBA game that was ever forfeited on account of rain. On January 5, 1986 the Sonics were hosting the Phoenix Suns during a rainstorm. Rain from the Coliseum roof leaked onto the court. Timeouts were called so ball boys armed with towels could do their best to stay ahead of the puddles, but even so, two players slipped and fell on the wet surface. Finally, during the second half, referee Mike Mathis called the game.^[12]

On August 21, 1964 and August 25, 1966, The Beatles performed at the arena.

The arena also hosted the 1974 NBA All-Star Game on January 15, 1974.

The arena has hosted concerts by many famous artists, spanning many different genres. Singer David Cassidy performed to a sell out crowd here at his first ever live concert on 26 March 1971.

A notable performance by Metallica was in 1989, when they were supporting the Damaged Justice Tour. Their performance at the Coliseum was one of their first large arena concerts and it was filmed for their live album, Live Shit: Binge and Purge.

Rebirth as KeyArena[link]

The Coliseum was rebuilt between 1994 and 1995, bringing the arena up to NBA standards of the day. The local Seattle office of NBBJ, the second largest architectural firm in the country, was chosen as the architects.^[13] In an unusual move, the Coliseum would be closed for a year during the renovation. Construction began on June 16, 1994.^[6] In the interim, the SuperSonics played their home games at the Tacoma Dome located in nearby Tacoma, Washington.

On April 11, 1995, the city sold the naming rights to Cleveland-based KeyCorp, the parent of KeyBank, which renamed the Coliseum as KeyArena.^[14] The renovation cost the city of Seattle $74.5 million and the SuperSonics approximately $21 million. The naming rights cost KeyCorp $15.1 million.

The remodeled arena maintained the architectural integrity of the original roofline by using the existing steel trusses in combination with four new main diagonal trusses. The wood, steel and concrete from the demolition was either reused in construction of the new arena or sold to recyclers. The original acoustical panels, the panels attached to the roof that keep the space from echoing, were refurbished and reused. The court was lowered 35 feet (10.5 m) below street level to allow for 3,000 more seats. The doors opened on the newly renovated arena on October 26, 1995. The sightlines, however, benefitted the SuperSonics at the expense of the junior Thunderbirds, with a scoreboard that was significantly off-center in a hockey configuration.

The first regular season game for the SuperSonics was played on November 4, 1995, against the Los Angeles Lakers.^[15] It hosted the 1996 NBA Finals, when the SuperSonics lost to the Chicago Bulls. The last SuperSonics game played there was on April 13, 2008, a 99–95 win over the Dallas Mavericks.^[16]

Once KeyArena lost the SuperSonics and the Thunderbirds, there was speculation that KeyBank may try to amend the naming rights deal.^[17] In March 2009, the city and KeyCorp signed a new deal for a two-year term ending December 31, 2010, at an annual fee of $300,000.^[14]

In 2009 the Seattle University Redhawks men's basketball team began playing their home games at Key Arena for the first time since 1980. In February 2009, the Seattle City Council approved a new 10-year lease that would keep the WNBA's Storm at KeyArena.^[18]

In 2009 the arena hosted the WWE No Way Out Pay-Per-View and returned two years later to host the 2011 WWE Over the Limit pay-per-view on May 22, 2011.

In April 2011, the Professional Bull Riders brought the Built Ford Tough Series to KeyArena for the first time.^[19]

On January 21, 2011, Seattle Center announced that KeyCorp will not renew its agreement for naming rights of the Key Arena, after 15 years of sponsorship. The venue will remain known as KeyArena until a new sponsor is found.^[20]

In January 2012, ESPN.com reporter Scott Burnside said an NHL team playing in KeyArena "would be entirely acceptable," as a temporary venue for a franchise, depending on a future arena plan.^[21]

Conversely, in February 2012, SB Nation columnist Travis Hughs said that "Key Arena is so poorly designed for hockey that even a single season there would be unacceptable" referring to the arrangement of seating on only one end of the rink, a consequence of the renovation favoring basketball-type bleacher arrangements.^[22]

In February 2012, King 5 reporter Chris Daniels said an NBA team could also use the KeyArena as a temporary home. ^[23]

Controversy[link]

In late 2004, proposals for expanding KeyArena to nearly twice its current size to accommodate new restaurants, shops, and a practice court (the cost was estimated at $220 million) were debated. These proposals never came to fruition and were cited by current and former SuperSonics' owners as a reason KeyArena is no longer viable.

Prior to the SuperSonics relocating to Oklahoma City, NBA commissioner David Stern favored and agreed with owner Clayton Bennett that Key Arena was not adequate enough for an NBA venue. Fans of the SuperSonics support group Save Our Sonics called Stern a "hypocrite" and presented tapes of him years before when KeyArena reopened after renovations showing Stern approving and complimenting the arena himself. ^[24]

Gallery[link]

• 

  KeyArena's main entrance.

• 

  KeyArena's main entrance.

• 

  Interior of KeyArena.

• KeyArena pano.jpg

  Panorama of the interior of KeyArena.

• 

  KeyArena's hockey seating configuration.

References[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: KeyArena

Notes[link]

David Stern
Born	David Joel Stern (1942-09-22) September 22, 1942 (age 69) New York City, New York U.S.
Ethnicity	Jewish
Occupation	NBA Commissioner

David Joel Stern^[1] (born September 22, 1942) is the commissioner of the National Basketball Association. He started with the Association in 1966 as an outside counsel, joined the NBA in 1978 as General Counsel, and became the league's Executive Vice President in 1980. He became Commissioner in 1984 succeeding Larry O'Brien. He is credited with increasing the popularity of the NBA in the 1990s and 2000s.

Stern has served on the Rutgers University Board of Overseers and is a Chair Emeritus of the Board of Trustees of Columbia University. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.^[2]

Early life[link]

David Stern was born on September 22, 1942 in New York City, New York. He grew up in Teaneck, New Jersey in a Jewish family, and is a graduate of Teaneck High School. Stern attended Rutgers University, where in 1960 he pledged to the Sigma Delta Chapter of Sigma Alpha Mu Fraternity. He graduated as B- dean's-list history student in 1963 and graduated from Columbia Law School in 1966, and was admitted to the bar in New York later that year after passing the state's bar examination.^[1]

National Basketball Association[link]

His first association with the NBA in 1966 was as an outside counsel at Proskauer Rose. In 1978, Stern became the NBA's General Counsel under Larry O'Brien. By 1980, he was Executive Vice President of the NBA. During this time, two landmark decisions were reached with the NBA Players' Association: drug testing and team salary cap.^[3] The drug testing dealt with the perception that most basketball players used drugs, that the NBA admitted it had a problem, and it was cleaning it up. The salary cap created a revenue-sharing system where owner and player were effectively partners. Both of these agreements solidified Stern's standing inside NBA circles.

On February 1, 1984, Stern became the Commissioner of the NBA, succeeding Larry O'Brien. It was during that same year (1984-85) that four of the NBA's biggest superstars — Hakeem Olajuwon, Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, and John Stockton — entered the league.

The arrival of Michael Jordan, in particular, ushered in a new era of commercial bounty for the NBA. With him came his flair and talent for the game, and that brought in shoe contracts from Nike which helped to give the league even more national attention.^[4] Jordan and the two other premier basketball legends of the 1980s, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, took the game to new heights of popularity and profit. By 2004, Stern oversaw the NBA expand from 10 to 30 franchises (since 1966), expand into Canada, and televise games in countries around the world.

Stern also oversaw the creation of the WNBA, a professional women's basketball league. Stern has been credited for developing and broadening the NBA's audience, by setting up training camps, playing exhibition games around the world, and recruiting more international players.^[5]

The NBA now has 11 offices in cities outside the United States, is televised in 215 countries around the world in 43 languages, and operates the Women's National Basketball Association and the National Basketball Development League under Stern's watch.^[6][7]

Notable events during Stern's tenure[link]

• Building of 28 new arenas (10 since 1999)
• Relocation of 6 NBA franchises (Clippers, Kings, Grizzlies, Nets, Hornets and Sonics)
• 7 new NBA teams (Hornets, Timberwolves, Heat, Magic, Grizzlies, Raptors, and Bobcats)
• Ratification of the NBA Dress Code
• NBA Finals Trophy renamed to Larry O'Brien Trophy
• NBA Finals MVP Trophy renamed to the Bill Russell NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award
• Four NBA lockouts (1995, 1996, 1998-99, and 2011)

Controversies[link]

Stern has been at the center of multiple controversies during his time as commissioner, with a noticeably more frequent trend in recent years.

During the 1985 NBA Draft Lottery, the NBA used a system where seven envelopes representing the seven teams with the worst records were mixed in a tumbler, and then drawn by Stern one at a time to determine which of these clubs would get the 1st pick onwards up to the 7th pick. When these envelopes were added to the tumbler, two envelopes were put in forcibly, and banged against the edge, while all the rest were set in gently. When drawing the envelope for the 1st pick, Stern went for the one with a bent corner, which upon opening the envelope, it was revealed that the New York Knicks logo was inside. This fueled speculation of a draft fix, with the theory being that the NBA wanted to send the best player in the draft to New York to increase ratings in a large television market.^[8][9][10]

In the 1997 NBA playoffs, the NBA suspended five players following a brawl between the New York Knicks and Miami Heat, which affected the outcome of that series. Some of the suspensions were required by a league rule, implemented under Stern, that provides an automatic one-game suspension to any player who leaves his team's bench during a fight. In the 2007 Playoffs from the Suns-Spurs Game, several players who left the bench and were not involved in the altercation were also suspended, prompting complaints from officials on both teams.^[11]

In 2000, it was revealed that the Minnesota Timberwolves had tampered with Joe Smith two years earlier by promising him a more lucrative contract in future years in exchange for signing him below market value so they could sign more players in the short-term. The NBA voided the last year of Smith's contract, fined the franchise $3.5 million and took away the Timberwolves' next three 1st-round NBA Draft picks.^[12] Although many believed that tampering is a common practice, Stern abided by arbitrator Kenneth Dam's ruling that the Timberwolves had signed the secret agreement, and denied that the league was making an example of the Timberwolves.^[13]

Before the 2005-06 season, the NBA announced a new dress code, which banned players from wearing headphones, chains, shorts, sleeveless shirts, indoor sunglasses, T-shirts, jerseys and headgear such as baseball caps during NBA-related public appearances. Allen Iverson criticized the policy: "They're targeting guys who dress like me, guys who dress hip-hop ... I think they went way overboard."^[14]

For the 2006-07 season the NBA introduced a new "microfiber" basketball for use in NBA games, replacing the previous style ball used since 1970. Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban agreed with the need for a new ball, claiming the old style ball was inconsistent.^[15][16] Many of the league's most prominent players openly expressed their dislike for the new ball, such as Shaquille O'Neal who said, "Feels like one of those cheap balls that you buy at the toy store."^[17] A study, financed by Cuban, claimed that the new ball "bounces 5 to 8% lower than typical leather balls when dropped from 4 feet...[and] the new ball bounces 30% more erratically."^[18] However, Stern initially refused to go back to the original ball despite many complaints by players about the new ball.^[19] Two months into the season Stern stated that the new ball may have been a poor choice and poorly tested^[20] and "we could've done a better job".^[21] On December 11, 2006 the NBA announced that it would in fact switch back to the leather ball starting on January 1, 2007.^[22]

In 2007, Stern injected himself in the controversy surrounding the purchase and subsequent relocation of the Seattle SuperSonics by Oklahoman Clayton Bennett and his ownership group. His support for the surprising move from the nation's 14th-largest market to the 45th was questioned by many both in the public and media.^[23] Stern also led the NBA to intervene against a 2008 legal attempt by Howard Schultz to keep the team in Seattle.

Additionally, leading up to and lasting throughout the 2010-11 season, Stern and Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver made a number of statements regarding the drafting of a new collective bargaining agreement for the 2011-2012 season. During the All-Star game in Los Angeles, an open meeting between players and owners was held over the agreement, with David Stern quoted as saying that he "[knew] where the bodies are buried" in the NBA, because he had buried them himself^[24]. This raised eyebrows in the room, including that of all-star point guard and eventual MVP, Derrick Rose, who shared his disbelief with fellow reports. " I just stopped and thought, �?Whoa …’" Rose said. "I couldn’t believe that he said it." This statement, coupled with others, served as a prelude to the labor dispute and later set the stage for a player lockout on July 1, 2011 that would last for five months.

On December 8, 2011, Stern vetoed a three-team trade that would have sent Chris Paul to the Lakers, Lamar Odom to the league-owned Hornets, and Pau Gasol to the Rockets for what a spokesman would only say were "basketball reasons"^[25]. Early reactions from around the league, fanbase, and media were all largely negative, with players taking to Twitter to express their concerns, and several noted sports journalists criticizing the decision^[26][27]. The decision came immediately after a deal to ratify a new collective bargaining agreement for the next decade was finally reached. Ostensibly, one of the aims of the agreement was to bring parity to the 30 teams in the NBA, while still facilitating player movement.

Personal[link]

David Stern has contributed to many Democratic Party (US) candidates since becoming NBA commissioner.^[28] In September 2010, he donated $1,000 to support a group opposing California's Prop 23, which would delay enactment of the state's landmark environmental law.^[29]

He is married to Dianne Bock Stern, and they have two adult sons.^[7] They reside in Scarsdale, NY.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official NBA Bio
• AskMen.com - David Stern
• Rutgers Hall of Distinguished alumni
• David Stern Bio
• Jews in sports