The News Tribune's Peter Callaghan has a great column about the politics and economics of the publicly-funded sports franchise. At trial, Seattle argued it would suffer economically if the Sonics left, while the team's consultants insist there's no boost to the region. That's beside the point, says Callaghan.

...if governments and taxpayers are ever going to regain an equal footing with pro sports, they have to say no once in a while. And if they say no, they have to be prepared for the leagues to not just threaten to leave town, but actually leave town.

They have to be prepared for all of this because the alternative is to exist in a constant state of stadium blackmail.

We can cast blame if we like. Make boogeymen out of Mayor Nickels, Howard Schultz, Clay Bennett, the Legislature, the Governor, etc., etc. But perhaps things went as they should have.

Ultimately the Legislature (and taxpayers) must decide whether they want to offer corporate subsidies to every professional team willing to accept them.

...in this case, the Legislature functioned as it should - the members weighed a request for public money based on whether the residents of the state thought it was a good way to spend their taxes. When the answer was no, the politicians said no.

Well said. Read the entire column here.