Use Professional Sports Teams to Fund City Education?

None by Eric Ray

Sports Illustrated's Dave Zirin Says It's Possible

(KCPW News) For years now, owners of professional sports franchises have held cities hostage with the promise of moving teams by demanding stadiums be built with public tax dollars. Utah has seen it with Real Salt Lake owner Dave Checketts who said he would move the Major League Soccer franchise without a new stadium. Lawmakers came to his rescue.

A similar situation is now happening in Seattle, Washington. The owner of basketball's Seattle Sonics, Clay Bennett, is threatening to move the franchise to Oklahoma City if a new arena isn't built in Seattle.

Writer Dave Zirin of www.sportsillustrated.com has a different idea. He says Sonics fans should claim the team is intellectual property of the city, sue Bennett for ownership of the team, and municipalize it as a public utility.

Zirin, whose work can also be read at www.edgeofsports.com, recently spoke with KCPW's Eric Ray.

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