It's an argument that even made it onto last night's TNT halftime show, with the Sonics old nemesis Charles Barkely campaigning for the team to stay in Seattle. Nobody can really answer the economic impact losing the team would have on the city, but Art Theil at the PI shines a light on why keeping them in town could be worth it to the city and some local zillionaire. Here's a tidbit from Friday's column:

"...a point needs to be considered: Accepting a buyout will foreclose almost permanently not only on an NBA future, but the chance to create a grand new space with civic uses well beyond sports. Seattle has convention space that is smaller than Vancouver, B.C., Portland and even Spokane, with no capacity for big-ticket events such as national political conventions, international meetings and Final Fours."

Like he says, that is a big deal.

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