Don Ruiz of the Tacoma News-Tribune reports: KeyArena is fine for NBA basketball now, but that may not be true when the Seattle SuperSonics' lease runs out in 2010, league commissioner David Stern said.

"It's a good arena," Stern said Friday while visiting Seattle. "I think when the team's lease is up in 2010 it won't be as new or as modern as it was when it was reconfigured. We have sort of a rolling evaluation of arenas as they go, and increasingly the model has to do with club seats and suites and restaurants and large numbers of seats in the building with a number of accouterments.

"KeyArena is a great arena to experience a game, but if you're concerned about the fans you want to make a determination about where it's going to be in relation to other arenas when the lease expires. That goes on in every city."

It went on in Charlotte, and it likely will cost that city its NBA team. Stern said he expects the league will approve the move of the Hornets from the 13-year-old Charlotte Coliseum to New Orleans, where a new arena awaits.

Sonics owner Howard Schultz recently spoke on that relocation proposal, saying that the loyalty of Charlotte fans should not be ignored.

But he also has indicated that the Sonics may want a new arena when their lease runs out after the 2009-2010 season, 15 years after a major renovation.