Is the NBA returning to and the NHL coming to Seattle?

[AKA]

Seattle announces plans for new arena

Associated Press

SEATTLE -- Christopher Hansen is making a $290 million proposal to his hometown that could be the impetus for a new sports arena that could bring the NBA and NHL to Seattle.

All he needs is city and county approval equaling $200 million and the two franchises to make it a reality.

Hansen, a hedge-fund manager based in San Francisco and a Seattle native, submitted a proposal to the city on Thursday that calls for $290 million in private investment toward the construction of a new arena that would cost between $450 and $500 million. Hansen and his investment group would also be responsible for the purchase of an NBA franchise and finding a partner interested in bringing an NHL franchise to Seattle as well.

The proposal represents the first significant step toward solving the arena problem that was at the root of the SuperSonics' move from Seattle to Oklahoma City following the 2008 NBA season, leaving behind 41 years of history. The proposal will now go before a review board -- a group of community leaders that includes one-time SuperSonics player and coach Lenny Wilkens -- with King County executive Dow Constantine hoping their review can be completed within a month.

According to a letter submitted by Hansen, the remaining construction and development costs would be financed by the city and King County using taxes and revenues generated by the new facility and rent charged to the teams playing in the arena -- money that will not exist if the arena isn't built. City officials are adamant that there will be no new public taxes needed for the building and the city's portion of the investment will be capped at $200 million with any additional cost overruns paid by the private investors.

From there, Hansen's proposal would need city and county approval, but even with ultimate approval, no shovels will be going into the land just south of Safeco Field until an anchor tenant is in hand with a 30-year lease agreement that includes a no-relocation clause. City officials say their projections for how the financing plan would work are based off having both an NHL and NBA team.

"There will be no arena unless there is an agreement to get a team here to occupy that arena over a very long term," Constantine said at an afternoon press conference that was part pep rally.

The amount of liability Hansen and his investment group is taking on is somewhat staggering and appears to comply with a voter passed initiative in 2006 that prohibited Seattle from supporting teams with taxes unless such investments yielded a profit.

City officials say the $290 million in private investment would be the third-most among NBA or NHL arenas, behind only Staples Center in Los Angeles and Madison Square Garden. It would be built on land parcels Hansen already owns in Seattle's SoDo neighborhood, where the Seahawks and Mariners already play.

"I am confident this proposal will be looked on favorably by both leagues and sincerely believe that together we can accomplish the goal of securing NBA and NHL franchises for our community," Hansen wrote in his proposal.

Seattle is the only top 15 media market in the country not to have at least three franchises in the four major professional leagues and Thursday's announcement would appear to ratchet up pressure in places like Sacramento, New Orleans and Phoenix, where their franchises face uncertain futures. Documents obtained through a public records request from the city of Seattle show that Hansen is paying attention to what's happening in Sacramento, where a March 1 deadline looms for submitting plans to the NBA for funding a new arena.

The lynchpin of Sacramento's arena plan -- a proposal to divert and privatize parking revenues to cover roughly $200 million of the arena's costs -- is tentatively scheduled for a full City Council vote on Feb. 28.

Think BIG Sacramento, a regional initiative for a new arena launched by Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson, denounced Hansen's moves, calling them "publicity stunts aimed at derailing Sacramento's process to build an arena."

But the NHL's Coyotes in Phoenix and the NBA's Hornets in New Orleans are both currently owned by their leagues, although each league has strongly expressed its desire to find local ownership to keep those teams in those markets. A public records request by The Associated Press found that Seattle mayor Mike McGinn's office has not had documented contact with either the NBA or NHL about a team coming to Seattle.

McGinn reiterated Thursday that the responsibility of dealing with the individual leagues is on Hansen and his partners, not the city or county. But he acknowledged this is as close as the area has been to solving its arena issue since the Sonics' messy divorce.

"I'm out of the prediction business. I'm not going into the prediction business on this one," McGinn said.

[MrCleveland]

Maybe BOTH the NBA and NHL could expand to Seattle.

I still yearn for a Cleveland Tean inn the NHL.

[AKA]

Why we shouldn't feel guilty about stealing another city's team

Relocating teams is just part of the NBA's transient game.

By Jerry Brewer
Seattle Times staff columnist

It's hard not to feel like a hypocrite right now. Christopher Hansen, our arena fairy, is working diligently to try to build a palace that could lure the NBA and NHL, and as intriguing as it sounds, there's an inner conflict because Seattle can't succeed without doing harm to another city.

Four years ago, we were robbed, right? That's what the popular never-forget-the-Sonics T-shirt says. ROBBED. A group of Oklahoma businessman bought the Sonics from Howard Schultz in 2006, and two years later, the moving vans were breaking the speed limit. Forty-one years of civic pride, gone. Thinking about Oklahoma City is like eating cold oatmeal now. It makes Sonics fans want to gag.

Here we are in 2012, though, trying to get in position to do the same to the NBA's Sacramento Kings or New Orleans Hornets or the NHL's Phoenix Coyotes or any other team that would make us feel whole again.

Hypocritical? Perhaps.

But should we feel guilty? No. Not at all.

Here's why: We didn't invent this game. We're just left to choose whether we want to engage and play. The business of American professional sports is built around our irrationality. It's an infallible con because our love for sports is so strong in this country. Ponder the absurdity that a privately owned sports business gets to choose when it operates as a public jewel and when it chooses to be a cold and independent moneymaker. At its worst, it can be a most one-sided love affair — all take, little give. It accepts a city's name and its loyalty, only to drift somewhere else if business gets tough.

It's an insane relationship, really. But for any city, it has considerable benefits, too, including international branding, a trickle-down effect that allows many businesses to make money and civic pride. If you can get a sweet deal that involves little or limited taxpayer money — which, it appears, is Hansen's goal — then a city is foolish not to embrace the opportunity for more entertainment.

Make no mistake, though, that this is a vicious game. Guilt is a futile emotion. That's because relocation is inevitable.

Look at the NBA, where half of its 30 teams can be considered transplants. And that's not counting current NBA cities such as New York, Chicago, Milwaukee, Minnesota, Charlotte and Dallas, which have lost franchises during the league's 64-year history.

Pro sports leagues are known to be transient, but NBA teams move the most. In the past 30 years, six NBA teams have done the city shuffle. Major League Baseball has had one during that time.

Three NBA franchises have relocated since the turn of the 21st century. The NHL, MLB and NFL have had two combined.

Seattle didn't invent the rules. In fact, Seattle suffered from playing by these rules. I once wrote that I have no ill feelings toward the people of Oklahoma City — save the anger for the people actually involved in the "heist." They did what they needed to bring the NBA there. Just the same, other cities shouldn't be angry with Seattle because there's a buzz about taking their team.

I feel bad for Kings fans, in particular. I covered the NBA when Chris Webber and Peja Stojakovic were all-NBA players on those entertaining Sacramento teams, and for about five years, the atmosphere in that arena was the best in the league. The fans have done nothing wrong, just like the average Sonics fan did nothing wrong.

But cities lose because many pro sports teams are terrible at business, and when they hit rock bottom, they always look for a bail out. When you can't provide one, they just bow out. That's often the game. Spoil them or else.

Sacramento will have a hard time playing victim when you recall that the Kings came there from Kansas City after stops in Cincinnati and Rochester. New Orleans once had the Jazz, lost them to Utah and then took the Hornets from Charlotte, which now has the Bobcats. Even the Los Angeles Lakers, one of the NBA's signature teams, originated in Minneapolis.

So, why bother? Well, as I said before, there are plenty of benefits. Let's face it: We live in a sports-crazed society. If a city wants to be big time, it has to have 'em in our culture. It's like a party at a popular nightclub. They're asking a ridiculous cover charge, so why pay it? Because we really want into that party.

It's not right. It's not fair. It's not logical. It just is.

I want the NBA back soon, with the NHL on the side. By any means necessary. Who's with me?

And as we play this game again, instead of feeling guilty, we should spend more energy watching our backs.

[TMC]

If Seattle were to land an NHL franchise, then they if you ask me, should be called the "Metropolitans".

[Schmoopie]

I don't care either way, but I guess it would be nice to have another basketball team. Of course when the Sonics left I was to the point where I was like "Good riddance" because all the papers would talk about is how much money they wanted and how they weren't happy with Key Arena. So if we get a new team fine but if not we still have the Seattle Storm. And they won a championship not so long ago.

[KurtfromPitts]

Seattle, IMO, did not deserve to lose its NBA team.