After losing the SuperSonics five years ago, basketball fans in Seattle wondered if they ever would get another professional team back to the city.
Following a run of proposed deals, lawsuits, protests and unrealized projects, the idea of a new professional basketball team in the city took another step closer to reality on Monday after the King County Council and the Seattle City Council approved the agreement to build a new arena complex.
The $490 million arena would house basketball and hockey teams and could bring a large amount of new revenue to the area. Although the deal was approved, it still needs to pass an environmental review and there is a threat of a lawsuit looming from longshore workers in the area.
"This is a very good financial plan here," said County Councilman Reagan Dunn to the Associated Press. Dunn is a Republican who earlier had concerns about the deal. "It's been well thought-through."
According to the Seattle Post Intelligencer, the group says that the area where the arena would be built will hurt their jobs by the Port of Seattle.
Both sides had previously approved different versions of the agreement. The County Council voted 9-0 while the City Council votes 7-2 for the deal.
According to the Associated Press: "Mayor Mike McGinn called the votes important steps toward bringing professional men's basketball back to Seattle. He and King County Executive Dow Constantine were scheduled to sign the deal Tuesday."
The group building the arena is led by hedge fund manager Chris Hansen, who began the process of building a new arena last year and has said that he will personally guarantee the debt payments on the plan. The agreement involved $200 million in public financing that will be repaid by arena-related taxes.
Hansen and his team have already acquired the property where the arena would be built, which is located near stadiums for the NFL's Seahawks and MLB's Mariners. The Mariners had previously been opposed to the move, citing scheduling, traffic and revenue issues.
Seattle has been without an NBA team since 2008 when the ownership moved the team to Oklahoma City. The franchise was renamed the Thunder and the team has been very successful, reaching the NBA finals last year behind superstar Kevin Durant.
Durant was drafted second overall by the SuperSonics in the 2007 NBA Draft and played one year in Seattle before the team moved.
The franchise made a settlement as part of the move that allowed the SuperSonics name to stay in the city and that the team's history could be shared between Oklahoma City and any future NBA team in Seattle. The SuperSonics won the 1979 NBA Championship and won three conference titles before moving to Oklahoma City.
Seattle is also attempting to bring a hockey team back to the city for the first time since 1924, when the Metropolitans were disbanded. The team had won a Stanley Cup in 1917.
Part of the reason the Sonics moved in the first place was due to issues related to their old home, Key Arena. The location was considered to be outdated and former owner Clay Bennett could not get the city to approve a new arena at the time.
The environmental review is the next step for the arena and could take place later this year. Another hurdle though is the possible lawsuit.
According to the Associated Press: "The agreement between Hansen and the city goes too far by presuming the arena will be built in the neighborhood south of downtown, where increased traffic could choke freight shipments at the Port of Seattle, members of two International Longshore and Warehouse Union locals said."
"By essentially picking the site before an environmental review is done, the deal reverses the steps required by the State Environmental Policy Act, the unions said. They threatened to sue to block the deal once it's signed by McGinn and Constantine."
"The cart's been thrown before the horse here," said Max Vekich, a member of ILWU Local 52 and co-chair of Save Our SoDo Jobs. Using a football metaphor, he added: "We want to throw a red flag here and ask for instant review."
There is still a ways to go for the arena to become fully realized, but this was a major step for Hansen and his team. For Seattle fans, things are looking much brighter than they did four years ago when it seemed basketball would be gone forever.
