Arena Deal thread: UPDATE: DEAL PASSED AND SIGNED OFF!!!

[twisted_steel2]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/b ... sen11.html

Sounds like he's buying up more land, north of the area, and the whole strip of land just west of the arena site. From Showbox Sodo to Macs Smokehouse if I'm reading the article right.

I think he's pretty confident of he's doing this.

 

[Blitzer88]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2017951877_hansen11.html

Sounds like he's buying up more land, north of the area, and the whole strip of land just west of the arena site. From Showbox Sodo to Macs Smokehouse if I'm reading the article right.

I think he's pretty confident of he's doing this.

Maybe to build stuff for more parking to make the M's happy?

 

[TestMo1337]

So Hansen has shelled out ~$40-50 million of his own money to buy this land for the proposed site with no guarantees that he'll be able to secure a team or that the city will fund the 40% needed for the arena... gawd this guys is smooth.

If I were another owner looking to get a new sweetheart deal, I would be sweating bullets that Hansen is ponying up all of his own money to build an arena... he's making so many owners look potentially bad and he doesn't even own a team.

 

[Blitzer88]

So Hansen has shelled out ~$40-50 of his own money to buy this land for the proposed site with no guarantees that he'll be able to secure a team or that the city will fund the 40% needed for the arena... gawd this guys is smooth.

If I were another owner looking to get a new sweetheart deal, I would be sweating bullets that Hansen is ponying up all of his own money to build an arena... he's making so many owners look potentially bad and he doesn't even own a team.

Pretty much, Hansen is making all the right moves right now.

 

[TestMo1337]

Oh and he paid for a private study because the M's and the Port Authority are bunch of dicks.

 

[chris98251]

By that discription they are buying where my Garage for work is at, crap where they gonna move us now.

I dislike our present location due to the proximity of Seattle Metro Transit, buses everywhere, but if we are selling it would only mean were buying cheaper real estate somewhere else or consolidating our whole garage into one someplace else.

Agree with the move though, real proactive approach, should upgrade everything in that area, the roads are for crap due to all the trucks from the port and then the warehouses and Seattle lagging way behind in keeping them repaired.

 

[Seahawk Sailor]

Yea, it would be really hard not to like this guy. He's doing everything he can to get us a stadium, and he's doing it all right. Oh how it's getting my hopes up!

 

[SeaTown81]

**This is a post of mine I made over on SonicsCentral.com. It's long enough, I felt I should get some mileage from it.***

As much as I am crazy excited at the thought of the Sonics returning, I’m also really excited about Chris Hansen’s vision for SODO.

With the amount of land he’s purchasing, as well as previous comments he’s made, it’s clear he wants to turn SODO into an LA Live type entertainment hub. That would be awesome! Anybody who has attended a Red Sox or Cubs game can tell you that having lots of restaurants and bars around a stadium is a great thing, and improves the game day experience exponentially.

As much as the Mariners want to curb all potential competition to your entertainment dollar, and force you to eat, drink, and take a crap at Safeco Field. I’m sorry, but that’s not in the best interest of the sports fan. Imagine a SODO that was litered with bars and restaurants. Going to Mariners, Seahawks, Sounders, Sonics, NHL games wouldn’t simply be about spending a night in the stadium. It would be about going out on the town. It would be an event. Getting your non-sports loving wife or gf to go to a game would instantly become an easier proposition.

This is actually in the Mariners best interest, whether they realize it or not. If you grow and cultivate the neighborhood around your stadium in a desination, it goes a long way in sustaining your ability to weather the storm of a losing team or poor season. If people want to go to SODO to spend an evening or day, for reasons beyond your specific sporting event, that’s a good thing. You now are no longer relying entirely on your on the field product to attract customers.

I totally understand that there is an industrial element to SODO that is important to the region and needs to be protected. But to my knowledge, that area for the most part is south of the land Hansen has acquired. IMO, from Hansen’s land to Pioneer square should be stadium and entertainment zoned. It’s in the city’s as well as the sports team’s best interests. To have that whole area a destination point would really do a lot of good in growing the city.

Chris Hansen has me excited for the potential return of SuperSonics basketball, and the potential of NHL hockey coming to this region. But he also has me excited for a potential improved gameday experience for all of the sporting events in this city. I’m a little bit afraid of getting my hopes too high. Because it would really be gutting if this didn’t work out. But it’s worth it, IMO. Because this could really be something special.

 

[TestMo1337]

I think if you could speak to anyone who is against this plan they are either against sports in general or don't see the how great of a deal this really is to the city, the state, the entertainment aspect, the cultural aspect, the economic impact and those that miss the SuperSonics. I've never been more optimistic about a guy that doesn't even own a team coming in and making very smart moves when it comes to how to deal with the public, the city and the league that he isn't a part of, yet.

Geoff Baker had a great article on why he thought the M's were being such dicks; their either going to sell in the next few years with their TV contract up for renewal or they continue to try and control everything and anything they can within the realm of what they consider the "gameday" experience.

 

[Throwdown]

It won't be the Hornets, Tom Benson (Saints owner) just bought 'em.

 

[pinksheets]

It won't be the Hornets, Tom Benson (Saints owner) just bought 'em.

I can't imagine a team that would have been a better candidate to relocate, but the NBA has this irrational desire to make sure they never leave New Orleans. Benson just bought a sinkhole, or maybe he's just hoping to transfer some of his NBA guys over to play TE for the Saints.

 

[JOz56]

It won't be the Hornets, Tom Benson (Saints owner) just bought 'em.

This is weird to me. I thought that If you were an NFL owner in a city you couldn't be an owner of any other sport in the same city?

My optimism is high that something great is gonna happen in the next couple of years, but this was just weird to me.

 

[pinksheets]

It won't be the Hornets, Tom Benson (Saints owner) just bought 'em.

This is weird to me. I thought that If you were an NFL owner in a city you couldn't be an owner of any other sport in the same city?

My optimism is high that something great is gonna happen in the next couple of years, but this was just weird to me.

They changed that rule. Now it's something like 'you can't own another sports team in another NFL city'. So Paul Allen would run into trouble if somehow Portland stepped into the NFL game.

 

[chris98251]

It won't be the Hornets, Tom Benson (Saints owner) just bought 'em.

This is weird to me. I thought that If you were an NFL owner in a city you couldn't be an owner of any other sport in the same city?

My optimism is high that something great is gonna happen in the next couple of years, but this was just weird to me.

Well you know how the NFL is, this still has to pass through there approval channels I would think, given the current state of affairs how do ya think Brees is feeling at the moment, you shelled out 340 million for a NBA team and your lowballing me?

Second I read that the lease and terms is to keep the NBA franchise in N.O. till 2024 if I remember the artical correctly, lets see Benson is 84 now so I hope they have some back up plan for that as well.

Third and most perplexing is 340 million seems pretty cheap for a franchise, sounds like they sold out on the cheap to Benson just to make sure they had a owner rather then open it up to a true open market situation. Slap in the face to us in Seattle based on how that sale went down with Schultz.

Kinda makes you feel that Stern is thumbing his nose to us up north still, duel ownership of franchises is usually looked down on in most leagues, especially when you know you have a established market that had supported the team, thats building a new facility and revamping a whole district to insure not only the success of the team but the whole area.

 

[TestMo1337]

It's obvious that Stern and the NBA are willing to do anything to keep the Hornets in NO and the Kings in Sacramento. Seattle got totally jobbed because Stern wanted to make some city feel the wraith of the owners and their power to move teams at-will if they so wanted. They wanted to show that no team is truly safe if they don't create new arenas for their outdated and terrible CBA. I'm really surprised that the NBA didn't hold out longer for a better CBA. It's as-if the owners feared the players so much they caved into their demands and put a band-aid on their CBA just to get some games. They should have done what the NHL did and hold for for an entire year and totally restructure their CBA so they could survive for the long-haul. Stern knows that he can't be commish forever and he's sacrificing everything for the short-term so that he can dodge the true problems plaguing his league.

That being said... I still miss the Sonics and being able to watch basketball. I've watched maybe 1 full game from start to finish since the Sonics left.

In regards to Allen, i'm sure he'd get grandfathered if an NFL team ever reached Portland.

 

[Throwdown]

Well... Stern just put the stake to the chest of the collective Kings fanbase today now its up to the Maloofs to go ahead and drive that sucker into their hearts

http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/ ... um=twitter

I think the deal is dead personally.

 

[chris98251]

Moving to Anahiem? I think that will fail badly as the Lakers and resurgent Clippers to a lesser extent have basically got control of that nearby market. This should pretty much put the Kings on the for sale block next season.

Also if Hansen can then purchase them the Kings fan base won't be as pissed off at Seattle as they will be pissed off at the Maloofs and Stern, kinda sound familiar.

 

[Throwdown]

Anaheim makes no sense, but we know the NBA doesn't like to do things that makes no sense.

 

[chris98251]

Well I guess we take a wait and see approach and see when the move is announced, we know that the arena project is moving at what I consider breakneck speed for stuff of this nature especially in Seattle. Some have suggested that there was things going on behind the scenes that nobody knows yet and Hansen has a plan. As more stuff happens and comes through the media it appears that his insight is pretty much dead on. Here's hoping that someone or the NBA doesn't buy the Kings like they did the Hornets and create a roadblock.

 

[Throwdown]

Kevin Johnson is saying the arena deal in Sacramento is dead

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/blog/eye-o ... utely-dead

BTW I just heard Ric Bucher on with Kevin Calabro saying that Vancouver is on the NBA's radar. If we get passed up for Vancouver, I'm going north and karate chopping CANhawk in the back of the neck. That would suck sooooo much.