Seattle Took a Big Blow Yesterday

Yesterday the Seattle city council was on the clock to vote on whether or not a new sports arena will be built in SoDo. Many Supersonic fans every where were awaiting the decision hoping that they might be able to see there Sonics back within a few seasons. The city council voted against the the building plans 4-5. This is a setback in what has been a long process. The new arena proposal was supposed to be able to support both an NBA and NHL team. News has emerged of the possibility of renovating KeyArena to be able to support an NHL team and be brought up to NBA standards.But as of now no moves have been made.

For now the Sonics have 18 months left on the MOU. What this means is Chris Hansen has 18 months to find a home for the NBA and NHL and will have city funds at his disposal. Once 18 months are up he will either need to reach a new agreement or find private investors to build or renovate an arena.

Let me give those who do not follow basketball a little background. The Seattle Supersonics were an NBA team founded in 1967 and played their last season in Seattle in 2008. During that time they won one championship in 1979. The Sonics had many great players and coaches come threw Seattle. From Lenny Wilkins and Gus Williams; to George Karl, Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp; to Ray Allen; and all the way up to Kevin Durant putting on the green and gold for one season. Seattle is considered one of the best basketball cities in American and in the summer of 2008 the team was relocated to Oklahoma City and renamed the Thunder. Seattle basketball fans were devastated and 8 years later they are still looking to bring back their Supersonics. I'll leave you with this video of Seattle's final home game.