Like it or not, the Northwest could once again be home to NBA basketball.
After the Seattle Times published a story Sunday about a wealthy Seattle native's stealth efforts to get a team back to the region, the news has dominated local talk radio and social media.
According to the Times' story, the San Francisco-based hedge-fund manager has been working with Seattle officials to produce an arena deal that would, apparently, be mostly funded with private dollars. Not only does the effort include bringing basketball back to the Northwest, but also the NHL, or professional hockey.
The potential investors reportedly have been eyeing the situation in Sacramento, which is working to produce a plan for a new stadium before it loses its NBA team, the Kings. Columnist Steve Kelly says Seattle could welcome a new team by next season. Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn says talk of a new arena isn't simply rumors.
For fans of basketball in the Northwest, the news has produced a sense of tempered-but-growing excitement, if you believe the airwaves and Internet. Many want to see professional basketball, but the hurt over losing the Seattle Supersonics to Oklahoma City, as well as lingering anger toward former Sonics owners Clay Bennett, (Starbucks CEO) Howard Schultz and Commissioner David Stern are still too raw for others.
In the South Sound, the story's plot gets even thicker The City of Tacoma was already making its push to host an NBA team in the Tacoma Dome.
And, if the reports prove true and the Northwest does get the Kings, then Tacoma native and former would be coming home.
Can you imagine Thomas - who's never kept his love and pride for - playing in front of a home crowd? Wow.
But I and other media professionals are getting a little ahead of ourselves. There's no guarantee the Kings would even move here, and even if they or another team did, it's unclear whether Seattle or the Northwest would support a new arena.
That doesn't mean we can't talk about it, though.
We put the question to you, Patch users. Would you support the NBA's return to the Northwest? Let us know by taking our poll.
