There has been a lot of buzz this week following the news that the city of Seattle has been in discussions with a potential investor for a new arena.
With property purchased just south of the already existing baseball and football stadiums by this investor, and the Sacremento Kings basketball team seemingly on the brink of leaving town, many people have become excited at the possibility that Seattle could see a new team, and perhaps a professional hockey team sooner than later.
Art Thiel doesn't see that happening any time soon.
Art suggests that without any knowledge of who might be investing additional necessary funds into this project, a price tag on the arena, and perhaps the biggest problem of them all – the potential of having four professional sports teams all in season at the same time in April within blocks from each other.
Combine that with viaduct construction and the Port of Seattle, traffic and parking in the area could become an even bigger disaster.
Art also suggests the possibility that the NBA might be using Seattle as a bargaining chip to motivate Sacramento – the city with the only available NBA team that could relocate up north – to take swifter action to keep the team.
How do you feel about all of this? Would you want to bring in a new NBA team in the same way that the city of Seattle lost the Sonics? Is it important to the city to bring in two new professional sports teams?
