Conlin: Seattle arena proposal 'unlikely' to be approved

SEATTLE — A Seattle City Council spokeswoman on Tuesday confirmed the authenticity of an email sent by Councilman Richard Conlin in which he stated his thought that a proposed NBA/NHL arena in Seattle's SoDo neighborhood is unlikely to be approved by the Council.

"I think it is unlikely that this proposal will be approved," Conlin wrote in the email, which was originally posted by a group calling itself the Seattle Arena Plan on Twitter.

The Council has heard in recent weeks from investor Chris Hansen, who is leading the effort to get the stadium built and bring NBA basketball – and perhaps NHL hockey – back to Seattle.

In the email, Conlin went on to say he thinks the arena should be 100-percent privately funded.

"I encourage proponents of a new basketball team to lobby Mr. Hanson (sic) to pursue this as a private enterprise with public cooperation but without the complex financial arrangements and public investment that the current proposal appears to rely on," Conlin wrote.

The initial proposal for a new arena was revealed in February. Hansen has since revealed other Seattle-area business leaders involved in the effort, such as Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and two of the Nordstrom brothers.

KIRO