Obviously a little late to the party but I found out late monday night as I was leaving the rink and then I had to get on a flight 6 hours later so sorry for the delay.
I am not going to comment on the specific concessions made in the deal, you can read up on those here:
http://www.king5.com/news/arena/Hansen-Seattle-Council-reach-deal-on-financing-new-sports-arena-169272086.html
So what is next?
The City and County must both officially approve the MOU with the amendments. That will happen on the 24th of this month. Once that happens, Hansen can officially pursue and purchase an NBA team, the most likely being the Kings. Basketball is driving this bus there should be no doubt in anyone’s mind. The NBA Team must come first so it is really premature to think Coyotes could end up coming here even though the deal with the Jamison team is still up in the air…
Hansen has mentioned that it is better for NHL to come a few years after the NBA and really could only play a season in Key Arena. I have an earlier post that talks about his remarks and a link to the radio interview here. As crazy as it might sound, the Islanders are the likely franchise to come here (if any) but the longer the Coyotes deal drags out it gives Hansen more time to pick up a team, the prerequisite for an ownership group to materialize.
It will probably be months before we hear anything on the NHL and Seattle so sit back and grab a beer on Chris:
http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/dailyweekly/2012/09/with_arena_agreement_reached_c.php
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