TULALIP, Wash. — The Tulalip Tribal Chairman says the tribe has offered up a piece of land to a private equity group in hopes of luring the Sonics back to Western Washington, but stopped short of saying the tribe has committed any money to the project.
The announcement comes just weeks before the NBA is expected to make a decision on expansion to Las Vegas and Seattle.
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One Roof Sports and Entertainment and Seattle Kraken Majority Owner Samantha Holloway is believed to have made a bid to bring back the Sonics to play in Climate Pledge Arena and includes billionaire Melinda French Gates and Amazon CEO Andy Jassy in her investment group.
But Tulalip Chairman Hazen Shopbell says he believes that the situation is not close to being finalized, and why the Tribal Board has agreed to offer of a parcel of land next to the Tulalip Casino, west of I-5, to an investment group seeking to buy a team.
BlackSun Private Equity said Tuesday that it is finalizing a investment group and architect for the project, that could require at least $6 billion dollars and billions more for an arena.
A spokesperson also said they were studying the transportation impacts on I-5 and Snohomish County if such a facility was built there.
When asked about traffic mitigation Shopbell said, “When you look at Seattle, I mean, and no offense to Seattle, you can’t get any worse in Seattle.”
He also seemed to indicate that the Tulalip Tribe was early in the process. “We’re just in conversation with our partners right now. Financially, we haven’t put any money towards this. We are again for our part in playing this thing is putting the land up.”
It is still unclear what the BlackSun may be willing to invest given the NBA’s strict caps on private equity in ownership. The NBA has also not signaled whether it has vetted the group or if BlackSun has made a bid.
Silver has specifically mentioned Holloway, and Climate Pledge Arena in the past, even suggesting last month that CPA could host an NBA team in five weeks
The buzz led the Museum of History and Industry to do something it hasn’t done in nearly twenty years, and that is to open up the Sonics vault of old trophies, retired jerseys and championship banners.
The Sonics left Seattle in July of 2008, after the city settled with team’s Oklahoma City ownership group for $45 million.
The agreement also preserved a path for the Sonics name, colors, and other intellectual property to return if the NBA approved a new Seattle team.
It required the team’s trophies, banners and retired jerseys to remain in Seattle under the care of the Museum of History and Industry, or another mutually acceptable custodian.
On Tuesday, MOHAI gave reporters and photographers a sneak peek of the “Sonic Boom” exhibit that it is planning to open March 27th, 2027.
“This team wove itself into the fabric of the culture of Seattle,” said former Seattle Times writer and curator Glenn Nelson. “There are a lot of important things that happened through basketball that affected culture, affected law, that you probably won’t expect from teams that you may not be burned as brightly into your memory as the championship team. He added, “A lot of things have happened in Seattle that were significant.”