Report: Rumored Sonics arena meeting in Seattle pushed back ‘indefinitely’
May 10, 2019, 12:51 PM
(AP)
(AP)
The Seattle Times reported Friday that a rumored May 13 meeting between Chris Hansen’s SoDo arena group and the NAACP has been “postponed indefinitely.”
RELATED: Hansen clears up SoDo arena role in Seattle NBA effort
According to the Times, Seattle-King County NAACP President Sadiqa Sakin released a statement Thursday, saying that the meeting had been pushed back because its details had been leaked to the media.
She went on to say that a meeting between the arena group and the NAACP was always supposed to occur behind closed doors.
Sakin did note that “there will be a future private meeting with the SoDo group and the NAACP Seattle/King County President.” That said, she also stated that the public and media will not be informed ahead of time, and that details will only arrive after it happens.
Initially, Los Angeles News Observor reporter Cameron Buford had cryptically said that “Seattle is having a meeting to try to bring back the Sonics,” during a postgame media session with Golden State Warriors star Kevin Durant.
Buford was referring to a meeting that was said to be taking place at the Washington State Labor Council building in Seattle on May 13, and originally rumored to be attended by local entrepreneur Chris Hansen, his SoDo arena investment group, Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson, and members of the local NAACP.
Buford — from Seattle, but now residing in Los Angeles — said he was originally told about it by an executive committee member with the local NAACP. The group is rumored to be working with Hansen to aid in the sale of part of Occidental Avenue, the street Hansen’s group needs to build its proposed arena.
Seattle City Council had originally decided not to sell that portion of Occidental to Hansen in a narrow 5-4 vote, almost three years ago.
Despite all that, both officials with Mayor Jenny Durkan’s office and the NBA voiced no prior knowledge that a meeting was taking place in Seattle.
Additionally, WSLC representative David Droves reached out to MyNorthwest and other media outlets Wednesday, saying that “no such meeting is happening” at its office.
“There is a meeting here that night, but it is not the NAACP and has nothing to do with the Sonics,” he said.
Groves cited concerns that “all sorts of random folks may show up” at the WSLC on the date of the alleged meeting, and that they would be “disappointed.”
