Poll shows arena support; Hansen hopes for 2017 opening

Polling shows voters in Seattle and King County support
a new sports arena in SoDo, but financing and traffic
remain key concerns.

The Elway poll shows that 63 percent of voters in Seattle
and 61 percent in the county, outside Seattle, favor the
concept, as long as it’s privately financed.

Among critics of the arena is the Port of Seattle. All
five commissioners sent a letter to the city and county
councils Tuesday expressing concerns that arena traffic
will drive away waterfront business. The city’s Department
of Transportation is expected to release results of a
traffic survey Wednesday afternoon.

Also Tuesday, a coalition of prominent Seattle area
business leaders expressed their support for Chris
Hansen’s arena proposal. The newly formed Seattle/ King
County Arena Business Advisory Committee says it “will
work to assist in disseminating accurate information about
the arena proposal and help broaden business community
support.” The group includes Blake Nordstrom, the
President of Nordstrom Inc. and Jeff Wright, chairman of
the board of Space Needle Corporation.

During an online chat for The Seattle Times, Hansen said he’s
dreamt of owning the Seattle SuperSonics for as long as he
can remember. He considers his arena proposal an
“obviously good deal” adding his greatest fear is that
average supporters of his plan will not speak up.

Hansen said it’s too early to talk about a specific
design. When pressed for a possible opening date for a new
arena, Hansen declared he likes to “underpromise and
overdeliver” and gave us 2017.