SEATTLE (AP) Investor Chris Hansen and the group looking to bring the NBA back to Seattle have offered to pay for a new arena with private funds.
Hansen’s group sent a letter to the city of Seattle on Tuesday. Hansen’s group acknowledges a changed landscape and is now offering to rip up a memorandum of understanding from 2012 that called for up to $200 million in public investment in the arena.
Instead, Hansen’s group will pay for the project privately. They will also contribute to a transportation project near the proposed arena that would help deal with freight traffic at the Port of Seattle, a sticking point in past efforts.
“We have concluded that a changed economic climate makes possible the private financing of the arena,” the letter reads.
