Business & Tech

Pro Basketball Back in Puget Sound? Bellevue Group Exploring Options

A group that aims to bring professional basketball and hockey to Puget Sound will hold a forum on the possibility of bringing an arena to Bellevue. The forum is Feb. 28.

Is Bellevue ready to host professional basketball and hockey?

Arena Solution, a group that supports bringing a sports arena to Puget Sound, will be represented Feb. 28 at a Bellevue Downtown Association forum exploring how professional sports teams would affect the city.

Talks are intensifying about the possibility of bringing an NBA team back to Seattle, in the Stadium District near Safeco and CenturyLink fields. Seattle has been basketball-free after the Sonics moved to Oklahoma City and became the Thunder.

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The Bellevue Downtown Association forum speakers will address what an arena in Seattle might mean for Bellevue and whether Bellevue could be a good place for an arena if the Seattle possibility doesn't come together.

The forum will feature Brian Robinson, president of ArenaSolution.org, and Craig Kinzer, principal of Kinzer Real Estate Services and partner at Denny Hill Capital.

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According to the Arena Solution's Web site, the group "supports regional efforts to bring a world class arena facility, premium concerts, and new professional sports teams to our region" and is organizing "a large and diverse coalition willing to publicly state their support of these efforts ..."

The arena advocacy group's board of directors includes former Seattle SuperSonic Shawn Kemp, Seattle Team Shop owner Jeff Scoma and local businessman John Besteman.

Seattle lost the Sonics in 2008 when new owner Clay Bennett moved the team to Oklahoma City. The Sonics were NBA champions in 1979.

The Bellevue Downtown Association forum is Feb. 28 at 7:30 p.m. at the , 600 Bellevue Way NE. Tickets are $30-$40, $300 for a BDA member table. The registration deadline is Feb. 23.


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