Check out today's Seattle Times where my buddy Danny Westneat has an article pointing to the Muckleshoot Indians desire to get involved in the arena game.
SUffice to say that in the "inner circle" of things this is very, very old news. The Muckleshoots have been involved since day one to some degree or another. Some rumors have them ready to buy the team from Clay while others have them just putting up the land. Some have them intentionally tanking Clay's arena proposal to force a sale while others indicate that they were watching very closely hoping that they could become "plan B".
I don't know the exact extent of their involvement but let me say that I am pleased that they are now on the record. They are one of several groups that intends to make any departure out of this region extremely difficult. If Clay does file for relocation in November he will likely do so with at least 2 interested parties willing to try to buy the team or contesting that they have potential arena solutions, largely privately financed that he has never fully explored. Will David Stern and the NBA be willing to move a 40 year franchise under those circumstances? That is the real question many people are asking.
No time for a proper article on this. A sunny day and a houseful of other peoples kids is going to force me to keep moving. I didn't want to let it pass by unrecognized however. Enjoy the sun today and the NBA Finals this week. Look for a breaking SOS story sometime in the next 10 days or so that will add another element to this thing.