The SoDo arena investment group; Chris Hansen, Wally Walker, Pete and Erik Nordstrom, and Russell Wilson, have released a new post on their website about “the three T’s.” Those are Transportation, Timing, and Taxes.
According to the post, these three items are the key to success for the project over a renovated KeyArena plan. They say that their location has “the best parking and transportation infrastructure,” and that with the extensive review process they have gone through, the timing of their project is years ahead. They also say that, with their plan, there will be no “tax rebates” and thus a tax windfall for the City, County, and State.
They back this statement up with a letter from JP Morgan Chase & Co, the largest bank in the United States and “one of the pre-eminent lenders in professional sports.” This is similar to the letter that the Oak View Group provided the city from Goldman, Sachs & Co.
The letter spells out JP Morgan’s experience in the field with their Sports Finance Group. The firm claims “extensive experience providing sports franchises with arena and stadium financing execution services, including in the bank and capital markets. J.P. Morgan is involved on many fronts with sports financing, and has close relationships with each of the five major US sports leagues as well as team organizations.”
The letter, while not listing a specific dollar amount, also lays out how Hansen and his team would finance the project, namely through ownership equity, the sale of seat licenses and sponsorship contracts and the proceeds of debt secured by revenues of the project. These seem to imply that a team would be required for financing, as those revenue streams would not otherwise exist.
Comments
Another [objection] bites the dust!
Dunt dunt dunt duh
And another one gone
And another one gone
By cortone on 06.14.17 4:38pm
This shows that they can't build on spec, right?
Or am I reading that part of the story wrong? This is great, and a necessary step, but to get any momentum swinging back Sodo’s direction, we need some owner info. OVG showed their Ace, and now Hansen needs to do his best Captain Ahab impersonation and find the white whale.
By OlyBrandon21 on 06.14.17 4:45pm
And its a weird chicken or the egg situation now.
He needs teams for the financing and the building, but he needs the street vacation to lure team owners and build the building. Also, he needs the team before the building, but Bettman wants the building before the team. And the SCC wants a team before a street vacation. So we build the stadium, so that we can get the team, then we get street vacation and secure the financing? Sigh, can’t we just talk about sports soon?
By OlyBrandon21 on 06.14.17 4:49pm
Wanting a team before a street vacation is an excuse
for the council to be cowards.
If Hansen got a team, they would move the ball and tell him to play at Key Arena, assuming OVG got a deal done with the city.
By NWEastcoaster on 06.14.17 7:27pm
Amen, NW. Sadly, you speak the gospel truth.
SCC will keep just keep movin’ the ball on Hansen.
BTW – - Where the hell are the Nordstroms ? Their silence bothers me.
By kinsesu on 06.14.17 10:23pm
The Nordstroms or the Nordstrom in this case vis-a-vis SODO
has always been relatively quiet, give or take a conversation with Wally or Chris about the state of things re SODO. That’s how that family rolls and I don’t see it changing regardless of where the SODO project ends up.
By NWEastcoaster on 06.15.17 6:04pm
I don't think so...
The need for PSL’s and corporate sponsorship strongly insinuates a team is needed. Money from those sources would be lower with no teams.
By ksmith1984 on 06.14.17 5:02pm
At the civic cocktail, he seemed to imply that they could build on spec, but could not purchase either team with the current partnership.
I don’t know if this letter goes against that. When Chris was talking about building the arena, he said a lot of the money to build it has already been invested, e.g., in the land.
It seems to imply they could build on spec within the partnership, but will leverage financing if they can.
By Throbert Bedford on 06.14.17 5:08pm
Could be...
I just know in the past (such as on the Seattle growth podcast), Hansen has said it wasn’t feasible as a concert only venue. Things could have changed but I do know that corporate sponsorships and seat licenses are at least somewhat intertwined to demand. Demand is likely to be less for PSL’s and corporate sponsorships without an anchor tenant, thus requiring more capital or more debt financing.
By ksmith1984 on 06.14.17 5:15pm
Oh, certainly. I think it's possible that he can build it on spec, but he can't sustain it without one or both teams.
By Throbert Bedford on 06.15.17 10:57am
Speaking of arenas...
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2715757-clippers-reportedly-to-announce-new-arena-in-inglewood
By Taylor Bartle on 06.14.17 4:47pm
But but but
Seattle Clippers?
By OlyBrandon21 on 06.14.17 4:50pm
This is clearly a ploy!
It’s all an elaborate ruse.
By Taylor Bartle on 06.14.17 4:52pm
Well duh...
The arena plan has to fall apart at the last second for it to be believable!
By itsanospreybich on 06.14.17 6:17pm
Yup, and we see just how far Ballmer is willing to go to sell the deception by paying the City a non-refundable $1.5mil exploratory fee.
Everything is going according to plan….
By Bizzquik on 06.14.17 9:11pm
Cheaper than 30 million
By Jeff - j1012 on 06.15.17 3:37am
YEAH !! Jerry West leaving the Warriors to become special advisor for the Seattle Clippers.
Same/similar role he had with the Warriors. We’re gonna be really good next season !!
By kinsesu on 06.15.17 10:04am
Why did he not do all of this in Seattle ?
I don’t get it.
By Stevie Peet on 06.14.17 6:15pm
He wasn't retired @ the time......
He didn’t have stake/shareholders he had to be concerned about.
By WoodLandSonic40316 on 06.14.17 6:40pm
He was part of the group that offered to pay
an unprecedented amount of money (at the time) for the Kings and likely would have paid a large sum of money towards the arena, so I wouldn’t say he didn’t do anything for us. He clearly would have been the one to put up the most cash in the group.
I’m pissed he left and I definitely root against Clippers now, but he really tried to get the Kings for us. And if he hadn’t gone for the Clippers he’d still be dealing with Seattle politics instead of debuting ridiculous mascots for his new team, so it is what it is.
By itsanospreybich on 06.14.17 6:47pm
This definately helps
But Hansen really needs to get an NHL owner on board to catch up to OVG. Still hoping SODO can win out but still seems all the momentum is going OVG’s way
By Malve on 06.14.17 5:00pm
agreed
To really shake the boat he needs an NHL group.
By 206er on 06.14.17 5:06pm
What i am really curious about
Is how Geoff Baker respnds to this new info. Will he key on the apparent requirement for teams or the lack of a dolloar amount?
By Malve on 06.14.17 5:09pm
He keyed on need for teams.
By itsanospreybich on 06.14.17 6:18pm
Haha we can't get teams without the street vacation...
Seattle politics/journalism makes my head hurt!!
By WoodLandSonic40316 on 06.14.17 6:37pm