Citizen responses to environmental impact statements are usually among the most academic of exercises — you file them, they go in the back of the final report, and no one ever reads them again. Unless, that is, you’re a citizen who owns the local NFL team:
Paul Allen’s First & Goal Inc., which oversees all operations at CenturyLink Field, expressed serious concerns about the proposed sports arena that could house NBA and NHL franchises in Seattle’s Sodo neighborhood…
“It was anticipated that the EIS regarding the arena would resolve many of our questions and concerns,” the letter stated. “Unfortunately, after reviewing the FEIS and the most current version of the Arena proposal, we continue to be troubled that the arena has not yet disclosed and the city does not yet know how the proposed arena will fit within the existing stadium district or how it will mitigate many of its potential effects.”
Allen hasn’t previously complained about Chris Hansen’s proposed Sodo arena — unlike the owners of the Mariners, who’ve griped about it causing traffic problems — and the Seahawks owner insists that he’s still supportive of the plan, despite his concerns. But it still has the Puget Sound Business Journal asking what Hansen will do with his downtown land if he doesn’t build an arena on it. (Answer: sell it to somebody for commercial development, say two commercial realtors.) Not that Hansen is ready to break ground on this thing regardless — he still doesn’t have a team to play in it, for starters — but it sounds like now the media is developing an exit strategy for him, whether he wants one or not.
Teams that share a hometown are not buddy buddies with each other, regardless of how pleasant their Twitter interactions are. The Seahawks’ biggest rivals aren’t the Niners; they’re the Mariners, and whichever NBA or NHL team comes to town (assuming one does, or both do). There’s only so much money to be spent on sports in any given town, even in a relatively affluent metro area like Seattle, and teams will naturally want less competition even if they don’t express that in public.
the only “concern” the Seahawks have is that Hansen wants to close a street where the arena will be located. The “concern” has to do with the public maneuvering the Stadium district if more than one event is taking place in SODO ( the stadium district ). The Seahawks are #1 in Seattle followed by the Sounders……the Mariners are a distant 3rd and are leaving many fans dumbfounded by their stance against the arena.
Has Seattle solved their viaduct problem yet?