By Jacob Thorpe

Special to 710Sports.com

Ever since the Seattle SuperSonics controversially moved to Oklahoma City after an illustrious 41-year history, local basketball fans have hoped the NBA would return. People wondered if businessman Paul Allen would move his Portland Trail Blazers north, or if the Sacramento Kings might soon make Seattle their new home.

Always, however, there was the same old sticking point: KeyArena — the former home of the Sonics — is no longer considered up to snuff by a league that requires opulent palaces replete with profit-skyrocketing luxury boxes.

Seattle taxpayers, weary of publicly-funded stadiums after opening their purses for the Mariners’ Safeco Field and the Seahawks’ Century LinkField, had no interest in yet another long, expensive, traffic-nightmare of a project.



The Tacoma City Council is commissioning a feasibility study to determine whether or not the Tacoma Dome could be renovated to meet the NBA’s high demands. (AP)

But thanks to Tacoma, there is a chance the Seattle Sonics may finally be returning, albeit not to the Emerald City itself.

Tacoma mayor Marilyn Strickland joined “The Kevin Calabro Show” on 710 ESPN Seattle on Wednesday to talk about her city’s idea to renovate the Tacoma Dome, and not only bring professional basketball back to the area, but to attract a hockey team as well.

“At the end of the day, we’re going to have to put some money into the [Tacoma] Dome,” Strickland said. “So let’s be very thoughtful and very strategic about having it work for the entire region.”

With that in mind, the Tacoma City Council is commissioning a feasibility study to determine whether or not the 29-year-old facility could be renovated to meet the NBA’s high demands. Building a new facility isn’t out of the question either.

“What we’re trying to look at is a couple things: If we were going to reconfigure that facility, how much would it cost and if we need to just take it down and put it back up that would be a possibility,” Strickland said. “If there’s a way to reconfigure it to keep the existing structure but to maintain the look and feel of the dome and the way it is decorated, I like that. But I’m also very pragmatic and realistic.”

Strickland also went out of her way to address traffic concerns, knowing that the team’s local fan base might be apprehensive about having to drive down to Tacoma for games.

“I think there’s always going to be a traffic issue in the Pacific Northwest because there are just far more cars on the road than people anticipated,” Strickland said. “It’s not a piece of cake to get to KeyArena â€¦ The thing we do have now, however, is we have public transportation. The Sounder is running and so we have the Sounder, which runs from [Century Link] field to the Tacoma Dome and soon to Lakewood and so we have a public transportation option that’s already built and running.”

Another thing that will appease the purists in the city is that Strickland plans to keep the name, all of it, even which city the team is associated with. The mayor said that “Seattle SuperSonics” is a brand that has a very loyal following, and she wouldn’t want to change that.

“My expectation would be the ‘Seattle Sonics at the Tacoma Dome,'” Strickland said. “You have the New Jersey Nets who are going to play in Brooklyn, you have the Pistons playing in Auburn Hills so it’s not unusual to have a team named after a city but not necessarily play in that city.”

Strickland will still have to convince the taxpayers however. While the Tacoma Dome will need to be renovated soon regardless of what happens with the NBA, getting the facility ready to hold two professional teams would carry an exceptionally hefty bill. One that is sure to make taxpayers cringe, especially given the current economic climate.

“I think it’s completely unrealistic to not expect some sort of public funds to support this. But I think, as with a lot of models right now, with government, you have to have a public-private partnership,” Strickland said. “This is a public facility right now, and so I don’t expect the public to foot the entire bill, but I think we have to be very thoughtful and very creative about how we can get this funded.”

Even so, local NBA fans are desperate for a team after having gone a few years without. While Strickland’s plan wouldn’t bring the Sonics back to Seattle, it may be the most realistic way to bring basketball back to western Washington.