(10-07-2018 03:48 PM)DawgNBama Wrote:  The so-called “Atlanta problem” is a misconception. The Thrashers were actually doing pretty decent, but ATL Spirit wanted to max out revenue on the Hawks instead, and make the Hawks/Phillips Arena attractive to a new buyer.

This is the same issue that might prevent the NBA from going back to Seattle.

The Hawks owners controlled their arena and wanted to control all of the arena dates other than Hawks games for concerts and other events, so as to max their revenue.

Same issue in Seattle. The group that is rebuilding the arena is also going to control the NHL franchise. They will want as many available dates as possible to make money off of other arena events, rather than giving a long-term lease to an NBA team they don't own. Also, NBA and NHL teams that don't control their own arena are at a revenue disadvantage to others in their league who get a ton of extra revenue from other arena events.

So any prospective Seattle NBA owner might want to be in an arena they control, and good luck getting two arena projects built in Seattle in less than 10 years.