While Pensacola Mayor Ashton Hayward tries to figure how to raise $2.5-5 million to rehab the Pensacola Bay Center and cover the half-million dollars of additional operational losses for Tom Benson’s G League basketball team, Seattle –the town most often thought to be the best fit for relocating Benson’s Pelicans– has reached an agreement to build a $600 million privately-funded arena at the Seattle Center that could host both a NBA and NHL team. According to news reports, construction could begin in 2018, and the facility could be ready by 2020.
Seattle has neither a NBA or NHL team. The Seattle Supersonics played there for 33 years in Seattle before an investment group purchased the franchise in 2006 and moved it to Oklahoma City in 2008.
In Shreveport, Mayor Ollie Tyler and the pro-Pelicans group “Slam Dunk for Shreveport” are picking up the pieces of their proposal to lure the Pelicans affiliate afterthe Shreveport City Council rejected a resolution to use $30 million in dedicated revenue bonds for a sports complex for the team.
“I’m going to do what God put me here to do, and that is to make this city better. If it’s his will … I’m not broken,” Mayor Tyler told Shreveport’s KSLA 12. “”It was unfortunate that we turned a company away with $139 million to invest. … But I respect the council’s decision.”
The $139 million was to be funded by Corporate Realty for hotels, retail and residential near the sports complex. Tyler Comeaux of Slam Dunk for Shreveport told KSLA 12 he wasn’t sure the city could salvage the deal and get a second chance with the Pelicans.
When asked about the lack of transparency concerning her negotiations with the NBA Pelicans, Taylor said she and her team could not disclose too much about the proposal without tipping off Pensacola.
In Pensacola, the public just learned last week about the costs associated with bringing the team here. There is no detailed proposal to host the team yet. Stephen Pate, the Pelicans’ Senior Director of Community and Governmental Affairs, hasn’t talked with the media about the negotiations. He attended the county commission meeting last week but did not speak or answer any questions. Pate has not addressed the city council in open session.
With Shreveport out of the picture, there is nothing holding back Mayor Hayward and the Pelicans from sharing more details of their negotiations.