OLYMPIA – A Thursday morning meeting that appeared on Gov. Bob Ferguson’s schedule has sparked excitement that the Seattle Sonics could soon return nearly 20 years after the team moved to Oklahoma City.
A calendar released by the governor’s office on Wednesday afternoon shows that Ferguson was scheduled to meet with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver at 11:15 Thursday morning.
“As a kid, the governor grew up attending many Sonics games, and attending the Lenny Wilkens basketball camp,” Brionna Aho, a spokesperson for the governor, said in a statement Thursday. “The governor recently reached out to Commissioner Adam Silver requesting an introductory meeting. They had a good conversation, and the governor offered to be helpful.”
No other details on the meeting were immediately available. It was not clear if the meeting would take place remotely, or if Silver was in Washington to meet with the governor.
In recent years, city and state officials have taken steps to prepare for the eventual return of the team following their move in 2008.
Climate Pledge Arena, the former home of the Sonics, recently underwent a $1.15 billion renovation. While it serves as the home of the NHL’s Seattle Kraken and frequently hosts concerts and other shows, an underdeveloped storage space in the arena is labeled with a sign that reads “NBA Locker Room.”
During his State of the State address last month, Ferguson opened with a nod to the recent success of both the Seahawks and Mariners, and called for the Sonics to return.
“I’m excited to announce that under the new Ferguson administration, for the first time in state history, the Seattle Mariners and Seattle Seahawks won their divisions in the same year. That can’t be a coincidence,” Ferguson said. “And we know that our work in professional sports is not done until we bring the Seattle Super Sonics back home.”
In December, Silver indicated that the league would look into expansion from 30 to 32 teams sometime this year.
“Not a secret, we’re looking at this market in Las Vegas. We are looking at Seattle,” Silver said on Dec. 16. “We’ve looked at other markets as well. I’d say I want to be sensitive there about this notion that we’re somehow teasing these markets, because I know we’ve been talking about it for a while.”
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