Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson took to Twitter on Tuesday night to share his frustration over Seattle's failure to bring an NBA team back to the city, following the City Council's decision to vote against giving part of Occidental Avenue South to an entrepreneur who wants to build an arena.
In response to the council's vote Monday, Wilson urged fans to start a petition.
Seattle, Lets stand up & fight to get our team back! The stadium would sell out every game!
— Russell Wilson (@DangeRussWilson) May 4, 2016
Let's start a petition Seattle! @NBA#WhyNotUs
Baffling this amazing city doesn't have the #SuperSonics Bring them back! Seattle Loves Basketball!
— Russell Wilson (@DangeRussWilson) May 4, 2016
Seattle deserves a @NBA team
🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀
It wasn't the first time Wilson tweeted about bringing the NBA back to Seattle. He tweeted in September 2014 about bringing the Atlanta Hawks to the city, and asked in March 2015, "What do I have to do to bring the Sonics back to the NBA?"
Entrepreneur Chris Hansen has a memorandum of understanding with the city and King County through November 2017 about building an arena, but after Monday's decision, it appears the odds are against a deal being struck. In a statement on his website, SonicsArena.com, Hansen said, "Today's City Council vote was disappointing but we don't believe it is the end of the road in our quest to bring the NBA and NHL back to Seattle."
Among the issues factoring into the vote were traffic issues and conflicts with Port of Seattle and union workers.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver told The Seattle Times in March that before expansion talk could even begin, the league had to get through collective bargaining, which could take until 2017.
"The city's past actions contributed to the Sonics leaving Seattle," Seattle Mayor Ed Murray said Monday. "Today's council vote makes it less likely that the NBA will return."
Councilmember Sally Bagshaw, who led opposition to giving up the street to Hansen, said other options to bringing back the NBA should include taking a closer look at renovating KeyArena to bring it up to NBA and NHL standards.