Seattle taxpayers would subsidize the proposed new sports arena in Sodo to the tune of $731 million over 32 years, according to a financial analysis commissioned by an opponent group.
The group, Sonics Without Subsidies, threatened to sue if Mayor-elect Ed Murray and the Seattle City Council don’t revise the agreement with investor Chris Hansen to build the arena.
“There’s a grab bag of hidden subsidies in this deal with Chris Hansen. Every one of them is a special tax break that the normal person is not allowed to get,” attorney Cleveland Stockmeyer said at a news conference at a downtown law firm. Stockmeyer characterized the arena deal as “tax shirking by billionaires for their own profit.”
