Behind the proposal to bring the NBA and NHL back to Seattle via a new arena is Chris Hansen, a San Francisco hedge-fund manager with ties to the area. So who is he? SeattlePI looked into it.
Hansen was born in San Francisco in 1968 but moved to Seattle with his mother in 1973. He was 11 when the Seattle Sonics won the 1979 NBA Finals and he says that winning the championship was a defining moment in his life. Despite moving away, he always remained a die-hard Sonics fan.
"I’ve always been a Seattle sports fan," he told The Seattle Times. "There’s no second team. If you guys talked to any of my friends, (you) would realize I’m a Seahawks fan, a Mariners fan, a Sounders fan and a Sonics fan, and I think I’ve been fortunate enough in my life that I could make a difference."
Most interestingly, Hansen seems interested in staying out of the limelight as much as possible when it comes to the new arena. He wasn’t present for Thursday’s news conference at City Hall and is only releasing photos of himself to select media.
Whoever he might be, he's turning into a hero for Seattle fans.
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