So much for the Seattle Mariners trying to stick themselves into the Seattle arena debate. It appears after Seattle citizens made their voices heard, everyone in the organization is ready to do an about face.
Shannon Drayer talked with the Mariners CEO Howard Lincoln and filed this report. You can listen to the full audio by clicking here.
Howard Lincoln: I think as the letter makes clear we are very supportive of having the NBA back in Seattle, the NHL as well. We had a great relationship with the Sonics before they left and, quite frankly, I was a Sonics fan before I was a Mariners fan. So we would love to see the NBA back.
Our concern is the siting of the proposed NBA arena. The concern we have really is a transportation issue and what we anticipate will be the need to expend significant public funds to mitigate the transportation problems we have there and to build appropriate infrastructure so that these transportation issues are at least eased. Our hope is through this letter, what we are really saying with this letter is, "Please, let's have a process, a public process that determines the best site for the arena. We simply don't think the site right next to our parking lot works."
Now it appears the Mariners are throwing their weight behind these issues, as they had these statements to make on what's occurring in SoDo.
"We are happy to hear the news of a feasibility study of traffic and parking in the Sodo area."
"We are very supportive of this process and we look forward to being involved."
"We have a lot of experience down here because we have lived it every day for over 12 years."
"We look forward to participating in the study, offering our experience & our expertise & helping find a solution that works for everyone."
All is well. Please proceed.
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