SEATTLE - NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has added more intrigue to the region's debate over whether to build a new sports arena.
In an interview with Vancouver's TSN 1040 AM, Bettman noted that there are a "few people interesting in owning a franchise" in the market, but that there is "very little certainly about a building."
He then took it one step further in referencing the stalled Seattle Arena project led by Chris Hansen.
"(He was) lusting after an NBA franchise, it doesn't look like he's getting one," Bettman said.
Bettman then said the league had been approached about a "building in Bellevue" or "Tukwila, which until all this started, I had never heard of," other than it has the "largest shopping mall in the Pacific Northwest".
It's the first time Bettman has suggested a project could be built outside the Seattle city limits.
Hansen's project has been slowed by the city's environmental review process. The memorandum of understanding on the project calls for the environmental review to be done, and an NBA team to be acquired, before public financing is released.
An Eastside architect told KING 5 in December that his company had been approached to survey potential arena sites in Bellevue, Tukwila and Auburn, but viewed the discussions as "preliminary".
A Tukwila city official also acknowledged back in December of meeting with that architect multiple times, but also claimed any sort of arena plan was "premature."
Bettman told TSN 1040, "Seattle would be a great hockey market" and the "natural rivalry with Vancouver would be terrific."
NHL officials had no further comment Wednesday about Bettman's suggestion.
