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Seattle, King County convince judge they do not yet have a Sonics arena deal

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Jeramey Jannene via Wikimedia Commons

A union lawsuit against the city of Seattle and King County was thrown out on Friday because a judge was convinced there is not technically an arena deal in place in the Emerald City.

The lawsuit filed by port workers in Seattle attempted to argue that in effect the city and King County had an arena deal in place without completing the appropriate environmental reviews. Chris Hansen's group argued otherwise, insisting that the deal was a memorandum of understanding only and couldn't be "final" until a team was acquired, at which environmental reviews would be completed. Hansen was successful in his argument that the arena deal isn't done, and the suit was tossed out on Friday.

Of course, this is still a win for Hansen in the grand scheme. It's one legal hurdle out of the way. The second legal hurdle is a suit revolving around Initiative 91 compliance. Initiative 91 forces all publicly subsidized arena/stadium projects to turn a profit for the city. The next hearing in that case is months away, and is not expected to throw a monkey wrench into Hansen's plans.

This battle won't likely be won in the courtroom, but the Board room.

                                                                                                                                                                                                               

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