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A quick update on Seattle’s arena situation

Super Bowl Seattle Football

The Space Needle casts its shadow next to KeyArena, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2015, in Seattle, after a Seattle Seahawks 12th Man flag was raised on its roof. The Seahawks will face the New England Patriots in NFL football’s Super Bowl XLIX on Sunday, Feb. 1, 2015, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

AP

From the Seattle Times:

Seattle Mayor Ed Murray says he won’t entertain any offers on alternative arena sites to the one proposed by Chris Hansen in the Sodo District.

Murray said Thursday he plans to honor a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Hansen that expires at the end of 2017 and will not listen to proposals on overhauling KeyArena or any other location within the city.

“We entered into an agreement — the city did before I got here — and I said that I would honor that agreement,’’ Murray said. “This may not have been our first choice, how this was agreed upon, but … legally we have to honor it.’’

What does the above mean for Seattle’s chances of landing an NHL team? Well, it probably doesn’t help in the near term. That MOU that the city says it will honor only includes public financing if Hansen first lands an NBA team, and the chances of that are slim, if not nil.

Murray made his remarks after the Seattle Times revealed there was a group that had indicated a desire to renovate KeyArena, the old home of the NBA’s SuperSonics. Architects have concluded that KeyArena could, despite the previous assumption, be made “NBA and NHL compatible at a cost of $285 million,” per King 5 News.

But until 2018, the city is bound to Hansen.

Related: There will be no NHL expansion vote in December