I'd say so. Seattle area sports fans are a bit more... fickle? (the right word fails me) than I grew up around (New York City) and many have to drive much farther than the majority of east coast fans but we do have some advantages. Both a basketball team and a hockey team would have instant rivalries. And rivalries are the heart and soul of successful sports franchises.The new Sonics would pick up the Trailblazer rivalry immediately not to mention a ready made super grudge rivalry with the the Oklahoma City Lying Thieving Fucking Bastards. The Canucks are already one of the most hated teams in the NHL in general and few things are more satisfying to a passive aggressive psyche than a good hockey brawl. Population numbers are OK. I'm told the market is the 16th largest in the US (by guys on sports radio, which I must confess is a guilty pleasure of mine). My concern on that score is that the population is dispersed and may include people that live a several hour drive from Seattle. The venue will be about 18K seats, I think... that seems about right for an arena in a city like Seattle. Key arena was just under 18K according to Wikipedia. That means the sports should be able to sell out regularly. I don't know what the TV $ or the memorabilia crap $ means in the venue equation but I would think it significant. Both hockey and basketball have a real genuine championship history here in Seattle. It's kind of ironic that the two major pro sports that Seattle has had championship teams with are gone and the of two teams that we do have one has made it to the championship game only to lose. Between hockey and basketball there would be, including preseason and post season games, something like 100 home dates booking the venue. I would think at least 20-30 non-sporting acts would book there as well and maybe a few other dates taken by college basketball tournaments, circuses (do we allow those in Seattle?) and other more unconventional acts. I'd think 160 booked dates in a year would be reasonable. Maybe more. I'm biased. I like pro sports. But I know what I'm up against and Seattle is not a classic pro sports city. Not the way New York or Boston or even Cleveland and (god help me) San Francisco are. It's a Husky town, maybe. It's a tough town to get top players to come to. You have to fly hours to get to most of your opponents even within the division. It's rainy and cold a lot. etc. But few things bring cities together like a home team doing well and sports are one of those things that people of all political/social/economic/political stripes (with some exceptions) can talk about and be passionate about and find some common ground in. I miss that sort of thing. I have friends whose politics I abhor but we have sports in common. Without sports I would not have them in my life and I think that would make my life poorer in some way. And they would not have me in their life calling them mercilessly on all their shit in the non-sports world. And I know I have more influence over their thinking on non-sports subjects then they could ever have over mine. But I digress. As usual. Or more than usual. The real question becomes "Is this a good deal for Seattle". I say yes. This seems the best deal in years for any city. It'll work. We'll make it work.