Greg Nickels, the Mayor of Seattle, says that while he has not spoken to anyone from the NBA, he believes that the door is wide open for an NBA return to Seattle.

The report, published by the Associated Press, states that the plan surrounds a remodeled Key Arena.  Clay Bennett relocated the Sonics after claiming that the arena was obsolete.

"We'll be going to the Legislature in their next session" beginning in January, Nickels said Monday at a ceremony inside KeyArena to announce Seattle University will be using it when the school returns to Division I basketball this season for the first time since 1980.

Nickels said Seattle will ask for state authorization to divert 1 percent of the existing hotels tax in Seattle from the convention and visitors bureau to the city. He said the convention center no longer needs that revenue, and the city should get it.

"Those funds [would be] available for an NBA franchise," he said.