SEATTLE — Is there a second bidder in the conversation surrounding NBA expansion and the chances of the SuperSonics returning to Seattle?

It might depend on the viability of that bid and a proposal that would call for the team to eventually play in Snohomish County.

Some buzz was generated in mid-August when BlackSun Private Equity announced its intent to be part of the NBA expansion conversation in Seattle, joining One Roof Sports and Entertainment as a second publicly known bidder. It was an unexpected proposal submitted to the league from a group with no significant local ties, claiming it could raise $8.1 billion to make the transaction possible.

As part of its announcement, BlackSun promoted planned partnerships with local tribal communities. Within those proposed partnerships lies an obstacle that would seem on the surface to be one of the biggest challenges for the group to overcome in creating a viable bid.

Documents reviewed by The Seattle Times indicate BlackSun has been in conversation with the Tulalip Tribes about the possibility of constructing a sports-and-entertainment complex on tribal-owned land near Marysville if successful in its bid. Sources told the Times the sides were in the final stages of a partnership agreement.

A tribal spokesperson confirmed there have been discussions with BlackSun, but the tribe said Thursday it had nothing more to add at this time.

In an interview with The Times last month, BlackSun CEO Atonn Muhammad didn’t comment directly about conversations with the Tulalip Tribes, other than saying their bid includes an arena site, “that is part of the commitment coming from the tribal communities.”

Here's what's being suggested: If the NBA approves expansion and BlackSun is the winning bidder, the proposal would see the team playing in an arena 30 miles north of Seattle's northern city limits.

“We want this bid to be seen as basically a partnership between this entity and the communities,” Muhammad said. “For once, we feel like sports and the individuals who operate on behalf of it need to come to the community and be a servant to it instead of taking from it.”

Muhammad, a former walk-on football player at the University of Miami in the early 1990s, is the CEO for the New York-based investment firm. He said his group was involved in the discussions around the sale of the Boston Celtics two years ago, although how close they were to a winning bid has been disputed.

Who would invest in the ownership group remains unclear. BlackSun, as a private equity group, can hold up to 30% of the investment in a franchise according to NBA rules. There must be a single controlling owner with an investment of at least 15% according to the league's ownership requirements.

One partner announced by BlackSun is Native World Sports, an organization that says its goal is advancing tribal participation in professional sports and entertainment. In the case of this proposal, it's the conversations with the Tulalip Tribes around land for the proposed arena complex.

Muhammad said additional investors are expected to be added, including those with area ties. NBA rules say that must be capped at 25 individuals.

"We have a consortium of high net worth individuals and other investors who are interested in the opportunity as a consortium that will make up the total of the $8.1 billion offer,” Muhammad said.

One Roof Sports and Entertainment, the owners of the Kraken and majority owner of Climate Pledge Arena under the public-private partnership, continues to be the front-runner in the expansion talks about the potential return of the SuperSonics.

The NBA said it remains committed that a decision on whether to expand to either Seattle, Las Vegas or both will come before the end of 2026 and could return the SuperSonics to the area after the franchise moved to Oklahoma City following the 2008 season.

"We understand that there are people who may underestimate this bid," said Nick Rathod, the chief global strategy and communications officer for BlackSun, who previously worked in the administration for President Barack Obama.

"That’s fine. Seattle has a pretty remarkable history of proving people wrong. But we didn’t enter this process to make a statement, raise our profile or position ourselves for some future opportunity. We are here for one reason: To bring the SuperSonics home — and to build an ownership model worthy of Seattle, the Pacific Northwest and the future of the NBA."

Muhammad said once the NBA opened up the expansion discussion, the goal for his organization was to try to put together a bid.

"The Vegas situation you had everybody stand up and say that they wanted to be a part of that, but we felt like Seattle was a better strategic market,” Muhammad said.

BlackSun's proposal would have the team initially play games at Climate Pledge Arena as a tenant while building the complex on Tulalip land.

Asking fans and sponsors to travel 41 times during the regular season through some of the most difficult traffic in the region is not an easy sell. Commutes between Seattle and Everett regularly take an hour or more at peak travel times.

Partnering with the tribe could benefit that community, but the overall proposal seems risky to have the eventual venue be that far from the primary population base.

NBA teams traditionally prefer to be in the downtown core, and more teams are following that path. Golden State moved from Oakland to San Francisco, while Detroit and Sacramento left suburban areas for downtown arenas in the last 10 years. San Antonio is trying to do the same.

The only NBA team that chose to leave the downtown area recently was the Los Angeles Clippers, so Steve Ballmer could build the Intuit Dome in Inglewood 11 miles away. Dallas is seeking to do something similar.

Whether the NBA considers BlackSun’s proposal to be a bona fide competing bid is also uncertain. To date, the NBA has not commented on any of the specific proposals by ownership groups in either Seattle or Las Vegas.

The next benchmark in this drawn-out timeline of expansion talks is coming up soon. The NBA Board of Governors will meet this month in New York for the next round of expansion discussion where NBA Commissioner Adam Silver is expected to provide another update on the process.

"Our bid is being built differently from the beginning," Rathod said. "We are partnering with tribal nations not simply as sponsors or supporters, but as leaders and potential owners. We will be engaging elected officials, community leaders and fans across the region before the major decisions are made, because we believe the people who have kept faith with this team for nearly two decades deserve a voice in what comes next.

"And our vision extends beyond downtown Seattle: We want the SuperSonics to once again belong to the entire Pacific Northwest and become an economic and cultural engine for the region.

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