An NBA team — and NHL — for Seattle?

So, some guy named Christopher Hansen apparently is a San Francisco hedge-fund manager. And apparently he’s pretty good at it, because apparently he’s rich. Really rich. Like, rich enough to build an arena and buy an NBA team and put said NBA team in said arena. And he just happens to be from Seattle, which means that said NBA team and said arena would be in Seattle. At least, that’s what The Seattle Times tells us.

The Times, being the journalistic types, asked the city for some documents. They found that plans are in the works for an arena south of Safeco Field, at minimal expense to taxpayers. They also found that negotiations have been going on for eight months or so, and that a team conceivably could be in Seattle by next fall.

And yet . . . I have buried the lead.

The Times also notes that NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has expressed a desire to put a team in Seattle, and that the new building could be configured with that in mind. Which could be a soul-crushing development. If Seattle gets an NHL team before Portland — after Portland has dinked around in the 17 years since the Rose Garden opened — it would be a travesty of the highest order.

Portland has an ideal building for the NHL, and it has had numerous opportunities over the years to land a team. If only Paul Allen were a hockey fan, the world would be a better place. Instead, Seattle and some hedge-fund manager who doesn’t even live there is going to swoop in and grab its own NHL team, which probably will end Portland’s chances of ever getting a club.

All of which leads to one conclusion: I should have been a hedge-fund manager.