TULALIP – Tulalip Tribes is teaming up with a New York City private equity firm to offer an $8.1 billion bid to bring an expansion Seattle Sonics NBA team to Snohomish County instead of Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle.
BlackSun’s NBA vision for Tulalip includes the group, Native World Sports, who announced, “This is an opportunity to demonstrate what genuine partnership with Tribal Nations can look like at the highest level of professional sports. This effort starts with a premise that recognizes Tribal Nations as sovereign governments…sophisticated economic partners…in the future of Washington State.” NWS highlighted creating opportunities for local and Tribal-owned businesses within the potential franchise’s commercial ecosystem as a cornerstone of the bid arrangement.
Published reports have indicated the potential Tulalip NBA arena would be built next to the existing Tulalip Casino.
The expansion franchise bid raises a host of questions about arena and events space as the City of Everett is in the midst of acquiring millions of dollars in property to build a new outdoor events center for Aqua Sox baseball, minor league soccer, music concerts and other performances which could be built across the street from Angel Of The Winds Arena which also hosts concerts and conferences and serves as the home ice for the Everett Silvertips minor league hockey team.
Black Sun, a private equity firm founded by former Morgan Stanley financial adviser Atonn Muhammad, is now the second bidder pursuing a National Basketball Association expansion franchise earmarked for the return of the Seattle Sonics after the team was moved to Oklahoma City in 2008.
In August, BlackSun announced a $1 billion round of funding which would tally about 16% of at least $8 billion that financial analysts have estimated would be required to win the expansion bid. Bloomberg Law reported on August 20, BlackSun has selected Greenstone Equity Partners, a group that specializes in placing capital from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates as its global placement agent. Nery Gomez, founder and COO of BlackSun Private Equity confirmed $1 billion in funding for the Seattle NBA franchise, telling Bloomberg, “We’re pursuing other financing partners in the next one, three, six months before we go into our formal raise” to reach an expected $8 billion or more that it would take to win the highest bid for the NBA expansion team.
One Roof Sports, created in March 2026 by Seattle Kraken majority owner Samantha Holloway, was the previous lone bidder for a Seattle expansion NBA team. One Roof is the majority owner of Climate Pledge Arena on the Seattle Center grounds where, up until the emergence of the BlackSun bid, the Seattle Sonics played the majority of their previous games when it was called the Seattle Coliseum and Key Arena, save for 1978-1985 at the Kingdome and 1994-1995 at the Tacoma Dome.
Sovereign wealth funds—or public investment funds–from nations like Saudi Arabia, Qatar and United Arab Emirates have increasingly expanded investment in sports franchises and sports leagues, notably in professional golf where the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund financed a new competitor to the Professional Golf Association, PGA, in 2022. The $5 billion Saudi investment to bankroll the competing men’s golf league, LIV, resulted in criticism from human rights groups, players and fans. Rory McIlroy, two-time Masters champ and 2014 The Open Championship winner flatly refused to join LIV when the league was formed and stated he’d retire before joining the Saudi-financed league. Eventually, the Saudi PIF agreed to withdraw its funding after the 2026 season, forcing LIV to hire investment banks to find new financial partners.
Sovereign wealth funds are restricted to 20% passive ownership of an NBA franchise pursuant to a league rule enacted in 2020 that says pension funds, sovereign wealth funds and endowments cannot own a controlling stake in a team.
Locally, a future NBA arena in Tulalip would appear to create competition for both sports and non-sports events for both taxpayer owned facilities in Everett and for the Tulalip Tribes own amphitheater which regularly hosts concerts and stand-up.
EverettPost.com has reached out to Tulalip Tribes and the Everett Public Facilities District for comment on the scenario of an NBA-ready arena and has not received responses so far.
An NBA arena with an average capacity approaching 18,000 fans would be an economic engine, according to Daniel Tapana, economic development director at Economic Alliance Snohomish County, who tells EverettPost.com, “An arena of that scale is a regional anchor. Construction puts trades to work for years, and permanent operations support jobs in facility management, food service, security, and hospitality, with hotels and restaurants serving crowds forty-plus nights a year. We’d like to see this land here.”
Regarding the questions about potentially three large event venues between downtown Everett and Tulalip, Tapana says, “These are different venue classes serving different markets. Angel of the Winds has built a strong events business at its size, and an NBA-standard arena is a different tier of building and a different tier of touring act. A larger venue here could make this region a routing stop for tours that skip us today, which is good for everyone,” in commerce terms.
Given the socio-economic factors related to human rights treatment and sovereign wealth funds investing in sports businesses, Tapana advises, “Fair question, but not one for us. The league (NBA) runs its own ownership review, and that’s where it belongs. Where investment comes from is a legitimate public interest and people are entitled to ask. At this stage, the reporting describes potential sources, not committed capital.”
Whether or not the BlackSun private equity NBA expansion bid is successful or not, Tapana embraces the fundamentals of an NBA team in Snohomish County and not Seattle. “It says outside capital is looking north. Snohomish County is one of the fastest-growing counties in the state, with a strong and diversified business climate. We have established manufacturers alongside younger companies in advanced technology. That’s what a firm evaluating an asset of this size sees when it looks here. Interest at this level tends to follow fundamentals.”