With opponents of a Sodo arena gaining ground as the inevitable warts on the proposal are gradually revealed, wannabe Sonics owner Chris Hansen is preparing to reveal key members of his mysterious ownership group, an effort that should calm concerns that the city is being played by a cabal of wealthy outsiders. Sources familiar with the deal tell me that minority owners will include familiar names like Nordstom and Ballmer, as well as executives from Amazon and other local mainstays.

For all his local roots and his genuine childhood-nurtured love for the Seattle Supersonics, Hansen is still a San Francisco based kajillionaire hedge fund manager who has no plans to move back to Seattle should he get the team and arena he's pitching. It's an out-of-towner status that isn't serving him well as arena opponents begin to effectively jell their message.

As much as anything, politics is about storytelling, and it's much easier to write a story with an actual person as your antagonist. Behind the scenes, arena opponents are beginning to frame the proposal as a "conspiracy" to transform Sodo from a light industrial district into a retail, entertainment, and even residential neighborhood—a story that rightly or wrongly casts Hansen in the role of villain. But with an array of respected local business leaders standing behind him, that story will become a bit more difficult to tell. If we are getting played, it will be the usual local suspects doing the playing.