Seattle City Council member Richard Conlin thinks the proposal for an arena that would bring the Sonics back to Seattle is "unlikely" to be approved by the council, Nick Eaton reports at Seattlepi.com. Conlin—who's always been game for spending hundreds of millions on new highways—says he's opposed because he doesn't wanna spend public money on a major infrastructure project.

The city would need to chip in up to $200 million toward the half-billion dollar project, with the city recouping its expenses from future user fees. Most of the arena would be financed by grazillionaire investor Chris Hansen.

Not every council member agrees with Conlin. Jean Godden says his talk is "premature," but Goldy reported a couple weeks ago that the council may be aligning to smother the arena deal.