SEATTLE, WA (NEWS1130) – It may take a few years, but you could be watching professional basketball — and maybe even hockey — in Seattle.

City councillors and state politicians say they’ve agreed to a deal with investor Chris Hansen that would see a new $500 million arena that could host both NBA and NHL teams.

Councillor Sally Clark admits talks got a bit tense at times.

“In Seattle, public/private partnerships have a checkered history. We are suspicious of private investment as a government in general, no matter who seems to be in office during which decade,” Clark notes.

Councillor Mike O’Brien says negotiations with Hansen were a long process.

“Things that we really cared about were protecting taxpayers and making sure that the risk was really minimized. [Hansen] eventually understood how important it was to us,” he explains. “There were other things that he wanted to get, so he [does] get some of those things — the option to buy the arena and own it outright at the end of 30 years.”

Hansen has already acquired land for an arena near Safeco Field and CenturyLink Field where the Mariners and Seahawks respectively play.

The deal also includes an investment in KeyArena, the old home of the Sonics.

Seattle has been without basketball since the Sonics left for Oklahoma in 2008.