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With the addition of the ICON Venue Group and its president and CEO, Tim Romani, to manage the arena project and the selection of HOK Sport and Senior Principal Jim Walters as architect, Bennett has made the template clear. The aim is to build a world-class multi-purpose arena along the lines of the Pepsi Center in Denver, which ICON and HOK teamed up on, or the Toyota Center in Houston, designed by HOK.

"The objective has been from the beginning to assemble a team of the best and brightest. We've been thoughtful about that. We've taken time to do that." Terrence Vaccaro/NBAE/Getty

"As I learn more about this process and am thinking about it from day to day, I begin to think that this is less about the Sonics and more about the development of a community asset," Bennett said at an afternoon press conference. "A multi-purpose sports entertainment facility that will accommodate the Sonics and Storm, that will accommodate the NHL, that will accommodate concerts, community events, conventions, commercial and trade activities, that's a 365-day venue that doesn't exist in this marketplace today."

ICON and HOK both bring the relevant experience necessary to undertake that kind of project. In addition to the Pepsi Center and the Toyota Center, HOK's NBA experience includes the United Center in Chicago and Philips Arena in Atlanta, as well as 24 clients in major league baseball and 30 in the NFL. ICON has managed the development of the STAPLES Center, the Sprint Center, currently in development in Kansas City, and many more.

"The objective has been from the beginning to assemble a team of the best and brightest," said Bennett. "We've been thoughtful about that. We've taken time to do that. Sometimes it has taken more time than we would have liked to get that done, but we made the determination that we want to stay on schedule but we want to do all that we can do to retain the right people."

Romani is excited about the opportunity to partner with HOK and Walter once again.

"It's always difficult when you're choosing from the best of the best, but it makes for a great opportunity," he said. "In the end, we made a tremendous decision. HOK Sport is a firm that we're very familiar with. We have several projects going with them right now; we've worked with them in the past. The Pepsi Center project in Denver is a project that Jim Walters and I actually worked on together. We're excited about another opportunity to work with HOK. They truly are one of, if not the elite architectural firm in the world today. We're anxious to get started. We've got a lot of work in front of us at an accelerated, rapid pace."

Bennett's timeline remains an aggressive one. The expectation is to have a business model, a site and architectural concepts announced by the coming end of the calendar year. Bennett said he hopes to be able to present the first week the Washington state legislature is in session in 2007 and is hopeful something can be determined early in the legislature.

The details of that plan are still being worked out, and besides sharing that the group has focused on "a few sites," none of them within the city of Seattle proper, Bennett is not ready to be specific.

"We've got to get the big picture first," he said.

The vision is coming together. It includes lofty goals.

"I got to thinking about Final Fours," said Bennett. "I was proposing a Republican National Convention, but maybe a Democratic National Convention would be good as well. Any number of important national-caliber events that cannot be held in this marketplace today. Clearly, the Sonics can drive that. They should and can be the primary tenant and manage this facility and envision and put together all that can be within this building."

"They become more than just places for basketball games," said Walters, referring to past HOK multi-purpose arenas along the lines of what is envisioned for the city of Seattle. "They become centers of communities. They become opportunities for new and varied entertainment that were not available to those communities. We feel that our most successful projects fall right in line with what Clay Bennett is trying to accomplish here."

"You are blessed to have two facilities already in this town that are world-renowned," added Romani. "This is the opportunity to give that third piece."

Bennett is confident that the groups that have been brought on board and the money that has been spent - "a lot," he said, without revealing a specific number - serve to further demonstrate the ownership group's commitment to keeping the Sonics and Storm in Seattle.

"It remains our complete and absolute objective to remain in this marketplace," Bennett said. "I hope that I don't have to talk about that as much anymore, because we are well underway in terms of tangible activities and steps and processes to bring about the development of a new building.

"We expect it to get done."