SEATTLE -- Attempts to build an arena that could bring the NBA back to Seattle took another step forward on Wednesday when the city, King County and investor Chris Hansen announced a memorandum of understanding laying out the financial responsibilities for the proposed venue. . Unlike an original rough proposal unveiled in February, the agreement announced Wednesday indicates that construction on the facility could begin with only an NBA franchise having been acquired. Previously, officials had indicated that for the financing plan to work, both NBA and NHL franchises would be needed. The goal is still to bring both professional sports to the Puget Sound region. But the project can move forward with only the NBA in hand, which is the focus of Hansen, a San Francisco hedge-fund manager and main investor in the project. "Weve been very honest with everybody that actually having an NBA and NHL team to sign agreements with ownership groups to move on the exact same day is pretty unlikely," Hansen said. The agreement announced Wednesday now goes before the Seattle City Council and King County Council for approval. The project calls for about $290 million in private investment from Hansens group, along with $200 million from the city and county through 30-year bonds. Any franchise that comes to Seattle and uses the arena would be required to sign a non-relocation agreement that would span the life of those bonds. The bonds would be paid off through taxes and revenues generated by the arena, which would be owned by the municipalities. All construction costs, including overruns, would be paid for by Hansens private group -- ArenaCo -- along with all environmental studies and permitting. Once that process is completed, most of the public investment is placed on the city. The MOU calls for an initial investment of $100 million by the city for acquisition of the project site. During a second investment window, the city would contribute another $20 million if both an NBA and NHL team are acquired, with the remaining $80 million in public investment being bonded by the county. If only an NBA team is acquired, the public bonding would be capped at $120 million with $115 million coming from the city and only $5 million coming from the county. "We have to keep taking steps along the way," Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn said. "I guess what Im trying to say is it would be a real shot in the arm to our community to bring back the Sonics and that has value." Specifications for the arena were also released. It would hold up to 19,000 for concerts, 18,500 for basketball and 17,500 for hockey and be constructed on a 700,000 square-foot location just south of downtown Seattle in the neighbourhood where Safeco Field and CenturyLink Field were built. 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Tampa Bay Buccaneers Jersey . -- Joonas Nattinen scored the go-ahead goal late in the second period as the Hamilton Bulldogs edged the Hershey Bears 3-2 on Saturday in the American Hockey League. Helen Upperton was a relative newcomer to the circuit when she watched fellow Canadian Pierre Lueders reach the top of the bobsled podium in 2004. She knew right then that she wanted to reach the same height in womens bobsled. Upperton achieved her goal nearly two years later and would go on to put the Canadian womens team on the map. Upperton announced her retirement Thursday, ending a nearly decade-long run as one of the countrys top bobsled pilots. "I would definitely say its bittersweet," Upperton said from Calgary. "Its very hard to stop doing something that you love so much and I love bobsledding. "I loved it since the very first time that I went down the track." Upperton, a 32-year-old from Calgary, earned the Canada I position in her first full season as a pilot in 2003. A few years later, she became the first Canadian to win a womens World Cup bobsled race by taking gold in St. Moritz, Switzerland. She finished with six World Cup titles and 20 podium appearances. Upperton also picked up several team medals over her career and raced with a variety of brakemen including Kaillie Humphries, Heather Moyse, Jenny Ciochetti and Shelley-Ann Brown. Her career zenith came with Brown -- who also retired Thursday -- when they won silver at the Vancouver Olympics in 2010. "Getting to do it at home is such a rare chance and I feel so lucky that I was part of the Canadian winter sports system during a home Olympic Games," she said. "It was incredible." They were joined on the podium by Humphries and Moyse, who won gold on the Whistler track in front of an adoring home crowd. Uppertons breakout season came in 2005, a year after her motivation level rose significantly by watching Lueders anchor the Canadian mens sled to a world title in Germany. "I stood there and watched him and I thought, One day, thats going to be us," Upperton said. "I had just decided that it waas going to happen. [url=http://www.buccaneersofficialteamstore.com/autographed-lavonte-david-jersey... David Jersey[/url]. I was like, This is going to happen. "And sure enough, the next year we were on top of the podium." That first win came on the World Cup circuit in January 2006, just a month before they settled for a fourth-place finish at the Turin Olympics. The 32-year-old Brown, meanwhile, joined the national program that year. She would make her first appearance on the World Cup podium in 2007 and had mixed results over the years leading up to her Olympic silver. "Retiring as an athlete is bittersweet because its the last line in one of the most significant chapters in ones life," Brown said. "Yet I look back over my Canadian bobsleigh career with nothing but utter gratitude." Upperton plans to host and co-produce an adventure reality television show that will begin airing next month. Brown, who has a masters degree in educational psychology, has enrolled in teachers college at the University of Toronto. "Helen and Shelley-Ann are leaving our sport having played a significant role in putting us on the international radar screen and ensuring its credibility within the Canadian sport system," said Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton president Reid Morrison. "Doing much of the heavy lifting for our womens program with talented athletes like Shelley-Ann in her sled, Helen has opened the door for other Canadian women to believe they too can get on the podium and win." Upperton said she had been thinking about retirement over the last few years, especially as the nagging injuries started to pile up. "Its sad and exciting," she said of her decision. "Opening a new chapter in your life is always an exciting thing to do and a little bit scary. Obviously retirement for most athletes is a pretty big challenge. "So Im in that process right now and Im trying to keep myself busy and see where the next adventure is going to take me." ' ' '