With future expansion and franchise re-location currently, a hot topic within the NHL we thought it was a good idea to have a look what’s going on across the pond with regards to team changes. Starting today with Seattle, the favourite to land an expansion team.
Seattle
News broke last week that there will be a $600-million renovation of KeyArena in Seattle prompting talk that the city is set to host an NHL franchise.
Seattle City Council confirmed that the project to renovate and upgrade the 55-year-old KeyArena, which first opened its doors in April 1962, could begin to get underway late next year with the project expected to be completed around October 2020. Meaning an NHL team could be playing out of the facility for the 2020-21 season.
Last week’s meeting saw Seattle City Council vote 7-1 in favour of a Memorandum of Understanding between the city and Oak View Group, an organization co-founded by Tim Leiweke, (formerly the president and CEO of Anschutz Entertainment Group, which owns the Los Angeles Kings, and operated in the same roles with Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment from August 2013 until October 2015). It appears the MOU has finally given some clarity to an arena situation that has been watched intently by those who believe Seattle should be the next new NHL market.
Now though it appears that Seattle are in a position to be able to bring Major League hockey to the city. But for that to happen, what would the NHL potentially be looking at when granting Seattle, a franchise?
Arena - The arena currently plays host to the NCAA’s Seattle Redhawks and WNBA’s Seattle Storm, but hasn’t had a permanent major league tenant since the NBA’s Seattle SuperSonics left the city for Oklahoma, following the 2007-08 season. Updating the arena, which presently has a capacity of around 15,000 for hockey, would be the last hurdle when it comes to bringing professional sports back to the city.
Seattle have longed for the return of their SuperSonics ever since the day they left, but the major stumbling block was the lack of a facility. With this announcement an NBA return to the city is a possibility. Back in 2013 when the topic of further NHL expansion was first mentioned there was talk that the Sacramento Kings (at the time up for sale) could be purchased and re-branded as the SuperSonics Mark II. That would have been dependant of an arena deal in place, with a brand-new facility only being granted provided the NBA team shared it with an NHL team.
With that in mind there were certain expectations during the recent expansion process in July 2015 which garnered the Golden Knights, that Seattle would join Las Vegas and Quebec City as potential expansion cities to submit bids. However, the deadline came and passed, without Seattle submitting a bid.
Population – The city’s television/media market and prospective fan base make it an intriguing place for the league to land. According to a U.S. Census estimate in 2016, Seattle’s population, 704,000, made it the 18th-most populous city in the country, but that doesn’t include surrounding towns such as Tacoma, Bellevue, Kent and Everett, all of which have a population of at least 100,000 within roughly an hour of Seattle. Meanwhile, Nielsen ranked Seattle-Tacoma as the 14th-best television market in the U.S.
Hockey History - Washington State is home to four existing teams in the WHL’s U.S. Division, including the Everett Silvertips, Tri-City Americans, Spokane Chiefs and Seattle Thunderbirds. The latter of which play at Kent’s ShoWare Center to the south of Seattle.
Seattle has a long hockey history, dating back to the formation of the PCHA's Seattle Metropolitans in 1915. The 1917 Metropolitans were the first American winners of the Stanley Cup, but folded in 1924 before the rise of the Original Six, while the Seattle Totems played in the borderline-major Western Hockey League from 1944 until the WHL's dissolution in 1975. As of 2015, the Puget Sound region's highest level of hockey is the Canadian major juniors: the Seattle Thunderbirds (based 20 miles south of Seattle in Kent) and Everett Silvertips (25 miles north of Seattle) play in the Western Hockey League. Additionally, Silver's 2013 study concluded that Seattle had the largest number of avid hockey fans of any U.S. media market that did not have an NHL team. In April 1974, Seattle and Denver were conditionally granted NHL franchises. Seattle's never came to fruition because of the Western League's instability (according to season ticket promotions, the team would have kept the WHL name of Totems). A Seattle group made a bid on an expansion franchise in 1990, but it failed over the financial terms the NHL demanded. The SuperSonics basketball team managed the arena and would not offer a share of suite revenues considered necessary for the NHL team's success. The businessmen who wanted to operate the potential NHL team were unwilling to pay the $50 million expansion fee imposed by the NHL, and their bid was rejected.
On February 16, 2012, a plan was announced to build a new arena in Seattle's SoDo district just south of Safeco Field. An investment group, headed by hedge-fund manager Chris Hansen, is proposing to seek a return of the National Basketball Association (NBA) to Seattle after the Sonics moved to Oklahoma City and is interested in possibly having an NHL team as well. The configuration of the proposed arena would be able to accommodate hockey, unlike KeyArena. The arena would be built as a public-private partnership between the City of Seattle and Hansen's group. Hansen's group would invest $290 million and the public sector (city and county) $200 million. The project will not proceed without the confirmed purchase of a professional team as the arena's tenant. Hansen's group has purchased all the land that makes up the arena site. Commenting later that day, NHL Commissioner Bettman stressed that the NHL has no plans for expansion or relocation. Levin has spoken to Hansen and expressed his interest in being involved as the owner of the NHL franchise that would be the tenant in the arena. Levin has also expressed his interest to Bettman.
On July 25, 2012, it was reported that Wayne Gretzky was meeting with Bellevue officials regarding an NHL team in the Seattle area. On September 11, 2012, it was announced that the Seattle City Council had reached an agreement with Hansen to build an arena in Seattle's SoDo district. The agreement calls for a $40 million transportation fund, $7 million to upgrade KeyArena, an option for the city and county to sell the arena at the end of the 30-year lease period, and a personal financial guarantee from Hansen if the arena's finances fall short. Shortly afterward, on September 24, it was reported that Edmonton Oilers owner Daryl Katz and team president Patrick LaForge visited Seattle, sparking rumors of the Oilers relocating to Seattle.
Ownership - Within days further news broke from the NHL stating that, a Seattle ownership group has been authorized to file an application for an NHL expansion team that would begin play in the 2020-21 season, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said Thursday.
The cost of the team would be $650 million, and Commissioner Bettman said the NHL is looking at only Seattle for possible expansion.
The group includes Jerry Bruckheimer, a Hollywood producer, and David Bonderman, a private equity CEO. Seattle would become the 32nd NHL team.
"That doesn't mean we have granted an expansion team," Commissioner Bettman said following the Board of Governors meeting. "We have agreed as a league to take and consider an expansion application and to let them run in the next few months a season ticket drive."
The Vegas Golden Knights, who began play this season as the NHL's 31st team, paid a $500 million expansion fee. NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said the $150 million spike in the expansion fee reflects the value of the team in a specific market and allows for inflation.
"Including the fact that the Vegas franchise went for $500 million and, it's been … a successful expansion," Deputy Commissioner Daly said.
Seattle became a viable option for an NHL team this week with the agreement between the city and Los Angeles-based Oak View Group for a privately financed $600 million renovation of KeyArena, which opened in 1962 and was the home of the NBA's Seattle SuperSonics from 1967-78, 1985-1994 and 1995-2008 before they relocated to Oklahoma City for the 2008-09 season.
Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan on Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding between the city and Oak View Group. The memorandum was approved by the Seattle City Council in a 7-1 vote Monday.
The Billion Dollar Buyer spent more than $2 billion to get the Houston Rockets, and Tilman Fertitta may not be stopping there. The possibility of an NHL team in Houston was quickly raised even at Fertitta's introductory press conference after buying the Rockets.
Recently, Fertitta confirmed in a tweet that the talks are underway.
"As I've mentioned before, I'm very interested in the possibility of bringing the NHL to Houston, but it will have to be a deal that works for my organization, the City, fans of the NHL throughout the region, and the NHL Board of Governors. We are in the very early stage of evaluating what opportunities may exist but look forward to a thorough process."
Assuming Seattle does get a team at some point in the near future, the great unknown is whether the franchise comes to the Pacific Northwest by way of expansion or relocation. An expansion team would come with the opportunity for the league to balance the conferences, as the Eastern Conference boasts 16 teams to the Western Conference’s 15, however the Pacific would then house nine teams compared to the Central’s seven, so some form of re-alignment would be required.
An expansion team would also come with the excitement of a blank slate and the ability to build from the ground up, just as the Golden Knights have done this season. Relocation, on the other hand, could allow the NHL to bring a readymade organization to the city, one that could be competitive out of the gate.
Seattle are looking likely favourites to land the all-important 32nd NHL franchise but that doesn’t mean they don’t have competition. Read on for a look at some of their rivals.
No comments:
Post a Comment