Seattle investor has plans to build downtown arena

[kyuss275]

I live in Victoria and am a die hard Seahawks fan and an ex Sonics fan. I follow Seattle sports pretty closely and i am sure that Hansen has said that he will not start building the arena until he gets a NBA team. I am pretty sure that it is also under contract with the city that an NBA team has to be issued for the arena to be started.

[dash_pinched]

Originally Posted by kyuss275

I live in Victoria and am a die hard Seahawks fan and an ex Sonics fan. I follow Seattle sports pretty closely and i am sure that Hansen has said that he will not start building the arena until he gets a NBA team. I am pretty sure that it is also under contract with the city that an NBA team has to be issued for the arena to be started.

I agree and the big carrot for Seattle is getting a NBA team to return. As much as I would like to see a NHL team in Seattle, I'm not convinced that the Seattle market would be willing to pay NHL ticket prices. It definitely would increase my number of road trips to Seattle, though.

[troutman]

Gary Bettman wants NHL expansion team in Seattle by 2014-15: Report

http://www.niagaraadvance.ca/2013/07...2014-15-report

According to Seattle sports radio station KJR 950, commissionery Gary Bettman is encouraging the league’s board of governors to make an expansion team available to the city.

The cost of the new club would be approximately $275 million. The team would begin play in the 2014-15 season.

NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told reporters last week the Pacific Northwest is “going to get serious consideration” the next time franchise shifting or adding comes to the forefront.

If they add one team, surely they will add another, probably Quebec?

32 teams - it just got harder to win the Stanley Cup.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by troutman

Gary Bettman wants NHL expansion team in Seattle by 2014-15: Report

http://www.niagaraadvance.ca/2013/07...2014-15-report

According to Seattle sports radio station KJR 950, commissionery Gary Bettman is encouraging the league’s board of governors to make an expansion team available to the city.

The cost of the new club would be approximately $275 million. The team would begin play in the 2014-15 season.

NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told reporters last week the Pacific Northwest is “going to get serious consideration” the next time franchise shifting or adding comes to the forefront.

If they add one team, surely they will add another, probably Quebec?

32 teams - it just got harder to win the Stanley Cup.

Personally, I think Quebec City already has some type of verbal agreement on the down-low. I just can't see them pumping that much money into an arena and not feel fairly confident that a team is in their future.

[Red Menace]

Once/If they have 32 teams it would probably set in motion more re-alignment.
Seattle adds to the West easily, but add another team in the East (Quebec/Markham) and who moves back to the West? Can't see them making DET or CBJ move back.
Maybe one or both of the Florida teams?
Maybe an eastern team is re-located in a western city? (OKC, KC, Portland, Vegas, Houston)

[Sidney Crosby's Hat]

2014-15 doesn't make sense. Why the need to do it right away? It would make much more sense to delay it to 2016-17 and bring in an expansion Seattle with an expansion Quebec and have them both play in their new arenas right off the bat.

[dash_pinched]

Originally Posted by Sidney Crosby's Hat

2014-15 doesn't make sense. Why the need to do it right away? It would make much more sense to delay it to 2016-17 and bring in an expansion Seattle with an expansion Quebec and have them both play in their new arenas right off the bat.

I'm more surprised when the NHL employs common sense.

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by Sidney Crosby's Hat

2014-15 doesn't make sense. Why the need to do it right away? It would make much more sense to delay it to 2016-17 and bring in an expansion Seattle with an expansion Quebec and have them both play in their new arenas right off the bat.

I'm assuming an expansion team is good for league revenues, the cap and probably some other business related reasons I am not aware of.

I think with the new division realignment it makes more sense than ever before.

[Jay Random]

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

I'm assuming an expansion team is good for league revenues, the cap and probably some other business related reasons I am not aware of.

An expansion team with a suitable building is definitely good. An expansion team in Key Arena or the Colisée Pepsi? Not so much. There's no reason to hurry through the process just to get expansion teams on the ice in 2014.

[Wolven]

Originally Posted by Sidney Crosby's Hat

2014-15 doesn't make sense. Why the need to do it right away? It would make much more sense to delay it to 2016-17 and bring in an expansion Seattle with an expansion Quebec and have them both play in their new arenas right off the bat.

Just my opinion but I think Bettman is probably smart enough / experienced enough with how slow things move with the League that if he says he wants an expansion team set up for next summer that he actually means 3+ seasons from now.

The NHLPA should be onboard with the idea though because it creates more jobs for hockey players. The owners should be onboard because they all get money from the expansion team.

Really, the only group that I can see slowing things down is in Seattle.

My wishlist for the next expansion after Seattle would be in Hamilton / second Toronto Area. That team could be forced into the West until another real west market comes up.

Quebec should be on deck and ready for a relocation of the Panthers or some other similarly struggling team.

[Tyler]

Originally Posted by Red Menace

Once/If they have 32 teams it would probably set in motion more re-alignment.
Seattle adds to the West easily, but add another team in the East (Quebec/Markham) and who moves back to the West? Can't see them making DET or CBJ move back.

CBJ will do what their told to do. No way Detroit ever moves back though.

[seattleflamer]

Originally Posted by Jay Random

An expansion team with a suitable building is definitely good. An expansion team in Key Arena or the Colisée Pepsi? Not so much. There's no reason to hurry through the process just to get expansion teams on the ice in 2014.

There are 275 million reasons for the NHL.

[Fire]

I am against expansion, but the NHL needs more teams in the west. I would move the Panthers, Devils and Coyote franchises to Seattle, Portland and Houston.

[Wolven]

Originally Posted by Fire

I am against expansion, but the NHL needs more teams in the west. I would move the Panthers, Devils and Coyote franchises to Seattle, Portland and Houston.

I think the realignment has pretty much dictated that expansion is the plan. If they had wanted to stay at 30 teams it would have made a lot more sense to keep the 6 divisions. The fact that they changed the league from 6 to 4 divisions means that they want to change the number of teams in the league to 28 or 32 teams in the future.

Bettman is obviously planning on 32 being the magic number.

I think the plan is going to be 2 expansion teams and 1 relocation to tap into 3 "new" markets. 2 of those markets need to be in the "West" in order to balance out the conferences. Seattle and Quebec seem to have already been selected as new NHL homes but that means the third new market has to move a team from East to West.

I like the idea of having a second team in the GTA that is in the Western conference is because that team would not really rival the Leafs and it would make the Western Conference more prominent in Toronto (or as they like to call it: the center of the hockey universe).

[dash_pinched]

Paul Allen also interested?

http://prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com/2...terest-in-nhl/

Today, in the Portland Tribune, Trail Blazers President/CEO Chris McGowan confirmed that report, suggesting that billionaire owner Paul Allen (pictured) is intrigued at the thought of adding an NHL team to his pro sports portfolio that already includes an NBA franchise (the Blazers) an NFL team (the Seattle Seahawks), and an MLS club (Seattle Sounders).

McGowan says the Blazers “never made an offer” for the Coyotes, but that an extensive market analysis convinced Allen the NHL in Portland would be a positive move.
“I never got the sense that Paul wasn’t interested in the NHL,” McGowan says. “Paul has always been interested in things that are good for Portland and the arena. It’s our job to bring opportunities to Paul. The NHL is just one of those. Our analysis led us to believe that potentially a team could work here. We were in the mix when it related to Portland as a potential option, but it didn’t work out, so it becomes moot.”

[Jay Random]

Originally Posted by seattleflamer

There are 275 million reasons for the NHL.

They'll have a lot easier time collecting that money from an owner with a proper NHL-quality arena than from an owner who has to budget for $50 million in losses while running his team in a crappy temporary venue.