Things appeared to be proceeding smoothly through the summer and into the fall of 1990. Larson and MacFarland met with the NHL Board of Directors in October and the Seattle group gave a great presentation. The directors loved the fact that a Microsoft millionaire was bankrolling the project and that a new state-of-the-art arena was under discussion with the city. Pat Quinn, who had played under MacFarland on the 1966-67 WHL championship Seattle Totems squad, was particularly helpful and told his former coach that Seattle was a “lock†for a team in the first round of expansion.
The presentation to the Board of Governors took place on December 5. The Seattle contingent consisted of four representatives: MacFarland, Larson, Barry Ackerley, and Bill Lear, a financial advisor for Ackerley. They met for breakfast and discussed their strategy, then adjourned to a room to await their turn to present.
Gil Stein, Vice President and General Counsel of the NHL, came to escort the group to the meeting. Ackerley then made a strange request. He asked if he and Lear could speak to the Board first in private before the others did their portion of the presentation. It was a complete surprise – they had not discussed this over breakfast, but MacFarland and Larson reluctantly agreed. After all, the application was in Ackerley’s name, so he had the final say. Ackerley and Lear proceeded to the meeting room with Stein while the others waited nervously for their turn. Ten minutes later Stein returned with a strange story. Apparently Ackerley introduced himself to the Board and informed them that the Seattle group was withdrawing its application. No reason was given. Ackerley and Lear then left the room through another exit.
MacFarland and Larson were stunned. The failure to get an application in their names had proven to be a fatal flaw and gave Ackerley the opportunity to pull the rug out from under them. The pair were allowed to make their pitch anyway, but they left Florida highly discouraged by the turn of events. Franchises were eventually awarded to Ottawa and Tampa Bay, though neither group was ever able to come up with the full $50,000,000 fee, a fee the Seattle group was prepared to pay in full.
The Coliseum underwent an estimated $100 million remodel following the abortive attempt to get an NHL team. Completed in 1995, the newly renamed Key Arena was a palace for basketball with 17,000 seats and over 50 luxury boxes. Unfortunately the remodel reduced the building’s seating capacity for hockey, leaving it with only around 10,000 unrestricted view seats. MacFarland has stated that he believes this was part of Ackerley’s plan all along – prevent the city from getting an NHL team that would compete with the Supersonics and then remodel the Coliseum to ensure his team remained the building’s key tenant.
