I feel bad for the potential fans. Key Arena as-is is worse than Barclay's--as-bad or worse sightlines, scoreboard off-center, bad ice, bad seating arrangement, and know how Seattle has done things in the past there's a good change they'll promise the stars in the remodel and deliver the sewers--especially if the taxpayers want to cheapen out.I feel bad for their eventual GM. There'll be all but zero chance that they'll hit the ground running like Vegas, and even if they are the second most successful expansion team in NHL history and are mediocre overall, the comparison to the Knights will be obvious.
Talent isn't the issue. It's about corporate sponsorships and TV deals. The NHL has done a terrible job promoting the sport in the US. Heck, the MLS has done a better job than the NHL recently. The NHL has to pick it up.
Promoting it isn't going to force people to watch
Also its an expensive sport to get children involved in so that hurts it and limits its appeal
I feel bad for the potential fans. Key Arena as-is is worse than Barclay's--as-bad or worse sightlines, scoreboard off-center, bad ice, bad seating arrangement, and know how Seattle has done things in the past there's a good change they'll promise the stars in the remodel and deliver the sewers--especially if the taxpayers want to cheapen out.
Unless the remodel of the arena is a success--they fix all the issues and still have a decent seating capacity, as soon as the rose-colored glasses come off it will be the same as right before the T-birds moved to ShoWare center--a ghost town.
Biggest failure on NHL's part is not investing in stuff like Ice-Less hockey for kids to grow game
Ice-less hockey...
BWC the sport is called ICE hockey for a reason.
BUT they did invest in roller hockey.
So there will be an expansion draft this summer or next summer?
So there will be an expansion draft this summer or next summer?
I was stationed up near Seattle when I was in the Army. I've also lived in almost every corner of the U.S. I have a hard time picking out a worse sports market than the greater Seattle area. We got free tickets to Seahawks/Mariners games all the time, and boy did they have a hard time getting those stadiums to even 50% capacity while they were fighting for playoff spots. I can't see them being a good market for hockey at all.
Bunch of weirdos walking with their head's down and avoiding human interaction over there. My buddy and I were walking around near the pier there one day, and a guy had his head so buried in his phone he almost ran right into us on the sidewalk. I just say "Hey buddy, lookout!" and he no **** pulls out his wallet. Pretty sure 18,000 screaming people are most Seattlites' idea of hell.
When were you stationed there?