Key Arena renovations thread

A thread to track progress of the upgrade of the Key Arena. I still think they could have gotten it done by the start of 20-21 season but the NHL being the NHL... Anyways, lets discuss how the renovations are going here. I live and work walking distance of Key Arena and will be updating with pics of the construction once they get shovels in the ground.

 

Comment in my inbox from the Oak View Group regarding any changes to the timeline.

"We’re moving forward as we have been. In the coming weeks, we will take a close look at whether this decision will allow us to be more flexible around other major projects impacting the neighborhood, like the SR 99 Tunnel transition. In the meantime, pre-construction work will continue as detailed in the weekly construction notices..."

Was told they will be ready to welcome the Seattle Storm back for their 2021 season.

 

Not too surprising that they'll slow things down with construction the moment the delay in team start was decided.

 

The guy on 710 AM in Seattle last night said if they'd been quicker with the remodel, we could've got a team in '20.

 

The Seattle city council kind of played this one in a weird way. They needed the team to be official prior to allowing Oak View to start demo/construction. The result is that they got the team announced quicker, but the side effect was that it likely pushed the team's debut back a year due to a compressed work schedule if they wanted to hit the ice for 2020.

 

From what I was hearing headed into this, it sounds like 2021 has been the goal for some time now and there were larger factors than the arena.

 

Pretty sure one of the reasons for 2021, Was the potential lock out in 2020.

 

Probably a good idea. How awful would it be to have an inaugural season canceled due to a lockout - or even have it be a shortened season? Financially it would be a disaster, and just not a good way to start a franchise.

 

Nobody mentioned the lockout on the radio last night, but there's obvious reasons for that. Ah, subtext! They just said the league wanted the first season to be "just right" for the Seattle Kraken (my choice).

 

Ya that’s not something that crossed my mind, but definitely would make sense. You get all this hype, and then piss everyone off and alienate the fans before it gets going

 

Any predictions for new naming rights or if keybank arena might be renamed. Amazon Arena or Microsoft Center???

 

The current naming rights have been vacant for a while they just never removed the signing for Key Arena. In all the current pictures it's shown as Seattle Center Arena and I'd expect the naming rights to be sold at or shortly after completion.

 

I think we're a while off from a naming rights deal.

It makes a lot of sense for OVG (I think the rights are OVG's to sell) to wait it out since the naming rights are likely worth more as the chance of an NBA team making the facility its home increases.

 

Tech comoanies, bigger ones, are never that keen on sports stadium naming rights. Its probably gonna be a bank or something. Maybe an airline.

 

Alaska Airlines is the first to come to mind. They seem to like attaching onto a lot of local sports. (I'm pretty sure Alaska owns the rights to everything UW right now.)

However, it seems like a good opportunity for a local company to endear itself to the community, and since community involvement seems a lot more important in Seattle than some/most other places, I wouldn't put it past some local company to jump on it. Alaska and Delta have their little Battle of Seattle continuing, so I'd almost bet on one of those if they sold the rights today.

 

Tim Leiweke said there were a lot of interest in naming rights.

 

stream of the ground breaking will be here. It starts in 28mins. Seattle Center Arena

I'll post other stream links if i see them.

WATCH: Groundbreaking ceremony for the new Seattle Center arena

 

I am sure there is but it’s probably not gonna be the one we expect.

 

I think I may be somewhat surprised if this project doesn't have a final price tag of over $1B.

 

that'll depend on if there is any cost over runs.

 

No issues with timetable being pushed back. Have some concerts, WNBA etc to work out the kinks and traffic mitigation efforts.