NHL in Seattle?

[TheSpaceCoyote]

Why hasn't the NHL tried a team in Seattle? It's larger than other cities currently supporting NHL teams (DC, Nashville, Long Island, etc), has a stadium (wherever the SuperSonics used to play) and would only need to compete with the Seahawks (first half of the season) and the WHL teams in the area.
There are junior teams in Washington state doing well so it wouldn't be unrealistic to expect a team in Seattle to do fairly well (at least compared to other teams failing to draw crowds currently in the NHL)


MOD: Also, Dolemite's earlier historical thread: http://hfboards.com/showthread.php?t=810679

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[headsigh]

what would be the point

 

[Thucydides]

Seattle doesn't want the NHL.

 

[TheSpaceCoyote]

what would be the point

To take a team out of a failing market and move it to a city where it has the potential to make money?

 

[KingJet*]

I don't think its a bad idea, but wait till Quebec, Winnipeg, Hamilton at least have a team.

 

[Sorge Georos]

The Sonics moved out BECAUSE of the arena, so it's not going to draw a team in.

Portland, on the other hand, seems to have a fine arena and is a great sports city.

 

[Sadekuuro]

Seattle doesn't want the NHL.

Some of us wouldn't mind, but yeah, you're basically right. It's absolutely a Seahawks and Mariners town--nothing else rates.

 

[Finlandia WOAT]

The arena in Seattle is specifically modified so it can only support basketball.

 

[Sorge Georos]

The arena in Seattle is specifically modified so it can only support basketball.

And it couldn't even do that...

 

[LickTheEnvelope]

No arena.

Seattle had the Supersonics for basketball and were moved because the city of Seattle refused to put up any money what so ever to help build a new arena (which could have hosted hockey as well) and thus they lost their NBA team.

 

[RogueRider]

Portland has a better shot.

 

[vt89*]

its not that big of a city and is stretched three ways between the UW, the Mariners and the Seahawks.

I'd like to see it looked in to but i doubt it will happen

 

[The Dayvan Cowboy]

I have a friend who is a huge sports fan in Seattle, and I love to visit the area.

The biggest problem is the lack of an arena and the City of Seattle hating sports teams, and building things for them.

My friend is positive that an NHL team in Seattle would be welcomed very similarly to how the Sounders FC has been since their inception in the MLS. Between UW, the Mariners, and my Seahawks, Seattle is a town that just has accomplished sweet **** all in the world of sports, and at least for (I would estimate) a decade the city would likely embrace a team that isn't awful as sin.

But, like it has been said, the arena is the biggest issue. I would rather have a team in Seattle than any other city, but that may have something to do with me wanting to live in Seattle for a bit.

 

[ChumpyG]

Key Arena is a dump. Terrible arena for hockey.

Rose Garden in Portland is a much better arena, and is set up better for hockey (i.e. seats all the way around, not the horseshoe crap the Key had for hockey). The Sonics moved mainly because the Key sucked and the city wouldn't do anything to improve it. Hell, their WHL team moved 30 miles south because of the same reasons.

Portland Panthers anyone?

 

[CanadianHockey]

Proximity to Vancouver could help generate ticket sales, but I'm not to what extent that would be. That said, an arena would still be an issue for Seattle.

Portland seems like the other logical US city option.

 

[sushinsky4tsar]

The arena in Seattle is specifically modified so it can only support basketball.

http://www.nhlconnection.ca/westernconference/pacificdivision/phoenixcoyotes/in-pursuit-of-an-nhl-franchise/

It has an ice configuration. It's just not viable for anything more than a temporary home. Kind of like a Conseco or an America West. There would definitely need to be plans in place for a replacement. However, I think the NHL has seen worse temporary homes.

I'm kind of in the group that thinks Portland/Rose Garden makes more sense for the NHL. Seattle should definitely get the Sonics back before plunging in to the NHL. I think Vancouver belongs in the NBA too for that matter.

 

[HTFN]

Fun part about Portland and the Rose Garden is that the Memorial Coliseum, literally a three minute walk from the Garden, is where the Winter Hawks play. Not really relevant, but nice.

I live here, and I'd like to see a team here, but at the same time I don't know if I could put up with it if they blundered like Phoenix and nobody showed up. The Winter Hawks get their support, and the Blazers (and Timbers) get a ton, but I don't know. That said, Portland has proven to me, time and time again, to be a great sports city (with admittedly very few sports). The MLS support in this city is unreal.

 

[Pinkfloyd]

Need an owner and an arena for any place to have a legitimate opportunity at an NHL team. That's why Winnipeg is discussed first and foremost. They have both for the purposes of the NHL. There are places with one and not the other. There are places with the raw population for it. Nobody but Winnipeg and soon Quebec City that have both in line. The only American cities that have potential for housing a team in the near future are Portland, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Orlando, and Houston. All of those places have ownership questions.

 

[Pinkfloyd]

Fun part about Portland and the Rose Garden is that the Memorial Coliseum, literally a three minute walk from the Garden, is where the Winter Hawks play. Not really relevant, but nice.

I live here, and I'd like to see a team here, but at the same time I don't know if I could put up with it if they blundered like Phoenix and nobody showed up. The Winter Hawks get their support, and the Blazers (and Timbers) get a ton, but I don't know. That said, Portland has proven to me, time and time again, to be a great sports city (with admittedly very few sports). The MLS support in this city is unreal.

Don't the Winterhawks split the games in those two arenas?

 

[HTFN]

Don't the Winterhawks split the games in those two arenas?

Yeah, the Rose Garden isn't exclusively the Blazers', nor is the Coliseum the Winter Hawks', but it's the Coliseum that has most of the Winter Hawks Alumni banners hanging around, and likely coincidence, but most of the games I've been to have been in the Coliseum. I'm not quite certain what the split ratio is, but yeah, they'll play games in either.

 

[Big McLargehuge]

No arena and no prospective owner...talks end there. I think it would be a decent option to put a team. One needs to be put in the Pacific Northwest...it's a barren market.

Portland is a better option, though. Less competition and a better sports town, to say nothing of an arena that could support an NHL team tomorrow...no owner there either, though. Paul Allen dominates that city and he's shown no interest in a NHL team since he lost out on the Penguins 12 years ago.

 

[Grudy0]

Seattle was granted an NHL expansion team back in 1976 along with Denver, but the person that owned the WHL Totems couldn't get the financing. With Denver receiving the KC Scouts in 1976, that expansion was put on hold.

Then along came the 1991 expansion, the one where Tampa Bay and Ottawa were granted franchises. The NBA Sonics ownership had the application for the NHL expansion franchise in their name, and when it came time to present to the NHL Expansion Committee, the Ackerley's withdrew the application. The Ackerley's were then able to get the City of Seattle to reconfigure Key Arena into a basketball-only configuration, sealing the deal keep the NHL out of Seattle.

 

[worstfaceoffmanever]

Portland has a better shot.

And Portland has very little chance unless Paul Allen has changed his mind about owning a hockey team.

 

[WingsFan95]

I don't think its a bad idea, but wait till Quebec, Winnipeg, Hamilton at least have a team.

Exactly, and after Portland.

 

[Made Dan]

Maybe after Winnipeg/Quebec...maybe even Portland.