I don't see Phoenix in Seattle this fall. Every argument about Quebec not being ready this fall is multiplied 10 times when it comes to Seattle. The old Colisee in Quebec has the junior Quebec Remparts as its current tenant. Their
AVERAGE ATTENDANCE this past season was 11,345 per game. They have some experience with handling large crowds, with the capacity being 15,176, slightly more than MTS Centre (Winnipeg Jets). Plus which the Colisee literally was an NHL rink as recently as 1995. And they have been upgrading it to current NHL standards the past couple of summers. Key Arena has at best 9,500 seats with an unobstructed view of an NHL-sized rink. And there is no new Seattle arena committed to, let alone being built, like in QC. Remember the reason the Coyotes are in this mess today...
- there was no prospect of a new arena in WInnipeg in the mid 1990's, so Jets 1.0 were slated to move to Minnesota
- arena plans there fell through, so the destination was hurriedly changed to US Airways Center in Phoenix, which sucked for hockey, and they ended up with a horrible lease similar to what they had at the old Winnipeg Arena
- There was a plan for an arena in Scottsdale (Los Arcos). If that had gone through, the Coyotes would probably be like Nashville or Columbus or Tampa today. But that fell through also.
- Then a new NHL arena was built out in the boonies in Glendale, which didn't help attendance. That takes us to where we are today.
With that history in mind, I don't think the NHL BOG would approve a franchise in Seattle without at least the promise of a new arena. Don't get me wrong. If Seattle/Hansen/whoever can guarantee a new arena, the NHL will approve a conditional NHL franchise in a heartbeat. But they've been burned before by going into a situation without a guaranteed arena, so they'll cover themselves this time.
Seattle's best hope is some Seattle billionaire teaming up with Hansen to run the new arena 50/50 with both NBA and NHL franchises. This has worked well for the Dallas Stars (NHL) and the Dallas Mavericks (NBA)
at American Airlines Center