170 replies to this topic

[Mike K.]

People are seriously overlooking how stanky rich the Seattle NHL ownership group is. They just dropped $650M on an expansion fee and are spending a further $700M of their own money to renovate Key Arena. The magnitude of the money being thrown around by the Seattle ownership is like nothing the NHL has ever seen before. These guys make the Aquilini’s look like small business owners.  

 

The TV and radio deals are going to be huge. All of Washington and probably Oregon. Idaho? Montana? The advertising deals are going to be monstrous. Amazon Arena? Starbucks Place? Alaska Icehouse?

 

Look, I think people really forget how large and wealthy Seattle is. Compare Seattle to Vancouver at your own peril. Vancouver is not a great sports town, and it has very few corporate head offices.

 

[MLS is a boutique league. To rank them above a NHL franchise that is spending over a billion dollars to get started is ridiculous. The MLS team doesn’t even have their own stadium. A MLS ticket costs like forty bucks. What an absurd comparison.]

 

You're totally right about that.

 

The Seattle area is incredibly rich. Wealthy Seattleites are in a totally different league to wealthy Vancouverites and the level of opulence there is eye opening, for sure. With Microsoft, Amazon, Costco and other major corporations based out of that city the volume of millionaires is staggering with an estimated 68,000 (excluding their primary residence) living in King County alone.

 

68,000! That's literally the entire population of the Westshore, and metro Seattle is within three counties (Everett, for example, is in Snohomish County).

[jonny]

Seattle's 10 or 15th most valuable company is probably more valuable than Vancouver's most valuable corporation (Telus). 

[AllseeingEye]

Oak View Group (which is interlinked with the Seattle ownership group and is overseeing the Key Arena renovations) applied for 38 domains representing 13 potential team names:

 

Seattle Cougars
Seattle Eagles
Seattle Emeralds
Seattle Evergreens
Seattle Firebirds
Seattle Kraken
Seattle Rainiers
Seattle Renegades
Seattle Sea Lions
Seattle Seals
Seattle Sockeyes
Seattle Totems
Seattle Whales

 

Not a very good list, I would just call the team Seattle Reign - or Totems if it was possible to obtain the naming rights to the latter. Apparently according to a Seattle biz friend close to the Key Arena side of the equation the early candidate based purely on local fan-forum chatter is the Emeralds which IMO is pretty weak but its early days yet.

Edited by AllseeingEye, 05 December 2018 - 07:09 AM.

[sdwright.vic]

The mayor of Seattle is pushing Seattle Kracken

[Mike K.]

Sigh.

 

The kracken is so overdone in local culture and is too hipster. Why don't they go back to the city's roots or focus on a local landmark? Seattle Cascades would be miles ahead of Kracken. Even Seattle Sound has both a mythical (bigfood lore) and geographical (Puget Sound) meaning. Seattle Evergreens would also be cool.

[jonny]

Re: ASE's list, apparently the ownership group has registered trademarks for those 13 team names. 

 

I do like Kraken, but more as a beer league team name, not a major pro club name. 

 

Of that list, I'd probably go Rainiers, Sockeyes, or Totems. 

 

Or, how about Salmon Kings?

[Mike K.]

Yeah, see, the Rainiers is great, plus it's the name of a sh*tty beer brand that everyone loves (and pronounces Ra-nee-eh).

[shoeflack]

The HarbourCats posted yesterday to Facebook that the Seattle group asked for permission to explore using "HarborCats". They said no.

[RFS]

The HarbourCats posted yesterday to Facebook that the Seattle group asked for permission to explore using "HarborCats". They said no.

Stupid.  Its free name recognition 

[jonny]

Seattle Tacoma is the 13th largest television market in the USA and the largest without a pro 'winter' sports team (Basketball/Hockey). 

 

Yeah, the regional TV and radio deals are going to be big. 

 

For reference, the Rogers naming rights for Rogers arena are valued at $60M over 10 years, and Rogers Sportsnet reportedly pays the Canucks $25M annually for TV rights and a further $2M annually for radio rights. 

 

It would not be surprising for the cost of the naming rights of the new arena (it will no longer be called Key Arena) and the TV deal to surpass that of the Canucks. 

[Rob Randall]

Results of a Reddit vote on potential names (some NSFW of course)

 

https://www.reddit.c...d_on_by_reddit/

 

My favourites are Seattle Battle Cattle and Seattle Screaming Trees.

[Matt R.]

Over on the Beaverton page someone suggested the Seattle Nordiques.

Matt.

[Rob Randall]

Seattle Nordstroms

[thundergun]

Seattle Washingtons is my #1. 

[Danma]

Seattle Startups

[Mystic-Pizza]

Just anything without a freakin animal name in it will do just fine!  Here are a few to throw out there:

 

Seattle Saltz

 

Seattle Skippers

 

Seattle Saviors 

 

Seattle Stargazers

 

Seattke Seacaps

 

Seattle Sabaton

 

Seattle Sailor's

 

Seattle Schooner's

[AllseeingEye]

Not sure Rainier's is available as much like the Totems, many years ago the "Rainier's" were a minor pro league Seattle baseball team that played in the original PCL, and yes they were named after a certain popular sudsy brew after the company that made the beverage in question bought the team in the 60's.

 

I hasten to add the ball team at one point earlier in its history was known as the Clamdigger's - a name I sincerely and respectfully hope is not resurrected for the hockey team.

 

Kraken's to me sounds like someone has been watching way too many "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies....

Edited by AllseeingEye, 05 December 2018 - 06:39 PM.

[LJ]

Sigh.

 

The kracken is so overdone in local culture and is too hipster. Why don't they go back to the city's roots or focus on a local landmark? Seattle Cascades would be miles ahead of Kracken. Even Seattle Sound has both a mythical (bigfood lore) and geographical (Puget Sound) meaning. Seattle Evergreens would also be cool.

I thought Kraken was a bitcoin exchange.

[LJ]

Seattle Costco's? Starbux?

[North Shore]

Seattle Grande?  Venti?