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NHL - Seattle Expansion


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#21 nagel

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Posted 03 October 2018 - 10:12 AM

Yup totally.



#22 AllseeingEye

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Posted 03 October 2018 - 04:33 PM

Don't know who holds the naming rights today, but I'd kind of like to the see the old "Totems" name revived.....



#23 AllseeingEye

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Posted 03 October 2018 - 04:37 PM

My mistake, the SportsNet broadcast I was listening to was whining about the location and gave me the impression it was really out of the way. 

No the issue isn't location in terms of distance a la the CTC in Ottawa or Arizona, its the crappy commute/(lack of) pubic transit options that is the issue. When the SoDo location was ultimately rejected Seattle sports fans overwhelmingly (and rightly) were collectively disappointed and certainly made that plain online and on Seattle open line sports talk shows. Regardless the franchise is all but a done deal the only question is when the building will be ready that will dictate which will be their inaugural season.



#24 Cassidy

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Posted 03 October 2018 - 04:42 PM

Why not just call them the Seattle SuperSonics?

 

It's not like there's ever going to be another basketball team re-using the name!

 

I bet the fans would love it.



#25 AllseeingEye

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Posted 03 October 2018 - 05:05 PM

Why not just call them the Seattle SuperSonics?

 

It's not like there's ever going to be another basketball team re-using the name!

 

I bet the fans would love it.

The owner of the Oklahoma Thunder NBA franchise owns the rights to "Supersonics". Legally Seattle has no claim to the naming rights for it or any variation of it thereof, including "Sonics". Last I read he was in no hurry to sell them either. Per the initial MOU the Thunder agreed not to use the name, logo, colors of the Sonics for their team, but to this day as far as I am aware they legally retain the rights to the name.....



#26 lanforod

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Posted 03 October 2018 - 09:08 PM

Don't know who holds the naming rights today, but I'd kind of like to the see the old "Totems" name revived.....

 

In this politically correct day and age, it won't happen. They don't want the grief that they'll get like the redskins and blackhawks get.

 

Kraken would be cool; Thunder okay. Metropolitans boring. Sea Lions meh. Rainers meh.



#27 AllseeingEye

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Posted 03 October 2018 - 09:20 PM

In this politically correct day and age, it won't happen. They don't want the grief that they'll get like the redskins and blackhawks get.

 

Kraken would be cool; Thunder okay. Metropolitans boring. Sea Lions meh. Rainers meh.

Hadn't thought of that and you're sadly probably right. The Seattle Grunge has a certain cache I think.... :)



#28 m3m

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Posted 03 October 2018 - 09:30 PM

Yes, the Sonics name is owned by the OKC owners, but it was a term of relocation that should there exist a Seattle NBA team in the future the Sonics name, history, and intellectual property would go to the new Seattle team free of charge. 

 

I'd imagine that Seattle will be given a team in the next 5 years or so.  Seattle almost got the Sacramento Kings to relocate in 2013, but the move was not approved by the NBA board of governors.   The NBA has basically said recently that Seattle will be short-listed in the next round of expansion.  The demand for a Seattle team is huge, the team did not re-locate because it was unpopular amongst locals.  There is still a huge cult following for the sonics. The local area has grown tremendously.  Even lots of fans from Vancouver and Vic would go down to see games. It would be like when the Jets came back to Winnipeg.   Check out this video from a WWE show in Seattle last night where the wrestler insulted the Sonics: https://youtu.be/XigdA6kiLcE.   Some of the best boooing I've ever heard. 

 

Seattle fans deserve an NBA team. They'll get it soon and they'll be called the SuperSonics and they'll be wearing green and gold. 


Edited by m3m, 03 October 2018 - 09:31 PM.


#29 Jackerbie

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Posted 04 October 2018 - 07:21 AM

I'd imagine that Seattle will be given a team in the next 5 years or so.  Seattle almost got the Sacramento Kings to relocate in 2013, but the move was not approved by the NBA board of governors.

 

That would have been quite the year - the Phoenix Coyotes almost relocated to Seattle back in 2013, too



#30 Bernard

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Posted 05 October 2018 - 03:24 PM

Can Seattle really support an NHL hockey team?  The team would be the number 4 or 5 sports team in the market



#31 Cassidy

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Posted 05 October 2018 - 04:19 PM

Can Seattle really support an NHL hockey team? ....

They took deposits on 15,000 season tickets in the first 10 minutes they were on sale.

They're now up to 30,000 season ticket holder deposits for the first game in 2020 ... so I'd say "yes" Seattle can support an NHL hockey team just fine!

 

Fans don't want to wind up like Toronto, which is just a little over 250 years away from clearing the list of 10,000 folks currently waiting to purchase Leafs seasons tickets (based on the current season ticket renewals each year, hovering around 98+%)

 

Seattle fans showed their true colours and put their deposits on those season tickets as soon as they could.


Edited by Cassidy, 05 October 2018 - 04:25 PM.


#32 Bernard

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Posted 05 October 2018 - 04:37 PM

They took deposits on 15,000 season tickets in the first 10 minutes they were on sale.

They're now up to 30,000 season ticket holder deposits for the first game in 2020 ... so I'd say "yes" Seattle can support an NHL hockey team just fine!

 

Fans don't want to wind up like Toronto, which is just a little over 250 years away from clearing the list of 10,000 folks currently waiting to purchase Leafs seasons tickets (based on the current season ticket renewals each year, hovering around 98+%)

 

Seattle fans showed their true colours and put their deposits on those season tickets as soon as they could.

But that has not stopped other new teams in the NHL (and other leagues) from being unable to sustain the support long term.

 

I personally think it is great for the Canucks and Canucks fans but I am sceptical it will work out for the Seattle ownership medium term.



#33 Cassidy

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Posted 05 October 2018 - 05:50 PM

The arena only holds around 17,000, so they’ve got a full house of potential season ticket holders twice over!

And the franchise was awarded to multi-billionaires as opposed to multi-millionaires ... so my money is on a huge success all around.

Time will tell of course, but Seattle is a high spirited sports town ... and the massive advance season ticket deposits speak volumes.
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#34 AllseeingEye

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Posted 06 October 2018 - 02:42 PM

Interesting lunchtime conversation today with family visiting from Seattle; they're Canadian but have lived in Washington State for 20 years.

 

When I brought up the topic of possible franchises in the NHL and NBA both were adamant that among their friends, professional colleagues and associates conversations were happening and indeed excitement and a buzz building - for a possible return of the NBA. The NHL? "Haven't heard one person mention it. In any sports conversation back home (Seattle) hockey at any level is almost never a topic of discussion".

 

When I asked specifically about the NHL the male half of the couple, who actually played minor pro in this country in Ontario when he was younger and knows the game as well as anyone said, and I quote, "If I've learned one thing living in the city over the last 20 years it is that Seattle is not a hockey town. Not even close".

 

Yes it has a hard core of puck fans and a long minor league pedigree (the Totems in the 50's) and more recently the WHL junior team since the 90's, but conversely is also the city that when it had its one and only opportunity to see some guy named Gretzky play in their city (an LA exhibition game against Detroit - BTW the most popular US NHL team by a wide margin in the US), Seattle drew something like 7000 fans back in the early 90's.

 

Terry was quite certain when push comes to shove and discretionary dollars are being spent on entertainment, all things being equal, if it returned today hockey would be Number 4 out of the Big 4 Pro spectator sports in Seattle; with football (Seahawks and the UW Huskies currently being overwhelmingly in first/second place); the Mariners and Sounders being neck and neck for third and fourth. He figured if a Seattle NHL expansion team could pull off a miraculous first season the LVK did last year they would push the Mariners "maybe" for Number 3. However if they laid an egg like most expansion teams do, or reverted to being merely ordinary after a successful inaugural season, that they would quickly be relegated to the bottom of the heap, popularity and spectator-wise. As he said like Vegas last year, Seattle needs to hire the best hockey management minds money can buy, draft and trade wisely, "and hope like hell" they are half way decent. If not in his opinion fan support would dry up far sooner than later.

 

OTOH in the event an NBA team were to return, again in his opinion - and especially if that team were remotely competitive - it might even push the 'Hawks for Number One depending on how good the latter are by that time). Clearly they are currently trending down as an NFL power, and the Mariners are rarely close to winning anything. If an NBA team were to come back into the mix it would get real interesting potentially real fast as to which of the two franchises would command the hearts, minds and wallets of Seattle sports fans. No other team will come close.


Edited by AllseeingEye, 06 October 2018 - 02:44 PM.


#35 Cassidy

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Posted 06 October 2018 - 02:47 PM

That's a couple of your friends, good for two opinions.

But then you have to wonder who bought the 30,000 pre-season deposits on tickets if Seattle has no hockey fans?

 

Don't forget that between King, Snohomish, and Pierce Counties ... they're pushing just under 4 million people in total.


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#36 Bernard

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Posted 06 October 2018 - 03:37 PM

The population of the region has to already support for four serious sports.   Vancouver only has to support 1.5 beyond the NHL team (I am really on the fence as to if the CFL is a major or minor league thing)   

 

Meanwhile I have never heard any hockey buzz ever from my friends and family in Puget Sound,



#37 Victoria Watcher

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Posted 06 October 2018 - 03:39 PM

how much basketball buzz did you hear in vanciuver before we got an nba team?

#38 Bernard

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Posted 06 October 2018 - 03:46 PM

how much basketball buzz did you hear in vanciuver before we got an nba team?

A lot more, but I will give you Vancouver is not a basketball town and the team did leave



#39 AllseeingEye

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Posted 06 October 2018 - 03:52 PM

The population of the region has to already support for four serious sports.   Vancouver only has to support 1.5 beyond the NHL team (I am really on the fence as to if the CFL is a major or minor league thing)   

 

Meanwhile I have never heard any hockey buzz ever from my friends and family in Puget Sound,

Which is really my point - Seattle sports fans have multiple and very "real" professional teams from which to choose. Vancovuer and Calgary - both of whom have come dangerously close on a couple of occasions to potentially losing their NHL teams - have but one one *real* team to worry about, i.e. the Canucks and Flames. Like Bernard I really discount the CFL because even when the Lions are good they_never sell out BC Place unless they get to a conference or Grey Cup Final. 

 

I can remember not so many years ago when I lived in Vancouver it was no problem at all walking up to GM Place as it was known at the time and buying cheap Canucks tickets for decent seats right before game time. At one point they struggled to draw 8-9000 fans - and no one can ever accuse either Vancouver or Calgary of not being hard core hockey cities. Hockey is unquestionably King with virtually no competition for either fan loyalty or dollars. Not so in Seattle.

 

Don't get me wrong: Seattle makes sense from a business and competitive/league alignment sense; and of course the rivalry with Vancouver is a no-brainer.

 

But 30,000 people out of 4 million is a pittance. It's less than 1% of the population in a market with lots and lots and_lots of sporting "noise" and competition from other leagues and teams. As I stated twice above - IF they can pull of a "Vegas" in their first year they have a better than decent chance of doing well, very well in fact. If not, and they struggle for a year, two...or three, they would be in trouble IMO.



#40 AllseeingEye

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Posted 06 October 2018 - 03:53 PM

how much basketball buzz did you hear in vanciuver before we got an nba team?

Zero, none - and remind me again, what happened to that team? Oh that's right, they left town due to lack of fan support,....



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