Seattle expansion appears imminent
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman is expected to confirm the worst-kept secret in hockey on Tuesday — the league will be expanding to Seattle.
Approval of the city’s bid to become the NHL’s 32nd franchise needs support from 75 per cent of the board of governors, who are set to meet this week in Sea Island, Ga.
Barring something completely unforeseen, Seattle appears to be a slam dunk.
There’s a deep-pocketed ownership group fronted by majority stakeholder David Bonderman and Hollywood producer Jerry Bruckheimer, the $650million (U.S.) expansion fee and an opportunity to balance the league with 16 teams in each conference. Two big unknowns remain heading into the board meetings scheduled for Monday and Tuesday, however. When will Seattle hit the ice and how will the NHL realign two of its four divisions?
KeyArena, which was home to the NBA’s SuperSonics before they moved to Oklahoma City in 2008, is primed for a massive $700-million renovation, but it’s unclear if the project will be finished in time for the start of 2020-21 NHL season.
“The potential club ownership is very much interested in starting in 2020-21,” NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said. “But their arena timeline continues to be a little too tight for that, so we’ll see whether they can move that up or change that.”
If the facility isn’t ready, the league would prefer Seattle’s inaugural campaign be pushed back until 2021-22 rather than have the new team play temporarily at a different venue.
“They have floated the idea of potentially using an alternate site for the first couple weeks of the (2020-21) season,” Daly said. “It’s not ideal.”
There’s also the possibility of an NHL work stoppage in the fall of 2020, but Bettman has said the arena hurdle is the biggest obstacle facing a 2020 start date for Seattle, which has sold 32,000 season-ticket deposits, including the 10,000 purchased in the drive’s first 12 minutes.
“Everybody’s goal is 2020 if it can be accomplished,” Bettman said. “If it’s not, then we’ll do it in ’21.”