The Mayor of Seattle, Jenny Durkan announced on Twitter today that the city will start its Seattle ticket drive on March 1st. This comes one week after Seattle officially applied for an NHL expansion franchise. Seattle was a front-runner for years for an expansion team.
And already, we have taken another big step down the path of bringing professional hockey to Seattle:
The application has gone in to the @NHL.
And I’m telling you, mark your calendars:
Starting on March 1 at 10am, you will be able to make your deposit for season tickets.
— Mayor Jenny Durkan (@MayorJenny) February 20, 2018
Seattle will start taking NHL season-ticket deposits starting March 1.
Deposits range from $500 to $1,000.
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) February 20, 2018
Announced: Seattle Ticket Drive To Start 3/1
The ticket drive will start on March 1st and will be open for the public to buy. The expansion season ticket drive is to prove that there is interest in a team in Seattle. It is something expansion teams must do. For the Vegas Golden Knights, it took a few months to hit their goal of 10,000. They ultimately hit 16,000 deposits. The season ticket drive is just one part of many for an expansion team, but fans can place down deposits for tickets, which they can then claim when they become available.
The new Seattle franchise plans to play in the soon to be upgraded KeyArena. This arena is the home of the former SuperSonics, an NBA team. It will be going through a $600 million upgrade to suit a modern day NHL and NBA stadium.
It has not been announced how many ticket deposits Seattle wishes to sell. However, it would be likely they wish to aim a goal for at least 10,000 like Vegas did, maybe even more. Hitting this number may take a month or two, but time is something Seattle has on their side.
Seattle still has a long way to go before they become an NHL franchise, but this is an early step for a team we could see playing as soon as the 2021 season.