The City of Seattle, NHL Seattle, and the Oak View Group have agreed on renovations to Key Arena to make the arena suitable for an NHL Franchise. The group also added a group of local investors to their ownership.
In today's Seattle to NHL news.. potential ownership group confirms an Oct. 2 pitch meeting w/ exec committee of NHL Board of Gov in NY.
Also add MLS Sounders owner, an Amazon CEO & sons of former Sonics owner to push: https://t.co/4XWAqkKVHd
— Emily Kaplan (@emilymkaplan) September 5, 2018
Seattle and Oak View Agree on Arena Renovations for NHL Seattle
The Seattle Center Arena which is also known as the Key Arena will be home to Seattle’s NHL franchise if they get approved. The plan is to double the size of the arena to 750 thousand square ft. The arena is going to have a capacity of 17,300 for NHL games and 18,600 for NBA games.
The group also added more investors to the ownership team. There are big names in the new group. Some of the local investors of the project include Adrian Hanauer who is the majority owner of the Seattle Sounders, Andy Jassy who is the CEO of Amazon Web services, Chris and Ted Akerly son of former Seattle Supersonics Owner Barry Ackley, along with Jeff and Chris Wright. The Wright family owns the Space Needle and Jeff Wright is the chairman of the Space Needle.
Seattle plans on presenting the project to the Executive Committee Board of the NHL on October 2nd. They plan to begin construction in autumn of this year, shortly after acquiring NHL approval.
Where Does NHL Seattle Stand Currently?
The chances of an NHL Franchise in Seattle look promising and they have proved that they can bring in the fans by selling 25,000 seat deposits in an hour. They have submitted the paperwork for an NHL team including their $10 million down payment. The NHL raised Seattle’s expansion bid to $650 million, The bid for Vegas was $500 million.
The Oak View Group has set a goal of having the franchise ready for the 2020-21 NHL season. The group has a long road ahead to meet their goal and the next few weeks will be crucial.
