As you have probably heard, the City Council officially approved the SoDo Arena deal. This is a major step on a long long road to landing an NHL franchise in Seattle. Focus on those positives.
….and don’t believe the hype around Edmonton. Edmonton Oilers owner, Daryl Katz was reported as touring Seattle KeyArena today. This is way way premature but the Oilers aren’t going anywhere. Here are the reasons:
1) NBA must come first. I expect this to be 6 months to a year out at best.
2) Edmonton has always had one of the top 10 teams for ticket revenue. To expect the same Arena Revenue here in Seattle would be ridiculous and won’t happen.
3) The Oilers have had total home attendance of 690,399 the last 6 years…that’s max capacity.
4) SeattleNHL team will have to pay more than current EDM deal on the table
5) The NHL cannot play in Key Arena…1 year maybe but that is a stretch.
6) We are talking about the Oilers!!!!
It’s a leverage play for Katz. This is part of the Arena subsidy playbook. (Mario in KC) Don’t believe it. The Katz tour has been getting a lot of airtime here as well. It’s not fair to the hockey fans here either.
Hang in there Edmonton!