Updated Arena Timeline
It was a relative heavy news week in NHL to Seattle movement. On Tuesday, I published an updated timeline of NHL approval with the best information I had at the time. Within 48 hours, we received a lot more clarity on the sequence of events.
Here’s an estimated timeline for how the rest of the year could shape up for the NHL Seattle group:
- 8/30: Final Environmental Impact Study on Seattle Center Arena published
- 8/30-9/13: FEIS potential appeal window
- 9/7: City of Seattle Committee meeting on Arena at Seattle Center transaction documents (1 of 2)
- 9/14: City of Seattle Committee meeting on Arena at Seattle Center transaction documents. Expected vote out of committee. (2 of 2)
9/17 or9/24: City Council vote on Arena at Seattle Center transaction documents- 10/2: NHL Seattle presentation to Board of Governors Executive Committee.
- December 2018: Full Board of Governors meeting/vote on NHL expansion.
2021 as a possible target
Target Season 2021-22?
Emily Kaplan from ESPN spoke to NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly about potential expansion to Seattle and what she found out spooked a number of fans
Here is full Bill Daly quote re: potential entry date for Seattle NHL team. Really sounds like it will be 2021-22 season, not 2020-21 as originally outlined. Makes sense, esp considering the time crunch for Key Arena renovations. (As VGK showed, need to get it right in year one) pic.twitter.com/hWnTrQZ86F
— Emily Kaplan (@emilymkaplan) September 6, 2018
The reality here is that this is not that surprising. Patrick Quinn from KOMO originally reported that there are contingencies in place and we all know the construction timeline to hit October 2020 is very aggressive. Additionally, NHL fans know we face a potential lockout in 2020 as the NHL-NHLPA Collective Bargaining Agreement is set to expire should one of the parties opt out of the current CBA in October of 2019. As a hockey fan, I hope they can work something out before the start of the 2020 season. As I pointed out on Tuesday, we could also be looking at an appeal to the Final Environmental Impact Study which would delay permitting, breaking ground and potentially the NHL Board of Governors vote.
Daly’s comments could be a hedge against all of the above. A lot must go right to hit 2020 and the NHL Seattle team remains committed to the 2020 date. They released this statement on the issue:
“We are focused on and expect to be ready for the 2020-2021 season should approval be given for us to join as the 32nd franchise, per the request of the NHL. Should that direction from the NHL change, we are prepared to move to 2021-2022. The actual start year is also dependent on the timeline for approval and EIS process in Seattle, as well as the construction process. We know there are other considerations that the NHL will weigh as it makes its decision.” – Tim Leiweke, CEO, Oak View Group
Around the Boards
Here is the content and articles that caught our eye this week:
Tuesday with Tod Tip (KJR 9/3)
Seattle Hockey Partners Ready To Make Formal NHL Expansion Pitch On October 2 (Forbes 9/5)
NHL Seattle adds new owners, including one life long hockey fan (NHLtoSeattle 9/6)
NHL won’t vote on Seattle expansion until December, at the earliest (ESPN 9/8)
Investor Tim Leiweke on the state of the NHL in Seattle (KING 9/6)
City won’t allow KeyArena demolition until NHL team awarded to Seattle (KING 9/7)
Cutler Klein contributed to this post.
