Seattlest: Local NHL Advocates Not Letting It Go

jlb

Sat, 20 Dec 2008 23:31:22 -0800

There is a serious buzz about an NHL team in Seattle. We live in a northern state with an appreciable sports market. The town could most assuredly support a hockey team. It would create a great rivalry with the Canucks. Also, the Seattle/Tacoma Metro area boasts the 12th largest sports market in the US, and continues to grow larger. Hockey is a perfect fit for Seattle! http://www.thehockeynews.com/articles/18316-The-Straight-Edge-Thoughts-from-the-Pacific-Northwest.htm

ToasterDan

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 01:22:19 -0800

I don't know that the NHL would work in Seattle (though I'd love it to be here), however your article is so off base and dismissive that I had to respond. First of all, as I'm sure you know, Seattle is home to a large number of people not from Seattle. Hockey is huge on the east coast, and in Canada, and throughout a lot of Europe. Guess where a lot of people that immigrate to Seattle are from: all those places. Second, Seattle has several hockey leagues, the biggest of which is the GSHL with over 100 teams and therefore probably around 1500 players. The number of people that like a sport is always greater than the number that actually play it, so it's clear your 800 (which I understand was just used as an example) was a rather insultingly low example. Third, clearly you didn't do any research on the stability and viability of the league. Over the past two years, the average NHL team has increased in value by 23%, and the average team is now worth $200 million, which is good on the one hand, and on the other is not so expensive that one in a struggling market couldn't be bought and moved (and make no mistake, as evidenced recently in Seattle teams are bought and moved in all leagues). Even teams in not the greatest hockey markets are doing well from an economic point of view, like Tampa Bay (though you indicated they weren't by linking to a page containing city sizes?). Moreover, the more profitable NHL teams actually make more profit than many NFL teams. The Toronto Maple Leafs for instance made more profit than every NFL team other than the Dallas Cowboys and the New England Patriots last year, and the Dallas Stars (not your typical hockey market) made more profit than the Philadelphia Eagles or the NY Jets. My point is, your article is all hype and no substance. Even the links you provided went to irrelevant pages. Yes, there are teams in the NHL that are losing money, but the same goes for the NBA, etc. Like I said at the beginning of this now very long reply, I'm not sure an NHL team would work in Seattle, but not for any of the reasons you mentioned in your article.

TroyJMorris

Sun, 14 Dec 2008 09:46:21 -0800

I like hockey. So do the people who live in B.C. Just saying, I still think it'd work and be fun. Shit, the Las Vegas Wranglers draw a HUGE crowd... albeit they have only college football.

MrBaker

Sat, 13 Dec 2008 12:40:43 -0800

I see Runnerboy has exposed the flaw in the logic of the argument, thankfully the author provided the self-defeating comparison in the story. The hyperbolic "800" only serves to express the author's opinion that he likes the MLS over the NHL. And Brad swings the mighty hammer to hit the nail on the head "Bottom line, there's strength in numbers and if the NBA, WNBA, NHL and whatever else crowds can get together (a coalition of the swilling?) then the new arena might just pencil out." Qwest was sold, in part, as a potential home for the MLS. It was built for the NFL, not the other way around. The popularity of the NFL carried the weight of the speculative appearance of the MLS, and got soccer fans that do not like the NFL on board. The NBA is not as popular so it is not going to carry the speculation that the NHL will just show up. The probability of an NHL team showing up here would have to be far more evident. Knocking the NHL as a means to prop up your personal identity with soccer through the existence of the MLS benefits neither the MLS or diminishes the NHL. It is destructive to sport in Seattle at the very least. Just as nick Licata could not find social evidence of the desire for sports in Seattle while sitting in a wine bar listening to soft jazz, surrounded by like minded wine sipping soft jazz listeners, I'll argue that the author's life-long exposure to soccer, and other people that like soccer has not produced an opinion in the author that is formulated with a hockey component. But, this is just my opinion. Enjoy your sport as others enjoy theirs, in that, there is commonality that overcomes the Nick Licatas of the world.

RunnerBoy

Sat, 13 Dec 2008 10:46:59 -0800

You can't have it both ways. You can't complain that Rainiers baseball isn't the major leagues, or MLS doesn't compare the EPL, then argue that because the Thunderbirds don't draw, the NHL wouldn't work in Seattle. Bottom line, your argument is flawed. That said, I'm not sure the NHL would work in Seattle, either. Still, David Stern is such a jackass, at this point, I'd rather give my tax money to the NHL than the NBA.

Brad

Sat, 13 Dec 2008 08:41:27 -0800

The 'ultimate cafe fighting hipsters' league might be fun. Put me down for a 15-game pack.

SeattleSarah

Sat, 13 Dec 2008 00:30:46 -0800

Gonna miss the Tbirds. I did love going to see them play, especially playoff games and there is no way I'm driving to Kent unless I'm playing on the ice! As for an NHL team, I sadly think Seattle would fail. I would totally go to games and support them but there are too many that wouldn't. Seattle has such strong roots in hockey it's sad to neglect that. The same way it has strong roots in adult entertainment but doesn't want to embrace it. Be proud Seattle! Maybe Seattle could start an ultimate cafe fighting hipsters sport. That might take.

bigyaz

Fri, 12 Dec 2008 18:31:07 -0800

The notion that because MLS players aren't the best the world has to offer and thus the league is a "joke" is both tiresome and annoying. By that reasoning we really shouldn't give a damn about college football. Or high school basketball. Rabid Japanese baseball fans should give it up, since their baseball is decidedly inferior to MLB and therefore must be a "joke." Sports can be thrilling and worthy of our passion no matter what level it's played at. Yes, we all know the MLS isn't the Premier League (though we certainly appreciate you know-it-alls repeating it ad nauseum). We just don't think that's important.

jwhieger

Fri, 12 Dec 2008 15:36:00 -0800

The Onion Link is money in the bank.

ChrisB

Fri, 12 Dec 2008 15:31:02 -0800

803 here. I still want a Hockey Night in Canada jersey, dammit!

roach

Fri, 12 Dec 2008 15:22:09 -0800

To say "nobody cares" about the Thunderbirds is more than a little innaccurate, AND is in itself another example of your "Sounders ain't Arsenal" argument. Very few of those kids will actually go on to the NHL, and as such, the on ice product is not exactly NHL quality. However, all one has to do is go north a few miles to Everett to see a Silvertips game in an arena packed with enthusiastic, knowledgable fans to see that yes, the NHL would totally work here in Seattle. John, if we took you to a game, I promise you'd become one of the 800.

Brad

Fri, 12 Dec 2008 14:44:18 -0800

Makes me #802, I guess. I run into a lot of transplants who 'know' hockey, gave the T-Birds a shot, and then never returned after seeing what a joke the Key Arena set-up was. ("Wait, did they just skate off into the locker room? Where's the puck?") I'd buy season tickets if an NHL team was downtown, but I'd never support a Renton-based team, etc. Bottom line, there's strength in numbers and if the NBA, WNBA, NHL and whatever else crowds can get together (a coalition of the swilling?) then the new arena might just pencil out. In the last 18 months, the NHL has actually done a damned fine job in marketing the product and However, if any plan includes the phrase 'renovate Key Arena', I let me be the first in line to cross-check that fucker into the glass. (The NHL is actually doing a nice job in the past 18 months. Innovative marketing- outdoor games, etc, and the game was made for HDTV.) Go Wings!

nickinc

Fri, 12 Dec 2008 14:22:15 -0800

Eight hundred and ONE baby. Bring the ICE!!! Whoo HOO! Hockey is a sport worth watching, I've missed it ever since moving from Buffalo then Michigan. Stupid basketball.

Simonian

Fri, 12 Dec 2008 14:18:03 -0800

And speaking of soccer, The Onion had an article about that, and the state of Seattle sports in general: http://www.theonion.com/content/news_briefs/seattles_disastrous_sports