Renovations will preserve KeyArena's current roof and will seat between 17,000-19,000 fansGETTY IMAGES
The Seattle City Council in a unanimous vote approved lease and development agreements that will allow Oak View Group to "demolish the existing KeyArena and replace it with a new facility," meaning an NHL team could be "playing in Seattle" by '20, according to a front-page piece by Heidi Groover of the SEATTLE TIMES. Seattle Arena Co., which includes OVG, "plans to spend" $700M building a new facility. The "new, expanded facility will preserve the arena's current roof" and will seat between 17,000-19,000 fans, "depending on the event." The 39-year lease "includes two possible eight-year extensions." Demolition of KeyArena "could begin this year." But the development agreement between SAC and the city "allows demolition of the existing KeyArena" only once the NHL BOG has awarded Seattle a franchise. Local investors will "present to the NHL's executive committee" on Oct. 2. The full NHL BOG will "vote in December on whether to approve an expansion franchise for Seattle" for the '20-21 season. While SAC will "cover the costs of the project," the city will pay the company "about $350,000 a year for the first 10 years of the deal to cover the sales tax" during construction (SEATTLE TIMES, 9/25). The AP's Tim Booth noted the goal is to "have the building ready" by the fall of '20 so an expansion NHL team could "start that season." Hitting that target will "depend partly on when construction can actually begin." OVG CEO Tim Leiweke said, "There is no reason we can't hopefully get a little bit of momentum next week and convince people that a November, push dirt, get in there and start working, works" (AP, 9/24).
SECOND TIME'S THE CHARM: In Seattle, Geoff Baker notes the biggest difference from the '16 KeyArena vote, which "saw a stunning 5-4 rejection" of an arena proposal, is that an "affirmative result now would remove the final local hurdle to construction beginning and Seattle landing an NHL franchise." That "simply wasn't the case the last time." Former Seattle Mayor and City Council President Tim Burgess and others "knew that even if they approved" entrepreneur Chris Hansen's proposal, Hansen still "needed additional investors and -- most important -- an NBA franchise as his five-year arena exclusivity deal with the city and King County required before construction commenced." Burgess said of the '16 arena proposal, "There was a lot of skepticism over whether that would ever happen" (SEATTLE TIMES, 9/25).
