Seattle's NHL expansion franchise is still more than two years away from starting play, but team officials are "already moving to stop what they call 'ticket brokers' from stockpiling an inventory of KeyArena seats," according to Geoff Baker of the SEATTLE TIMES. NHL Seattle today will begin to "contact suspected brokers who've reserved season tickets and tell them they can't have them all." In March '18, fans were "able to make deposits of $500 or $1,000 per ticket and between 32,000 and 33,000 were actually reserved in fewer than 48 hours before the list was capped." One broker said that any "crackdown is more a case of NHL Seattle trying to 'manipulate the marketplace' by not letting actual public demand set the value of hockey tickets." NHL Seattle President & CEO Tod Leiweke said that the "current crackdown is for brokers alone." He added that the team "should begin inviting fans to actually buy tickets this fall -- possibly in late October." The delay in "converting deposits into actual tickets is just one of several items the team has continuously postponed" since being awarded the franchise in December. NHL Seattle had also "initially planned to announce the new team's name" this year. However, the naming decision now has "again been put off until early next year to possibly coincide with the NHL All-Star Break" (SEATTLE TIMES, 8/7).
