Tod Leiweke stressed that he and all involved in the NHL Seattle effort are not taking anything for granted. But he admitted they had a “big day,” a “fantastic day” yesterday.
“Seattle is NHL ready.”
That’s the message a select group presented to the NHL’s executive committee in New York on Tuesday. That group included Leiweke, his Seattle Hockey Partners bosses David Bonderman and Jerry Bruckheimer, Bonderman business associate (and new minority team investor) Len Potter, Seattle mayor Jenny Durkan, and his brother Tim with arena investor Oak View Group.
Speaking on Sports Radio KJR’s Tuesdays with Tod, Leiweke said they got to tell Seattle’s story.
“That is a story of a lot of great things. It’s a story of a building that is historic but is going to be modern. It’s the story of fans placing deposits in record numbers. It’s a lot of great things.”
He mentioned that he had hoped to have this meeting back in June, as originally planned, but that ultimately he was grateful they had the extra time to prepare.
David Bonderman opened and closed the presentation, which lasted about an hour and a half once they finally got in the room. But it’s Mayor Durkan who everyone is referring to as “the closer.”
Geoff Baker with the Seattle Times details Durkan’s role in the presentation, what Leiweke and NHL commissioner Gary Bettman both praised as “enthusiastic” about the city and the NHL. She was able to sway a group that “had become wary of [Seattle] over the years for an agonizingly slow bureaucracy” that the city was capable of getting the arena done in time for 2020.
Following Bonderman, Tod spoke about the extraordinary situation the city and market presents to the league. Durkan followed him, and she was chased by a six-minute video the group produced to sell the sports scene and NHL Seattle as a whole.
Tim Leiweke spoke on the arena, the agreements with the city, and the timeline. Potter detailed the business plan. Tod returned to offer information on their planned training facility. And finally, the one-two punch of Bruckheimer and Bonderman summarized their group and presentation.
On the reaction to the presentation, Leiweke said:
“Today was a really, really extraordinary, positive step forward. And what was so important about it, it wasn’t just the vote, it was the reaction of the owners. And how excited they are that Seattle is going to be a part, potentially, of the National Hockey League.”
The NHL committee was impressed by the local ownership that had come on-board and what they represent to Seattle. Prospective minority owner David Wright also attended the meeting. They reacted well to the arena progress and the proposed timeline. They were excited about the training facility options and asked after Seattle’s potential AHL minor league hockey affiliate.
Asked what’s next for the group to do, Leiweke says the arena is what they have the most control over for a 2020 launch. He mentioned Tim was on the phone with construction partner Skanska Hunt immediately following the presentation.
Durkan told the Times that the Seattle City Council would have to waive a requirement in the arena agreement to begin demolition and arena construction before an expansion team is formally awarded.
“It’s written very specifically, so there are things they’d need to see from the league in order to make that happen.”
The group also has some final documents they have to finish up ahead of the final presentation in December, Leiweke says. They “knew it was going to be a two-part process.”
To sum up where they are now, he offered:
“I’ll use a phrase from my former life: We are in the red zone. All we have to do is execute here.”
Comments
Training Facility
I was hoping we’d hear more about the training facility.
By seafan12 on 10.03.18 5:26pm
wouldn't surprise me if we hear something about that
prior to the December meetings
By gstommylee on 10.03.18 6:14pm
Monday Annoucement (per Doug Mellon)
I’m not sure how to copy tweets into this…But Mellon indicates the location is Northgate. I’ve been calling this for a while. GREAT choice if true.
- The Seattle Pilots get to be the centerpiece behind the Northgate Mall redevelopment.
- This extremely high traffic location will provide a great location for a successful HQ team store.
- The location will have direct connection to the arena (through monorail) via light rail for team employees going to the arena.
- Depending on site location, great visibility from I5
- Fantastic community benefits with the additional sheets of ice. Plenty of parking and transit for community use of the ice rinks
- I’ll throw a plug that the winter time will have an outside rink located in the newly minted "park" that is currently shown in the center of the redeveloped mall. Seattle lacks this type of winter attraction and it’ll be a HUGE hit if they do it.
https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/seattle/northgate-mall-developers-plan-radical-redesign/281-577211963
By ksmith1984 on 10.03.18 8:53pm
more benefits...
- The mall will have housing, providing an option if players want to live near the practice facility.
- a new 200 room hotel will be located at the mall, providing the team a super convenient place when players/personnel, need accommodations.
- the "central park" is a place the team could use for rallies or team oriented public events
By ksmith1984 on 10.03.18 9:09pm
Yea
when it was mentioned to be north gate my first thought Norhtgate mall lot. That’s the only area that a 3 rink facility will fit.
By gstommylee on 10.03.18 9:17pm
Yep
And if this is where’s it’s going to go, it’s a damn good choice. Might also look for an NBA practice facility to also be located here if and when that becomes reality. Northgate is ripe for redevelopment and this will be a good way to do it.
By snovalleyhockeyfan on 10.04.18 9:27am
Penguins new training facilities
https://www.upmclemieuxsportscomplex.com/
Maybe OVG will follow a similar plan.
next to a major highway.
is developing housing
partnering with a regional healthcare company
By Jeff - j1012 on 10.04.18 4:46am
Maybe Dallas
https://www.nhl.com/stars/starcenters
Oak View might be wise to look at this approach, too.
By snovalleyhockeyfan on 10.04.18 9:28am
Hotel at Northgate will be good for AHL callups
They’ll appreciate the hotel being next to the practice facility.
By D-to-D One-T on 10.04.18 5:19pm
rec' ing for PILOTS
By Jeff - j1012 on 10.04.18 4:37am
Why wait?
https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/seattle-hockey-group-eyes-northgate-for-site-of-training-facility-headquarters/281-600777709
By Taylor Bartle on 10.04.18 9:32am
Isn't it technically prior to the december BOG meetings?
By gstommylee on 10.04.18 12:30pm
Huh?
By Taylor Bartle on 10.04.18 12:39pm
I was making a joke
Announcing it monday is prior to december BOG meeing.
By gstommylee on 10.04.18 1:56pm
Guessing they're finalizing contracts today/tomorrow and then can announce on Monday.
But, yeah, cat’s out of the bag at this point.
By Throbert Bedford on 10.04.18 1:23pm
VMAC
I think this is a great location. I keep hearing that it will be like the VMAC, but frankly it should be much different. VMAC is not really a public facility except for training camp. This ice center should be public year round with a pro shop, concessions, public ice rinks, etc.
By seafan12 on 10.04.18 11:08am
I'd expect it to be
And this approach the Stars have really is something all of you should look at. Take a look at the website I’ve linked and you’ll see what I mean. The Stars have built several of these type of facilities all over the DFW metro area, and all of them are publicly accessible and have a lot of youth and adult programs for hockey in them.
By snovalleyhockeyfan on 10.04.18 11:44am
From a team facility perspective, it very much should be like the VMAC
The quality of the headquarters and player facilities is exactly the level they should be striving for for both the hockey and basketball teams.
That doesn’t preclude them from opening the three ice sheets to the public and creating an experience for the public to visit the facility. That’s why they are putting it in such a visible and high-trafficked area.
It’ll likely be something similar to this: https://www.reviewjournal.com/videos/official-opening-of-city-national-arena-practice-facility-for-the-golden-knights/
There
By Matt Tucker on 10.04.18 3:47pm
The renderings released today make it look much nicer than the VMAC.
By Throbert Bedford on 10.08.18 5:00pm
OVG can proceed with pre-demolition activilities
This is not a waiver to start demolishing. Its only for them to get them ready for demo.
By gstommylee on 10.04.18 2:12pm
Kraken.
Kraken Den? Ok…maybe not that…
By Chris Meirose on 10.04.18 2:51pm
If the rum company is sponsoring
then maybe
By Taylor Bartle on 10.04.18 4:49pm
So who gets to name the new blog?
And is it named before or after the team? Perhaps an article chronicling more of the Vegas timeline?
By Thalas on 10.05.18 8:34am
I believe the site management has already named it. As long as it's not the overused "Sin Bin" I'm fine.
It may be called Frozen Sound. They could also wait until the team name is announced for a play on that, but many other blogs are named independent of the team name.
By Throbert Bedford on 10.05.18 9:42am
I like the Frozen Sound, nice regional name
By Jeff - j1012 on 10.05.18 1:08pm