Comments on: Chicago AHL owner eager to own Seattle NHL team

By: fortwaynekomets

fortwaynekomets — Sat, 29 Dec 2012 17:20:05 +0000

Seattle is a black city when it comes to hockey. won’t work. move to Quebec.

By: harpdog

harpdog — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 23:00:33 +0000

13datsyuk13, judging by the name, knows very little about Canadian hockey fans. Canucks have had 8 years of sellouts. Edmonton Has even more sell outs and Calgary I am not too sure. Canadians love their hockey and will come to Seattle for games.
The 3 of us Jr. fans? When is the last time you went to a game. Before the Thunderbirds move 30 miles away to Kent, they we one of the top attendance teams in the WHL. There are tons of displace eastern hockey team fans like yourself and the Dead Things(redwings). I for one will be one of the first to get my 4 season tickets, if the time comes. However, I do not think that Levin will be their owner, that first chance will go to the guy that has had city council approve HIS new stadium. Pal Allen is a close #2 with Levin #3. My only question is, how many lockouts will it take to make the league realize that other places are better for hockey than some of the ones they have now.

By: rogercrozier

rogercrozier — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 19:45:22 +0000

Columbus is WAY better market than Seattle. Blue Jackets sold out 56 straight homes at one point. They have been in top half of attendance the league for most of their existence. If they team just won once in a while every game would be sold out. Central Ohio is a great hockey market.

By: duster1982

duster1982 — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 14:31:32 +0000

This comment makes no sense at all. Why would anyone in Seattle be “crying” about a game they won?

By: williplett

williplett — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 09:08:47 +0000

The league is in no shape to experiment with franchises right now. If a team moves in the near future it has to be to Canada. Seattle has to wait, but it could be in the mix in the future.

By: 13datsyuk13

13datsyuk13 — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 07:56:53 +0000

Strong support for jr hockey even though the crowds aren’t big? So the 3 of us in the Seattle area will support the team until our deaths!

By: greatminnesotasportsmind

greatminnesotasportsmind — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 06:46:43 +0000

I’d say Minnesota is doing okay as a hockey market with a basketball team in a seperate building…

By: eastcoastcynic

eastcoastcynic — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 23:34:37 +0000

The Seattle area is much different from 25 years ago–more transplants from cities with NHL franchises and a population size similar to the Denver area, which supports the NHL without a problem. We’ve got enough corporate largesse and high wage professional jobs to buy the luxury boxes and the premium seats. Furthermore, we’ve got amateur hockey galore around here and strong support for junior hockey eventhough the audiences aren’t as big. A lot more people would go to the NHL since the quality is superior as more people would go to Sonic games than Seattle U or Husky B-Ball.

With a contending team and a good TV demographic, the NHL in the Seattle area has the potential to suceed.

By: thomaspratt

thomaspratt — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 20:51:17 +0000

I live close to Seattle, and I think this comment is basically right. If an NHL team coming to Seattle coincides with a return of the NBA, I just wonder if there aren’t enough opportunities for cross-promotion that the hockey team would do well.

That said, I always thought Seattle would get an AHL level team in that western division some of the western NHL teams talk about every now and then.

By: purp1234

purp1234 — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 20:43:40 +0000

Puckish, I don’t know if your comment is that Detroit and San Jose are the only exceptions to the rule you proposed (the …. is throwing me off) or if all of the teams on your list are exceptions. Hockey on Long Island worked out pretty well after the Nets left the Coliseum. Decades of poor/mismanagement, an aging facility and a poor product on the ice has lead to the decline in Islander’s attendance.

By: puckish27

puckish27 — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 20:22:21 +0000

The NHL should not relocate/expand to US cities where there is not an NBA team in the same building, it rarely works. Columbus, Phoenix, Long Island, St. Louis, Pittsburgh (both bankrupt twice)… Detroit and San Jose are major exceptions.

By: greatminnesotasportsmind

greatminnesotasportsmind — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 18:56:09 +0000

I would scratch Florida off your list for right now. As somebody a few posts under here, Seattle is a fair wether sports market. I would guess 9/10 markets are the same way. The more you win, the butts you put in seats.

Which leads me to Florida, until this year, they hadn’t made the playoffs since before the Minnesota Wild and Columbus Blue Jackets existed. In fact, the last time they did make the playoffs was when the Atlanta Thrahers were an expansion team.

As last year went on, more and more Panther fans started to show up. There were sold out in all four playoff games, and remember this, that was a decent Panther team that took the East Champion to Game 7, and I want to say it took overtime for them to be eliminated, and the vast majority of that team is coming back. Not to mention I believe they are top 5 in prospects, including a highly touted Nick Bjustead, who would have left the University of Minnesota to play for the Panthers. Except this whole lockout prevented that.

By: 13datsyuk13

13datsyuk13 — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 18:38:31 +0000

Nobody in Seattle cares about hockey. I live in Seattle and struggle to get playoff games on a tv in a bar. Seattle has too many fair weather fans and doesn’t deserve an NHL franchise. Everyone is basketball crazy here and let’s remember the sonics. The mariners were good early 2000 but nobody goes to see them anymore. People love the sounders but they are just soccer freaks. The only true ticket in town is the seachickens and the whole city loves them right now, because they are winning. NHL needs to stop forcing its product into markets that don’t understand the sport. This is why the league is losing money. In 8 years we will all be discussing why Seattle’s NHL team is bankrupt.

By: nderdog

nderdog — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 18:31:04 +0000

I wonder if he knows that Paul Allen (AKA Seahawks/Blazers owner) has been lusting after a hockey team in either Seattle or Portland for years, so he has some competition for sure.

By: blomfeld

blomfeld — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 18:28:23 +0000

I’m with you guys as Seattle would make for a terrific NHL city !

By: capesouth

capesouth — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 17:55:51 +0000

Would love to see them move a current franchise to Seattle, like Columbus or Phoenix…or Florida. Same with Quebec. They would support a team much better than some of these current small market cities.

By: csilojohnson

csilojohnson — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 17:23:44 +0000

I agree, good market. Better then Phoenix at least. Maby Seattle will stop crying about a football game they would’ve lost without crappy officiating.