NFL Seattle... KINGS?!?

[Fred T. Jane]

I suggest a book called "The League". It came out in 1985 and it is one of the best football history books ever written. It tells you about every back room deal that was made.

One of my professors has a paper detailing how Russell Long essentially blackmailed the NFL in order to get the Saints in exchange for he and Lindy Boggs' role in brokering a settlement for the merger. Back room deals indeed.

Lindy Boggs, Fred? It was her husband, Hale Boggs who was the majority whip in congress at the time of the Saints' inception. Lindy didn't take over the seat until 1973, after Hale Boggs' presumed death in a plane crash in Alaska.

Yes, typing in a hurry last night whilst pretending to read soil reports for a meeting this morning.

I forget what journal he had it published in, but Dr. Michael Martin was the author.

And as far as the farm school in Baton Rouge, I've met the faculty at the history department there and I was impressed by their general mediocrity. With nearly unlimited funds, you'd think you guys could hire better professors.

[mfoster]

And as far as the farm school in Baton Rouge, I've met the faculty at the history department there and I was impressed by their general mediocrity. With nearly unlimited funds, you'd think you guys could hire better professors.

Do they get paid in corn dogs? *ducks*

[ykiki5]

Any other Seattlites remember the big "KINGS" football that used to sit atop the building on 1st avenue at the northbound onramp to the Alaskan Way Viaduct? The building sits across Occidental from the Kingdome/Qwest Field site and in the 1970's featured a large "Squire Shop" ad painted along the top.

If memory serves, the Kings' team colors were purple and gold.

References to the Seattle Kings' sponsorship of the Jets/Steelers game can also be found in that year's Seafair hydroplane program.

[wman]

I found it interesting that Honolulu was a thought. I know the WFL tried it, but even then I can't see the viability. I know it's a city of about 400,000, but with nothing but water around it.

[OMMF]

I know it's a city of about 400,000, but with nothing but water around it.

Worked for New Orleans.

Too soon?

[Lee.]

I know it's a city of about 400,000, but with nothing but water around it.

Worked for New Orleans.

Too soon?

It's never too soon.

[Joshawaggie]

I know it's a city of about 400,000, but with nothing but water around it.

Worked for New Orleans.

Too soon?

It's never too soon.

That's not what she said...?

[ykiki5]

I found it interesting that Honolulu was a thought. I know the WFL tried it, but even then I can't see the viability. I know it's a city of about 400,000, but with nothing but water around it.

Probably due to the fact that they just built (or were building) Aloha Stadium. Build it and they will think about coming...

[B-Rich]

I know it's a city of about 400,000, but with nothing but water around it.

Worked for New Orleans.

Too soon?

It's never too soon.

We can handle it. I know where you're coming from with the humor, but hey, it's more or less always been the case. Surrounded by and limited by water-- Mississippi River, Lakes Pontchartrain, Manchac and Borgne, the Gulf, and numerous bayous, waterways and swamps.

In fact-- history lesson here-- there is actually something called "the Isle of Orleans", a geographic designation that denotes how the New Orleans area is, in fact, surounded by water. Always keys in negotiations of transitions during colonial times (French, Spanish, etc.), one can also note that when the US made the Louisiana Purchase, it included not all only all the lands on the west bank of the Mississippi River, but also a small portion on the the east bank-- the Isle of Orleans.

Historically, designated as such and totally bounded by water: from just below Baton Rouge, where a old crevasse in the natural river levee created Bayou Manchac, along that Bayou to the Iberville (now Amite) River, to Lake Maurepas, thru Pass Manchac, to Lake Pontchartrain, through the Rigolets (a tidal waterway) to Lake Borgne, to the open Gulf, thence back up the Mississippi River to the starting point:

[Armorbeast]

I live in Alabama and have always thought it odd that people think pro football would not do well here when it's done well here with almost every rival league franchise. It's been said that Alabama is the largest football state in the US not to have a professional NFL team of it's own and the reasons given usually come down to us being a college state... the exact same excuse often given to justify keeping the NFL out of Texas before it finally got a team when in Texas, high school football is king and can sometimes even out draw college and pro football teams. Now, the excuse is that Alabama belongs to the markets of other NFL clubs... ok, so then get rid of one of the New York teams that play in the same stadium if you want to use that excuse.

What Alabama wants is the guarantee of a team and we will give the NFL a stadium. We don't want a replay of what St Petersburg did to try attracting a pro team and build a stadium so that by the time they got one, their stadium needed major upgrades and was pretty much obsolete. In my region, I'm considered as living in the Tennessee Titans market area... I hate the Titans because the name doesn't sound right and while the NFL tries to make this a Titans merchandising area, merchants have discovered that to sell Titans merchandise here, they have to pretty much take a loss. It's not that we hate Tennessee or anything, it's the teams identity itself as it was designed more specifically for the city of Nashville with it's wealth and does not represent the region in the same way that a team like the Panthers might do.

In this regard, had the Seattle Kings group won the right to put a team in Seattle, I don't think it would have lasted because everything about it seemed wrong where the Seahawks seem a more generic, but appealing identity.

Much as the team seems to have become more popular after moving to the NFC, sometimes it's simply a matter of identity and location which makes a team successful during the bad times as well as the good. The Jaguars are an example because how does the Jaguars identity reflect the city of Jacksonville? It doesn't as Jaguars aren't even native to the US unless you accept accounts that some have found their way into Texas. Then you have the lousy change they made to the helmet this past year and that awful logo that looks like someone decapitated a Jaguar... the image looks dead. Any wonder then that the teams in trouble regarding fan support?

So, if you are a fan of the Seattle franchise, be very grateful you have the Seahawks because all those losing years would have killed the team or forced relocation if the right combination of identity and location were not established.

PS, weren't they going to be called the Seattle Sea Lions before they changed the identity to the Kings? http://sportspressnw.com/2115338/2011/wayback-machine-hugh-mcelhenny-the-seattle-kings

[McCall]

And a 5-1/2 year old thread was the place to make your point?

[Soarindude]

And a 5-1/2 year old thread was the place to make your point?

I enjoyed reading this thread.

[ThorSkaagi]

A quick google search shows that this was the proposed helmet for the Kings?

[Gothamite]

And a 5-1/2 year old thread was the place to make your point?

There's got to be a way, some sort of setting, that will prevent bumps of old threads from posters with, say, less than 100 posts.

[jc...]

I don't get why people get upset with it. It's relevant to the thread. And it's an interesting read that some of us may not have seen otherwise. If you don't like it, don't read it. Seriously, who cares how old it is!?!

[Mac the Knife]

A quick google search shows that this was the proposed helmet for the Kings?

Yep. That's it. Here's some other material (some found initially by our very own ColorWerx...)

Over time the group slowly came to the realization that they weren't as well capitalized as another group vying to bring the NFL to Seattle. Near the end, just before the NFL was to award franchises, the Kings group volunteered to join the other and put forth a united front for Seattle. They basically were told to get bent, and the other group ultimately became the first owners of the Seahawks.

[EJ_Barlik]

Tampa seems best qualified as an expansion site. Big business remained uncertain about the Cigar City despite its own wishful billing as the South's next Atlanta until Walt Disney bought 27,400 acres just 68 miles to the east, near Orlando . Orlando has its own NFL hopes, but Tampa tries to blunt that intramural competition by suggesting Orlando is nothing more than a part of its own television market area. Tampa is the larger of the two cities, and with the completion of its new airport, which comes to you direct from Tomorrowland, Tampa is experiencing a boom.

First, very interesting read.

Second, I find the above laughable, that Orlando was a part of Tampa or vice versa. Having grown up in that part of Florida, I never once thought of Orlando as being a part of the Tampa TV market or even viewing area. Orlando has its own broadcast TV stations, just like Tampa does. To me, this implies separate markets. (For a contrasting example, take Greenville SC/Spartanburg SC/Asheville NC. Those 3 cities aren't even in the same states and they SHARE a broadcast station. THAT, to me says same TV market.) That line, is pure politics at the NFL level. Proof of this is Orlando eventually did get the Thunder of the WLAF as they purposely put teams in what were considered non-occupied potential NFL markets. That's proof the NFL thought each could support a team.

Thirdly, the nature of back-office deals strongly suggests that unless Los Angeles gets off its collective butt, it is not getting another NFL team, no matter how bad they want one. They are going to have to kiss some serious tail in order to get considered, regardless of what the owner of the Cowboys feels or says publicly. No wonders Goodell says "we have to do it the right way..." as in, as soon as you pay us a stadium-load of money, we we start to consider you,

Good read. Thanks for posting. Also loved the quick blurb on New Orleans someone posted.

[Soarindude]

A quick google search shows that this was the proposed helmet for the Kings?

Yep. That's it. Here's some other material (some found initially by our very own ColorWerx...)

Over time the group slowly came to the realization that they weren't as well capitalized as another group vying to bring the NFL to Seattle. Near the end, just before the NFL was to award franchises, the Kings group volunteered to join the other and put forth a united front for Seattle. They basically were told to get bent, and the other group ultimately became the first owners of the Seahawks.

Would have been wonderful to see what the "Seattle Kings" would have evolved to be today if everything had gone through. I like the purposed look.

[hawk36]

A quick google search shows that this was the proposed helmet for the Kings?

Yep. That's it. Here's some other material (some found initially by our very own ColorWerx...)

Over time the group slowly came to the realization that they weren't as well capitalized as another group vying to bring the NFL to Seattle. Near the end, just before the NFL was to award franchises, the Kings group volunteered to join the other and put forth a united front for Seattle. They basically were told to get bent, and the other group ultimately became the first owners of the Seahawks.

Would have been wonderful to see what the "Seattle Kings" would have evolved to be today if everything had gone through. I like the purposed look.

Would have been especially interesting given the county changed from the original King name (William R. King) and crown symbol to the likeness of MLK. I'm guessing the team wouldn't have followed suit but they may have tried some tribute or patch for Dr. King.

[btharner]

Geez, there were already teams named Kings in the NHL and NBA when this team would have launched. This might have been king-sized overkill.