NBA back to Seattle? NHL too?

[illwauk]

Hey, Bucks... looks like you may finally have a chance at that new arena you need so badly to be competitive

If the deer do move, Milwaukee might be the first city to actually take pride in losing a team.

[NoHoJoe]

If one team is likely to move to Seattle, the Raptors would be a good candidate. The NBA in Canada has never been relevant, and this most likely the final season for the Raptors at the ACC.

[Viper]

Hey, Bucks... looks like you may finally have a chance at that new arena you need so badly to be competitive

If the deer do move, Milwaukee might be the first city to actually take pride in losing a team.

Trading the Pilots/Brewers for the Bucks? Milwaukee definitely gets the better end of that deal.

Of course, this develeopment also makes great fodder for the "NHL Babysitting" thread*. No doubt the NLL's Washington Stealth (who currently play half an hour up I-5 in Everett, for lack of a suitable arena in Seattle) are following this situation as well.

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* What happened to that thread anyway? I don't see it listed in the first five pages' worth of threads and I find it hard to believe it's been buried deeper than that.

[Viper]

Sure enough, the proposed Seattle arena is now also being talked up as a potential new home for the Phoenix Coyotes.

[Christopher] Hansen?s aim is to get a NBA team back to the city to replace the Supersonics who left for Oklahoma City back in 2008. A new arena would mean the NHL would take Seattle?s interest in bringing a team there far more seriously. With the Phoenix Coyotes potentially in need of a new place to move, and soon, the lure of moving them to a new major market like Seattle would be strong.

[RedSox44]

Yeah, that's the reason why they're not called the Oklahoma City Sonics.

*gags upon hearing "Oklahoma City Sonics"*

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After watching the Sonics-gate movie, if I were a Seattleite (?) I'd want nothing to do with the NBA or David Stern.

I think their desire for a professional basketball team goes beyond their hatred for Stern and the NBA.

~~~~

Sure enough, the proposed Seattle arena is now also being talked up as a potential new home for the Phoenix Coyotes.

[Christopher] Hansen’s aim is to get a NBA team back to the city to replace the Supersonics who left for Oklahoma City back in 2008. A new arena would mean the NHL would take Seattle’s interest in bringing a team there far more seriously. With the Phoenix Coyotes potentially in need of a new place to move, and soon, the lure of moving them to a new major market like Seattle would be strong.

I'd rather the Coyotes move to Quebec City rather than Seattle, but if there's a market for it and Quebec still won't give the NHL an arena, Seattle wouldn't be a bad choice.

[Jimmy!]

I agree with you only if you think cities should make a profit off of entertainment. Otherwise, how is there no benefit when a city is throwing $500 million per stadium into the economy? Some stadium deals are a lot better than others. But generally, stadium deals are pretty advantageous to cities. New stadiums often lead to increased property taxes, urban renewal, and other new private construction.

I'd be interested to know how businesses around Key Arena have been impacted since the departure of the Sonics. It may not be a fair assessment since Key Arena still gets some use. But when a team vacates a stadium, how badly do the surrounding businesses suffer?

I'd love to see a team come back here. I don't care if we take the Kings, the Hornets, or any team. My kids and I would go to one or two games a year and had a great time. There was a huge sense of loss for me when the team left, so I won't hold my breath. While I completely understand the financial pros and cons of an NBA team back in Seattle, I tend to lean more on the emotional investment I have.

[Magnus]

If one team is likely to move to Seattle, the Raptors would be a good candidate. The NBA in Canada has never been relevant, and this most likely the final season for the Raptors at the ACC.

I was wondering when they would become extinct.

[Sodboy13]

Hey, Bucks... looks like you may finally have a chance at that new arena you need so badly to be competitive

If the deer do move, Milwaukee might be the first city to actually take pride in losing a team.

This is several leaps of logic, but the prospect of an NHL with Seattle and Milwaukee in it makes me tingly.

[WSU151]

I agree with you only if you think cities should make a profit off of entertainment. Otherwise, how is there no benefit when a city is throwing $500 million per stadium into the economy? Some stadium deals are a lot better than others. But generally, stadium deals are pretty advantageous to cities. New stadiums often lead to increased property taxes, urban renewal, and other new private construction.

I'd be interested to know how businesses around Key Arena have been impacted since the departure of the Sonics. It may not be a fair assessment since Key Arena still gets some use. But when a team vacates a stadium, how badly do the surrounding businesses suffer?

Businesses near arenas probably do better because arenas can hold so many events - concerts, dirt bikes, motivational speeches, conventions, etc. However, limited-use stadiums probably hurt local business far more when there's no action. If baseball went on strike, businesses around Coors Field would really feel the pinch, I think, despite it being a trendy area.

[pmoehrin]

I agree with you only if you think cities should make a profit off of entertainment. Otherwise, how is there no benefit when a city is throwing $500 million per stadium into the economy? Some stadium deals are a lot better than others. But generally, stadium deals are pretty advantageous to cities. New stadiums often lead to increased property taxes, urban renewal, and other new private construction.

I'd be interested to know how businesses around Key Arena have been impacted since the departure of the Sonics. It may not be a fair assessment since Key Arena still gets some use. But when a team vacates a stadium, how badly do the surrounding businesses suffer?

I'd love to see a team come back here. I don't care if we take the Kings, the Hornets, or any team. My kids and I would go to one or two games a year and had a great time. There was a huge sense of loss for me when the team left, so I won't hold my breath. While I completely understand the financial pros and cons of an NBA team back in Seattle, I tend to lean more on the emotional investment I have.

My guess is in the area immediately surrounding KeyArena you would see some effect if the area is mostly restaurants and bars that have relied on the Soncis for business, but if you look at the city of Seattle as a scale I don't think you would be able to tell any difference. To me its just moving money from one place to another. The only way you could possibly be making money on a city wide scale is if your getting more out of city residents to come to these games that wouldn't normally come into Seattle and get them to spend money on your bars and restaurants. Anything I've read says that just doesn't happen on large to even be measurable.

Going to dinner at a restaurant or drinking at a bar is consistent with entertainment spending and that is generally fixed. People will just spend the money at some other place in the city.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

There's a huge condo development being built right next to KeyArena as we speak. Dale Chihuly is opening a glass museum on the Seattle Center campus (which KeyArena is a part of). Additionally, the Seattle International Film Festival and KEXP are also opening long-term, major facilities on the campus. KeyArena might not be a functioning NBA arena, but there's still plenty of stuff happening around there. There was a sports bar across the entrance from KeyArena that closed shortly after the Sonics left. It reopened as an African-themed bar, closed, and reopened again a Seattle Storm-themed sports bar.

It'll be cool to have three sports venues in a row south of downtown like they're planning, but this planned NBA arena might be one or too blocks too far south. I'd rather see something built closer to downtown proper, so still accessible by light rail and within walking distance to other stuff. Safeco is already almost a hair too far away to be convenient from downtown. This planned venue would probably be fine overall; I'd just rather have something more central.

That said, it'll be awesome to have the Sonics back at KeyArena, if only for one season.

[The_Admiral]

There was a sports bar across the entrance from KeyArena that closed shortly after the Sonics left. It reopened as an African-themed bar, closed, and reopened again a Seattle Storm-themed sports bar.

Also doesn't have a fire exit.

[njmeadowlanders]

If one team is likely to move to Seattle, the Raptors would be a good candidate. The NBA in Canada has never been relevant, and this most likely the final season for the Raptors at the ACC.

I was wondering when they would become extinct.

Um, why exactly?

And Hornets/Coyotes. 2 birds with one stone.

[waltere]

If one team is likely to move to Seattle, the Raptors would be a good candidate. The NBA in Canada has never been relevant, and this most likely the final season for the Raptors at the ACC.

I was wondering when they would become extinct.

Um, why exactly?

And Hornets/Coyotes. 2 birds with one stone.

Raptors are a type of dinosaur. He was making a joke.

And your idea is simple, and near perfect. Therefore it will never happen.

[TBGKon]

Heard this on the radio this afternoon, sounds intriguing.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/stevekelley/2017426609_kelley05x.html

[RedSox44]

If one team is likely to move to Seattle, the Raptors would be a good candidate. The NBA in Canada has never been relevant, and this most likely the final season for the Raptors at the ACC.

I was wondering when they would become extinct.

Um, why exactly?

And Hornets/Coyotes. 2 birds with one stone.

Raptors are a type of dinosaur. He was making a joke.

And your idea is simple, and near perfect. Therefore it will never happen.

Especially when the NHL is involved. Anything that's simple or near perfect is something Gary Bettman is morally opposed to.

[Kevin W.]

You've been beaten to the punch:

[Raysfan12]

This must be great news for Seattle sports fans for possibly reviving the Supersonics franchise. These fans were ripped off when they moved to OKC and started to get better there. The only way this move wouldn't happen is if Seattle doesn't build a new arena. Sacramento isn't big and not modern enough to keep an NBA team and Seattle is very deserving. While Seattle getting an NBA is likely, an NHL team there isn't very likely.

[waltere]

Especially when the NHL is involved. Anything that's simple or near perfect is something Gary Bettman is morally opposed to.

Yep, instead we got teams being pulled out of Traditional Hockey Markets in favour of places that supposedly made the League seem more 'big time' to US advertisers, yet now heaven and earth is being moved in order to maintain Gary Bettman's Arizona Hockey Experiment^TM. Oh, and a league where Charles Wang is still an owner.

[RedSox44]

This must be great news for Seattle sports fans for possibly reviving the Supersonics franchise. These fans were ripped off when they moved to OKC and started to get better there. The only way this move wouldn't happen is if Seattle doesn't build a new arena. Sacramento isn't big and not modern enough to keep an NBA team and Seattle is very deserving. While Seattle getting an NBA is likely, an NHL team there isn't very likely.

Yeah, I think Quebec City is next on the docket for NHL relocation candidates. Seattle has to be somewhere on that list though, right?