If you still had any doubt that Seattle would be the location of the 32nd NHL franchise, today may have convinced you a little more. The Oak View Group, which is attempting to bring an expansion franchise to the city of Seattle, added minority investors and completed negotiations on three different agreements. Those agreements include a development plan for the new arena and a long-term lease. The minority partners include names like Adrian Hanauer, the owner of Seattle Sounders FC, and Andy Jassy, CEO of Amazon Web Services.
The agreements will now be presented to the Seattle City Council, but Oak View Group CEO Tim Leiweke released a statement explaining his enthusiasm at this point:
Less than 12 months ago, we signed the Memorandum of Understanding with the City of Seattle for the privately financed development of the new Seattle Center Arena. We are making tremendous progress and are looking forward to these next few weeks as we move into the City Council’s review of our agreements. These agreements reflect tremendous hard work by all sides. This is a process that we hope will conclude shortly as we’re ready to start breaking ground on an arena that will be world class when completed.
An early timeline would have the Seattle franchise enter the NHL for the 2020-21 season, though there are still several hurdles to overcome. Today was another step forward in that process though, and should be considered a positive. The Seattle-based investors are a huge financial boost to a franchise that is looking to carve out a place for themselves in a deep sports market, and should help them get off to a good start.
The next date circled is October 2nd, which is when Seattle mayor Jenny Durkan—who has been a staunch supporter of the project from day one—will make a presentation to the Executive Committee NHL’s Board of Governors.