The Business of HockeyDiscuss the financial and business aspects of the NHL. Franchise sales, valuations, TV contracts, ratings, expansion, relocation, the CBA and work stoppage discussion goes here.
However, I agree with you. The NHL is not big in Seattle at all. To give you one example, I know the local NBC affiliate has in the past not shown NHL games if there was something more popular they could televise. Proximity to Canada and the existence of a few WHL teams in the area does not make Seattle a hockey city.
an existing fan base has not been a prerequisite for the NHL in the past....how much NHL presence was there in atlanta, san jose, phoenix etc...
unless they expand their footprint in canada the NHL will be cultivating fans from virgin soil no matter where they go.
i think seattle is a decent option for the league.
Rethink the last sentence. While the Canucks may have had a lot to do with this...the US TV Market that had the highest ratings outside of New England for the SC finals last year? Seattle.
Seattle was the 21st ranked non-NHL market, behind such hockey hotbeds as Jacksonville, Orlando, and (grrrr) Oklahoma City.
However, many people (including myself) here in the Seattle area may have watched the CBC broadcast, which was carried by local cable. I am not sure if they were able to measure the combined audience between NBC and CBC in the Seattle area. There was definitely higher than usual coverage by the local tv for the Stanley Cup Finals, owing to the proximity to Vancouver.
Also of note, the ratings in Seattle were higher than two of their chief "rivals" to get a franchise, Kansas City and Houston.
Seattle isn't a sports town its a FOOTBALL town(which city in the USA isn't????)....go check out KING5 news they had a special on it
??? Unless you mean soccer, I'm not sure you know about our sports. The Seattle Sounders, while drawing overall less attendance than the Seahawks (I think) and having higher TV ratings, I can assure you many people here love soccer more than American football. And quite a few people enjoy niche sports.
64,140 people attended the Sounders' (and Olympia native Kasey Keller's) last regular season game in the 2011 season.
We also watched two years ago as Bellevue-native Tim Lincecum led the SF Giants to a World Series title.
In addition, the Pacific Northwest is one of the most highly recruited areas for college basketball in the country.
And Washington born, Everett / Mt. Vernon native T.J. Oshie is helping the Blues back to playoffs this year.
Really in all my years in Seattle, our sports fans are quite diverse. I love watching all of the fans and their passions for their sports. I've watched World Champions of Cyclecross duke it out with native riders, listened as the Washington Stealth took the championship home their first year of play, seen the Sounders win a third straight Open Cup, watched the UW Huskies lose to Baylor in the Alamo Bowl, watched hyrdoplane racing at Sea Fair, paid attention to the Mariner's rebuilding process, gone to see a friend compete in the highest roller derby league, and a lot more. All but the M's have had awesome attendance, but I suspect the M's will be better this year. Each of these sports has its own fan-base, with a lot of emphasis on football / soccer / baseball. Let me tell you though, a lot of Seahawks fans come from outside Seattle, and make the road trip every Sunday.
In terms of ability to afford the NHL (+ NBA) on top of all these other opportunities, I believe it's definitely possible. Though they may not be well represented, we do have quite a few NHL fans, enough so that I see at least a few every couple weeks, and I'm not based in downtown. (+ If you are in downtown in May-June while Canucks are in SC playoffs, you might see some Canucks car flags flying. I spotted 2 cars featuring such while the nucks were playing Nashville when I was biking in downtown last year).
I'm just going to say this only because your post seems like a perfect example for a thread that's on the Main Board:
Contradictions regarding popular HF Board arguments http://hfboards.hockeysfuture.com/sh....php?t=1093999
We regularly read around here that the smaller size of Canadian cities doesn't mean much because Canadians truly support hockey, so places like Winnipeg, Quebec City, hell even Saskatoon, are declared big enough to support the NHL without a problem. But here we have CpatainCanuck using the opposite argument, saying that Vancouver could've supported better the Canucks in it worst era if only the population of the city were greater.
Seattle was the 21st ranked non-NHL market, behind such hockey hotbeds as Jacksonville, Orlando, and (grrrr) Oklahoma City.
However, many people (including myself) here in the Seattle area may have watched the CBC broadcast, which was carried by local cable. I am not sure if they were able to measure the combined audience between NBC and CBC in the Seattle area. There was definitely higher than usual coverage by the local tv for the Stanley Cup Finals, owing to the proximity to Vancouver.
Also of note, the ratings in Seattle were higher than two of their chief "rivals" to get a franchise, Kansas City and Houston.
I noticed that said, your source, for game 7, not the whole series, will have to look it up again, too tired now, but I vividly remember reading that...
found it, granted my source, now that I look at it closer, was only for game 2 and Buffalo had a higher rating (for towns outside of New England), still though, it's a good sign..
??? Unless you mean soccer, I'm not sure you know about our sports. The Seattle Sounders, while drawing overall less attendance than the Seahawks (I think) and having higher TV ratings, I can assure you many people here love soccer more than American football. And quite a few people enjoy niche sports.
64,140 people attended the Sounders' (and Olympia native Kasey Keller's) last regular season game in the 2011 season.
We also watched two years ago as Bellevue-native Tim Lincecum led the SF Giants to a World Series title.
In addition, the Pacific Northwest is one of the most highly recruited areas for college basketball in the country.
And Washington born, Everett / Mt. Vernon native T.J. Oshie is helping the Blues back to playoffs this year.
Really in all my years in Seattle, our sports fans are quite diverse. I love watching all of the fans and their passions for their sports. I've watched World Champions of Cyclecross duke it out with native riders, listened as the Washington Stealth took the championship home their first year of play, seen the Sounders win a third straight Open Cup, watched the UW Huskies lose to Baylor in the Alamo Bowl, watched hyrdoplane racing at Sea Fair, paid attention to the Mariner's rebuilding process, gone to see a friend compete in the highest roller derby league, and a lot more. All but the M's have had awesome attendance, but I suspect the M's will be better this year. Each of these sports has its own fan-base, with a lot of emphasis on football / soccer / baseball. Let me tell you though, a lot of Seahawks fans come from outside Seattle, and make the road trip every Sunday.
In terms of ability to afford the NHL (+ NBA) on top of all these other opportunities, I believe it's definitely possible. Though they may not be well represented, we do have quite a few NHL fans, enough so that I see at least a few every couple weeks, and I'm not based in downtown. (+ If you are in downtown in May-June while Canucks are in SC playoffs, you might see some Canucks car flags flying. I spotted 2 cars featuring such while the nucks were playing Nashville when I was biking in downtown last year).
I heard as well, that the Seattle/Tacoma area, has the one of the highest # of adult rec players, for a metro area without an NHL team. I'm sure that there are more adult rec players around here, then say cities with teams, like Nashville, Tampa Bay and Raleigh/Durham.
Having 9 rinks in a 60 mile radius from downtown Seattle, is nothing to sneeze at. Sure it's not 50 something...like Minneapolis/St. Paul, but it's impressive.
Honestly after reading this I would have to say that having a team in Seattle would help brings fans tremendously! NBA I could care less about, if you want to watch a NBA game that is what portland is for...As for hurting the Thunderbirds? What about the Everett Silvertips? They are close as well. Bringing a NHL team to Seattle would be the first for the Pacific Northwest! I am not counting Vancouver here, but the closest team to the NW would be the Avs I believe....For everyone saying QC would be the best fit why? Give me 1 honest reason why and not just about the money. Bringing a team to Seattle would also help the production of hockey in the NW. Besides the 4 teams in the WHL in WA (Everett, Seattle, Spokane, and Tri-City), the Portland Winterhawls, Victoria Royals, and the Vancouver Giants that is quite a bit of hockey in the Pacific Northwest and Canada, but nothing pro (again leaving out the Canucks). So please NHL bring a team to Seattle where we know we can support them! When the Sounders were brought to Seattle, all analysts said that the team would barely draw 10,000 fans. Now if I am not mistaken, the Sounders have set and re-set attendance records since the first season! So bring a team to Seattle then we can work on an arena and god forbid if we have to bring in a damn NBA team that will always get beat by the lakers, trail blazers, and now the lob-city clippers.
Seattle & the Pacific NW DOES had the market and population interest for NHL hockey and bring a team to the US NW.
WHL: 2 teams in metro area: Seattle Thunderbirds (Kent 20mi South) & Everett Silvertips (29 mi North). Seattle averages 4k per game and Everett averages 5k per game in attendance. 2 other teams in State (3-4h hrs away) Tri-Cities & Spokane; 1 other US team within 3 hrs (Portland); 2 Canadian teams within 3 hrs (Vancouver & Victoria).
US Hockey enrollment: WA had 7,615 people enrolled in 09-10. (need to enroll to play in leagues in US for insurance purposes)
Without NHL: KS – 1,574; NV – 940; OR – 804; GA – 2,142
With NHL: AZ – 3,339; MO – 6,295; NC – 5,598; TN – 2,430; TX – 10,909
Greater Seattle Hockey League for adult rec hockey has ~110 teams. Largest in US NW and one of largest in US (previously advertised as top 5).
TV & radio:
Seattle area homes get CBC-Vancouver, NBC Sports (VS), Comcast Sports-NW (Canucks & Sharks) and NHL Network which all carry NHL games regularly. Prime Sports-NW also carries random WHL games. Ratings for various games may be misleading as many people I know watch the CBC version of the same game over the NBC version (i.e. Stanley Cup playoffs & all star game). The Stanley Cup is also misleading as previously mentioned the local NBC affiliate (KING) moved the game to their secondary channel KONG. With the games starting at 500pm locally, the local news programs took priority. I am sure similar occurred in Los Angeles & San Francisco. When a game is only on one i.e. the Olympic Gold Medal game, Seattle was ranked 14th in the US for that game with a 19.3/45 rating on par with St Louis and greater than NYC & DC.
Local sports talk radio stations (x4 in metro area) have regular NHL & WHL segments. At least 2 of these stations play Canucks games on a regular basis.
Population:
Seattle is the 12th largest metro (CSA) in the US with about 4.1M people just behind Detroit & Atlanta and ahead of Minneapolis, & Denver. The area has a steady growth rate of about 13%. Much of the population growth from immigration is from Asia and Canada for the tech industries in the area. Microsoft & Boeing both sponsor corporate hockey leagues for their employees. Many of the people in the GSHL playing are from Canada & Europe (many all-Russian teams).
Economy:
Seattle's economy is driven by a mix of older industrial companies (Boeing, Weyerhauser), and "new economy" Internet (Amazon, Real) and technology (Microsoft,) companies, service (Starbucks), design (Nordstrom) and clean technology companies. The city's gross metropolitan product was $231 billion in 2010, making it the 12th largest metropolitan economy in the United States just behind Miami & Atlanta and ahead of Detroit & Minneapolis.
Sports Market:
I had tickets to today’s 1/31 game in Vancouver vs Chicago which were the 2nd cheapest tickets on ticketmaster and cost me $350 for a pair. I sold those for about face value and have seen NHL games in Chicago, Denver, Dallas & San Jose this season for less than the that one pair cost. People from Vancouver will make the drive to Seattle to watch games as many people in Seattle currently do to go Vancovuer to catch games. This will be similar to the Seahawks & Mariners drawing people in throughout the PacificNW region. MLS& NCAA teams cater more to a local crowd and are different to those at the NFL, MLB & NHL games I have gone to. For the NHL playoffs last year, there were significant delays (above normal for weekday afternoons & late night) at the US-Canada border before & after each game which I can vouch for since I was in these lineups often. Similarly I have been in similar backlogs from Vancouver to Seattle for Seahawks games. You can tell the lineups are with the sports fans due to the decals, flags and jerseys being worn.
I imagine that Seattle would evolve into a market similar to Denver & Minneapolis for cities with the 4 major sports. There will still be strong support for all levels and success & effort will help drive gate attendance. MLB runs April-Sept; NHL run Oct-April = convenient. NFL & NCAAF is Sept-Jan but only 1 day per week. MLS is ridiculously strongly supported in Seattle and many feel that NHL will have a similar connection. MLS season is March-Nov thus some overlap but minimal. My biggest issue is that a team would need to come with a NBA team to build a new arena. I feel the NBA will be the biggest deterrent to attendance as the two seasons run in parallel. The local WHL teams are far enough away from the core of the main Seattle city to keep their local markets and provide a cheaper alternative to the NHL for the area.
Seattle NHL history: http://www.seattlehockey.net/Seattle...d_the_NHL.html
Initial 6 team expansion in 67: Seattle was a consideration due to high attendance in WHL games (pro league back then) but no other pro-teams in town made the league look elsewhere.
1974 – Seattle awarded expansion NHL team for 76 season. Prospective owner balked at WHA team or NHL relocation. Expansion team was revoked due to local & league financing issues. 2 teams relocated in the mid-late 70s and 1 folded. Legal issues continued over a decade on this front.
1989 – NHL was expanding again in the early 90s. Seattle had 2 owner groups led by the NBA Sonics and Microsoft. Two groups merged efforts but then the NBA group walked out at the last minue leaving the Microsoft bid empty. Renovations to the Key Arena set for around this time made the arena too small for the NHL footprint thus eliminating the potential for competition in the arena.
NOW - opposite of 60s: too many teams potentially for market. Key Arena is still too small for NHL (11k horseshoe & bad sight lines/angles) and was deemed insufficient for NBA after 15 years of use after remodel. 2 WHL arenas are too small (ShoWare <Kent>- 6.5k; Comcast <Everett> - 8.5k) and the Tacoma Dome is in Tacoma and old but could be renovated to accomodate on an interm basis. The Tacoma Dome hosted NHL preseason games in the 80s-90s and the Everett Comcast Arena has recently (09) held an NHL preseason game between Tampa & Phoenix.
i think it's pretty safe to assume that a market like seattle would take to a recently-successful team like the coyotes very quickly. obviously it won't work without a new building and a committed ownership group, but i have a hard time believing it wouldn't draw in the area. obviously seattle is not quebec city and the masses aren't foaming at the mouths for NHL hockey, but that shouldn't be the league's only determining factor for relocation.
semi-OT, but if seattle were to get a team i'd love to see the sonics' color scheme on an NHL jersey
The have only put a soil testing drill in the ground to be fair.
I cant believe the City and Province are going 50/50 on this. I believe thats the plan.
Quote:
"There is no new arena in Quebec City and all discussion of government funding and financing for a new arena hasn't moved along and I know that the NHL will be loathed to agree to move a team to a city if they aren't assured that there will be an NHL-ready or NHL-style arena in which the team can play."
Shouldn't someone who claims to be 'in the know' actually know what they are talking about?
Again, the financing hit a snag last June and was cleared up in September. 5 months later and Burnside still hasn't gotten the memo. Pathetic.
Seattle & the Pacific NW DOES had the market and population interest for NHL hockey and bring a team to the US NW.
WHL: 2 teams in metro area: Seattle Thunderbirds (Kent 20mi South) & Everett Silvertips (29 mi North). Seattle averages 4k per game and Everett averages 5k per game in attendance. 2 other teams in State (3-4h hrs away) Tri-Cities & Spokane; 1 other US team within 3 hrs (Portland); 2 Canadian teams within 3 hrs (Vancouver & Victoria).
US Hockey enrollment: WA had 7,615 people enrolled in 09-10. (need to enroll to play in leagues in US for insurance purposes)
Without NHL: KS – 1,574; NV – 940; OR – 804; GA – 2,142
With NHL: AZ – 3,339; MO – 6,295; NC – 5,598; TN – 2,430; TX – 10,909
Greater Seattle Hockey League for adult rec hockey has ~110 teams. Largest in US NW and one of largest in US (previously advertised as top 5).
TV & radio:
Seattle area homes get CBC-Vancouver, NBC Sports (VS), Comcast Sports-NW (Canucks & Sharks) and NHL Network which all carry NHL games regularly. Prime Sports-NW also carries random WHL games. Ratings for various games may be misleading as many people I know watch the CBC version of the same game over the NBC version (i.e. Stanley Cup playoffs & all star game). The Stanley Cup is also misleading as previously mentioned the local NBC affiliate (KING) moved the game to their secondary channel KONG. With the games starting at 500pm locally, the local news programs took priority. I am sure similar occurred in Los Angeles & San Francisco. When a game is only on one i.e. the Olympic Gold Medal game, Seattle was ranked 14th in the US for that game with a 19.3/45 rating on par with St Louis and greater than NYC & DC.
Local sports talk radio stations (x4 in metro area) have regular NHL & WHL segments. At least 2 of these stations play Canucks games on a regular basis.
Population:
Seattle is the 12th largest metro (CSA) in the US with about 4.1M people just behind Detroit & Atlanta and ahead of Minneapolis, & Denver. The area has a steady growth rate of about 13%. Much of the population growth from immigration is from Asia and Canada for the tech industries in the area. Microsoft & Boeing both sponsor corporate hockey leagues for their employees. Many of the people in the GSHL playing are from Canada & Europe (many all-Russian teams).
Economy:
Seattle's economy is driven by a mix of older industrial companies (Boeing, Weyerhauser), and "new economy" Internet (Amazon, Real) and technology (Microsoft,) companies, service (Starbucks), design (Nordstrom) and clean technology companies. The city's gross metropolitan product was $231 billion in 2010, making it the 12th largest metropolitan economy in the United States just behind Miami & Atlanta and ahead of Detroit & Minneapolis.
Sports Market:
I had tickets to today’s 1/31 game in Vancouver vs Chicago which were the 2nd cheapest tickets on ticketmaster and cost me $350 for a pair. I sold those for about face value and have seen NHL games in Chicago, Denver, Dallas & San Jose this season for less than the that one pair cost. People from Vancouver will make the drive to Seattle to watch games as many people in Seattle currently do to go Vancovuer to catch games. This will be similar to the Seahawks & Mariners drawing people in throughout the PacificNW region. MLS& NCAA teams cater more to a local crowd and are different to those at the NFL, MLB & NHL games I have gone to. For the NHL playoffs last year, there were significant delays (above normal for weekday afternoons & late night) at the US-Canada border before & after each game which I can vouch for since I was in these lineups often. Similarly I have been in similar backlogs from Vancouver to Seattle for Seahawks games. You can tell the lineups are with the sports fans due to the decals, flags and jerseys being worn.
I imagine that Seattle would evolve into a market similar to Denver & Minneapolis for cities with the 4 major sports. There will still be strong support for all levels and success & effort will help drive gate attendance. MLB runs April-Sept; NHL run Oct-April = convenient. NFL & NCAAF is Sept-Jan but only 1 day per week. MLS is ridiculously strongly supported in Seattle and many feel that NHL will have a similar connection. MLS season is March-Nov thus some overlap but minimal. My biggest issue is that a team would need to come with a NBA team to build a new arena. I feel the NBA will be the biggest deterrent to attendance as the two seasons run in parallel. The local WHL teams are far enough away from the core of the main Seattle city to keep their local markets and provide a cheaper alternative to the NHL for the area.
Seattle NHL history: http://www.seattlehockey.net/Seattle...d_the_NHL.html
Initial 6 team expansion in 67: Seattle was a consideration due to high attendance in WHL games (pro league back then) but no other pro-teams in town made the league look elsewhere.
1974 – Seattle awarded expansion NHL team for 76 season. Prospective owner balked at WHA team or NHL relocation. Expansion team was revoked due to local & league financing issues. 2 teams relocated in the mid-late 70s and 1 folded. Legal issues continued over a decade on this front.
1989 – NHL was expanding again in the early 90s. Seattle had 2 owner groups led by the NBA Sonics and Microsoft. Two groups merged efforts but then the NBA group walked out at the last minue leaving the Microsoft bid empty. Renovations to the Key Arena set for around this time made the arena too small for the NHL footprint thus eliminating the potential for competition in the arena.
NOW - opposite of 60s: too many teams potentially for market. Key Arena is still too small for NHL (11k horseshoe & bad sight lines/angles) and was deemed insufficient for NBA after 15 years of use after remodel. 2 WHL arenas are too small (ShoWare <Kent>- 6.5k; Comcast <Everett> - 8.5k) and the Tacoma Dome is in Tacoma and old but could be renovated to accomodate on an interm basis. The Tacoma Dome hosted NHL preseason games in the 80s-90s and the Everett Comcast Arena has recently (09) held an NHL preseason game between Tampa & Phoenix.
I definitely would be more willing to see Seattle get a team than Quebec City at this point.
Sending two failed southern markets up to Canada back-to-back would certainly be a bit of a sign that the NHL has abandoned its southern market expansion and is not committed to those hockey markets.
Moving to Seattle is a large American market, it has lots of Money, and a temporary arena (Tacoma Dome) that would likely work for 1-3 years while a new arena was being built.
Plus, I wouldn't need to fight with Canucks fans if I wanted to see a Leafs game out there. I'm assuming tickets likely will be more available, because Toronto/Seattle certainly isn't a huge rivalry (I may be moving to BC within the next month)
With the Tacoma Dome - It's WAY the heck out of the way from downtown Seattle, would it work even as a temporary venue?
In terms of design, I'd certainly be more for using the Tacoma Dome temporarily than Key Arena, just like Phoenix had an old 14,000 seat arena on their Fairgrounds that I really think the Coyotes could have moved to and made it their own, and wouldn't have had the problem with the sightlines america west arena had.
Shouldn't someone who claims to be 'in the know' actually know what they are talking about?
Again, the financing hit a snag last June and was cleared up in September. 5 months later and Burnside still hasn't gotten the memo. Pathetic.
Burnside is a terrible writer by any measure and is biased for the south, which is odd since he is from Windsor, ON.
Quote:
Originally Posted by go_leafs_go02
I definitely would be more willing to see Seattle get a team than Quebec City at this point.
Sending two failed southern markets up to Canada back-to-back would certainly be a bit of a sign that the NHL has abandoned its southern market expansion and is not committed to those hockey markets.
Moving to Seattle is a large American market, it has lots of Money, and a temporary arena (Tacoma Dome) that would likely work for 1-3 years while a new arena was being built.
Plus, I wouldn't need to fight with Canucks fans if I wanted to see a Leafs game out there. I'm assuming tickets likely will be more available, because Toronto/Seattle certainly isn't a huge rivalry (I may be moving to BC within the next month)
It really does not benefit anyone outside the immeaditate Quebec Levis Saint George region if QC gets a team. Same for Hamilton.
That said, I support QC because this league is hard up for cash, and I don't know if Seattle will come through on the front yet.
I definitely would be more willing to see Seattle get a team than Quebec City at this point.
Sending two failed southern markets up to Canada back-to-back would certainly be a bit of a sign that the NHL has abandoned its southern market expansion and is not committed to those hockey markets.
Moving to Seattle is a large American market, it has lots of Money, and a temporary arena (Tacoma Dome) that would likely work for 1-3 years while a new arena was being built.
Plus, I wouldn't need to fight with Canucks fans if I wanted to see a Leafs game out there. I'm assuming tickets likely will be more available, because Toronto/Seattle certainly isn't a huge rivalry (I may be moving to BC within the next month)
What differenc does it make to you if the NHL really was abandoning its southern expansion and wanted to go where the money is?
What differenc does it make to you if the NHL really was abandoning its southern expansion and wanted to go where the money is?
None to me as a Canadian, but the public perception among American fans and investors is that the NHL in some ways has "given up" and that things have failed.
Sending one team to an american city over a canadian city (again) would say some things.
None to me as a Canadian, but the public perception among American fans and investors is that the NHL in some ways has "given up" and that things have failed.
Sending one team to an american city over a canadian city (again) would say some things.
The best thing i could reccomend is that the NHL goes to the places that are dying for Hockey first and then experiment.
None to me as a Canadian, but the public perception among American fans and investors is that the NHL in some ways has "given up" and that things have failed.
Sending one team to an american city over a canadian city (again) would say some things.
A lot of American fans (not most of them, but more of them) would look at the league as an oversized CFL if you had more Canadian teams, without keeping or adding US teams.
The NHL wants to be for sure in the Big 4 and while Canadians may think that there's a Big 4, about 1/3 of Americans don't, I don't want to make that worse, since I have to live here....
again, money is a thing, but it's not the ONLY thing.
The same Canadians that are so pro Quebec and all the other reasonable markets in Canada that use the money arguement, would rip a Raptor or a Blue Jay star (this could happen to Lawrie if he turns out to be the superstar I think he will be in 5 years or less) for signing with the Yankees or something like that since, that's where the money is. I find it ironic.
A lot of American fans (not most of them, but more of them) would look at the league as an oversized CFL if you had more Canadian teams, without keeping or adding US teams.
The NHL wants to be for sure in the Big 4 and while Canadians may think that there's a Big 4, about 1/3 of Americans don't, I don't want to make that worse, since I have to live here....
again, money is a thing, but it's not the ONLY thing.
The same Canadians that are so pro Quebec and all the other reasonable markets in Canada that use the money arguement, would rip a Raptor or a Blue Jay star (this could happen to Lawrie if he turns out to be the superstar I think he will be in 5 years or less) for signing with the Yankees or something like that since, that's where the money is. I find it ironic.
As if people in Phoenix or Seattle know about the CFL.
As if people in Phoenix or Seattle know about the CFL.
And they won't know (as much anyway) about the NHL, if you go forward in Canada at the expense of going backwards in America...
you forget that the NHL has a lot more at stake with the NBC contract than they do with the CBC contract sir.
semi-OT, but if seattle were to get a team i'd love to see the sonics' color scheme on an NHL jersey
The Sonics colors might be too much like the old Minnesota North Stars - besides the NBA team might adopt the Sonics name and colors if it were to ever return.
I'd like to see the old Seattle Totems color scheme (the logo could stand an upgrade):
To modernize the look, the team could potentially model it after the University of Saskatchewan Huskies with green jersies with black trim and helmets:
Although, now that I look at the colors...maybe it would look too much like this
