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A source close to the situation said talks between Bellevue and suitors for an NHL arena have been ongoing, but the source did not want to go into any particular individuals.
"There are people working on it," the source said.
But no proposals have been turned in, the source said. Were an arena plan to materialize, no Bellevue dollars, not even in the form of bond financing, would be included, the source added. Anything else is a non starter. This position has been echoed in the past by Bellevue officials.
I don't know how much clearer it can be. No grants or loans or bonds,
From release: ''Faced with an absence of facts from the Port of Seattle, it appears that the Maritime Industrial Commission...
Aaron Levine@AaronQ13Fox
''...& ILWU have sanctioned & contributed to a deliberately misleading campaign executed by a government agency using public tax dollars.'
Aaron Levine @AaronQ13Fox
Arena supporters: We have emails/documents w evidence of opponents intentionally spreading misinformation to defeat the SoDo proposal.
Aaron Levine @AaronQ13Fox
From release: ''The mailer features... unfounded rhetorical statements... sent from the address of ILWU operative Max Vekich.''
3h Aaron Levine Aaron Levine @AaronQ13Fox
Union leaders include Lee Newgent of the Seattle Building and Construction Trades Council
''...& ILWU have sanctioned & contributed to a deliberately misleading campaign executed by a government agency using public tax dollars.'
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3h Aaron Levine Aaron Levine @AaronQ13Fox
From release: ''Faced with an absence of facts from the Port of Seattle, it appears that the Maritime Industrial Commission...
3h Aaron Levine Aaron Levine @AaronQ13Fox
BREAKING: Union leaders join arena proponents in calling for end to anti-arena smear campaign by Port of Seattle, longshoremen
Last edited by superdeluxe: 07-29-2012 at 04:09 PM.
I would imagine the WHL area teams would stay as a cheaper alternative to an NHL team.
I would tend to agree with this. And also note that both teams play in suburban arenas that are likely to still generate good crowds of people who would rather attend an event closer to home than go all the way into Seattle and fight traffic and parking. This is one of the aspects of the Levin/Bellevue proposal that people tend to forget about why that proposal is such a big threat to the city of Seattle.
Or what happened with Manitoba Moose when Jets cameback.
That could be possible too, but I highly doubt it. First, there's no real places AFAIK in the WHL they could move either team to (and my guess is the league would like to keep them on this side of the border in order to maintain a U.S. Division for travel purposes), and then, you're talking about different fanbases too. Just because people have been enjoying the WHL product for years doesn't entirely mean they'll start enjoying the NHL product in similar fashion. Same issue with Vancouver and the Canucks/Giants. It's all about price points and how much people are willing to pay for tickets.
Or what happened with Manitoba Moose when Jets cameback.
But the Moose played in the same arena that the Jets would occupy. That's a pretty big difference. Seattle is also much bigger than Winnipeg so they could get away with having an NHL team in the city and a couple of junior teams in the suburbs.
I think it would be different markets/different fan bases maybe?
Or how about making the thunderbirds a AHL affliate of the Seattle team, would draw much more interest that way..
how and where would the proposed AHL Affiliate come from, if the AHL already is a 1 to 1 parent to affiliate ratio, superdeluxe, you either have to buy a license of an existing franchise to be able to do that (see Albany/Charlotte) without surrending the current active franchise back to the WHL is highly improbable,or virtually impossible, even if you did have the backing of that fan base....
Levin owns his own franchise already, but it is very successful where it already is and the AHL hasn't exactly thrived in the Western US, even competitively against established teams in the ECHL....
I have no doubt in my mind that a Seattle NHL team would a success. I find myself watching the Seattle news more often than my hometown, as this arena deal seems to be picking up steam.
Something in my gut tells me that Seattle will waste this opportunity, effectively turning down Hansen's money, by playing its usual games and Bellevue will eventually come out on top. Not real confident on a new arena in Seattle.
Edit: Timing of this is directly related to beating council vote scheduled for today at session going on!!
King County approves the MOU with a vote of 6-3. Now it all lines is on Seattle.
A couple notes i would like to make.
1) IF Seattle approves it and there are amendments added to it, it'll go back to King County for another vote to approve those changes.
2) If all those studies that are to be done and come back negatively city/county can vote to terminate the agreement. The issue is with approving the MOU before those impact studies are done that they would be forced to continue with the plan rather they like it or not thus the escape clause.
Today we are one step closer to getting that arena but we are not done yet.
