It sounds like the city and Hedge fund manager Christopher Hansen are close to an agreement that would have a new arena built in the Sodo area and a NBA team, possibly the Kings, moving to KeyArena for a season as the new arena is built. The new arena would also open up the possibility of the Phoenix Coyote moving to Seattle. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2017426859_arena05m.html http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2017426808_council05m.html http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/stevekelley/2017426609_kelley05x.html The departure of the Sonics is often given credit for the Sounders success, something that I disagree with on the amount of credit it is given, but the question remains, do you think it will have an impact?
I went with some impact. There is a limited amount of sports dollars out there and having a new NBA or a NHL team coming to Seattle would eat into that pool have money. Having both come would eat into it even more. The good news is that the Sounders will still be the least expensive to attend and support, so that will definitely factor into where people spend their money. There is also the fact that there is minimal overlap between the NHL, NBA, and MLS seasons. I don't particularly enjoy watching NBA games, but I'd love to start watching live hockey again. Don't get me wrong, my Sounders season tickets will be #1, but I haven't been to a game since the Tbirds moved to Kent, an arena in Sodo would get me to attend a couple of games a season.
My baseless speculation would be a small impact. I agree adding 1 or 2 pro teams in Seattle would probably steal some of the sporting dollars going to the Sounders right now, mostly from your more casual fans.
I said some impact but small, and I meant really small. I don't think there has ever been much demand for hockey here, and to the extent that there is I think it's a different audience than what the Sounders have. Heck even up in Vancouver (in frickin Canada!) the Canucks only start selling out when they look like they might be contenders. Is Seattle going to do better than that? As for the NBA, I think they poisoned the well for a lot of the fanbase they used to have here, so any new team is going to have to work pretty hard to build up a season ticket holder base--and like hockey, I don't see a ton of overlap with Sounders fans. God help them if they try to ask Seattle voters to approve any kind of financing arrangement for a stadium right now. Both the CLink and the Baseball stadium had to go statewide to to pass, and of those two only the Clink actually did pass a public vote -- and that was when the governments had a little money. Both of those were also for pro leagues that hadn't recently stiffed the city. No matter how they arrange the deal, there will be a real uphill publicity battle getting an NBA stadium deal past the local citizens. Especially since by keeping an NBA team out of the city until after 2013, Clay Bennet owes us an extra $30 million bucks a part of the settlement for the default on the old Key Arena Lease. Seriously, who doesn't want to screw that guy out of $30 million bucks?
We would at least see NBA next fall but NHL not so sure right now Quebec City also wants the coyotes.
I like Medusa coverage! Some impact, but honestly at the prices for those sports and the general lack of overlap not much. Besides the Sounders are firmly entrenched at this point.
Only thing I would possibly worry about is more competition for advertising and sponsorship money. I am not worried about attendance dropping. You know the atmosphere at those games will not be able to compete with the Sounders.
I don't see it having any impact whatsoever. Unless i'm wrong about our fanbase and there really are a lot of fans interested in the Sounders mainly because they are the "new thing" right now, which I don't believe. They'll never be as big as the Seahawks, but I also don't see the interest waning with an NBA or NHL team. Seattle is a soccer town (well football town first and foremost, but what city isn't?), and I don't see any other sport uprooting it at all. I must admit, however, that i've been in and out of Seattle only for the last 4 years so I have no experience of how things were like when there was an NBA team. The people's interest in hockey didn't seem very strong, so I doubt an NHL team would do a damn thing in terms of taking interest from the Sounders.
Any info or links on the likelihood of this happening? I don't follow the news besides international football, and have not heard anything about new Seattle teams.
If they wanted to do Hockey right, the team would have to be called the Metropolitans. I think that it would be possible to use the Metropolitans moniker to harken back to the (serious) days of yore and say something about Seattle was a hockey town before it was anything else and would they need to have a banner hang from the rafters for the 1917 Stanley Cup. A little education could help drive a fan base where you might not expect one. If other cities think we're obsessive about inventing soccer, wait til they find out that we also invented hockey! Basketball still has adherents. I was recently struck by the complete change of culture between Seattle and Auburn. I spent the day in Auburn for business and saw a lot of Sonics-branded clothing being worn, and not a speck of Sounders wear. A team, positioned and priced right for their fanbase could do well. I voted that it could cause some issues, but not many. If the Sounders stop putting a quality product on the field for multiple years (a la the Mariners), that would understandably change.
Really though are there enough sports dollars to afford NFL, NCAA, NHL, & NBA all competing with each other in seattle at basically the same time of year?
I don't think the Sounders would be affected too greatly. Sure 5 pro teams is quite a lot (and six major teams if you include the Huskies) but I do think the Sounders have established a group of die hard fans. These guys are never gonna go away. You might lose a bit in attendance from the fringe followers, but I can't imagine it would be too significant. The only way the Sounders might have a large drop would be if they finished with losing records for several seasons in a row. That doesn't appear likely, at least not in the next few years. If the NHL and NBA came to Seattle (which IMO would be fantastic) I think the big time losers are the Mariners. Who's gonna pay to watch a team that's consistently lost for a decade and has shown no signs of improvement when there are so many other sports options? They would really be hurting.
I think the Sounders' stranglehold on the sports media in this town is definitely going to suffer. It's hard enough for 710 and 950 to bring up any topic other than soccer, but with basketball and hockey coming to town, the Sounders will unfortunately have to share their lion's share of the spotlight for a change. (No, it will have no impact. We already do just fine without any help from the Seattle soccer-fearing media; we've done just fine for 3 years now without them.)
You'll be petrified if you clicked it. I think this is an advantage of MLS playing in the summer. Mariners is our only competition with the attendance. . Anyway, I would honestly say that I rarely watch the Everett Silvertips but I might consider watching NHL if they have a team in Seattle. But this doesn't mean that my love for the SoundersFC would dip.
wonder if the new teams would sorta follow the sounders in the style of marketing or if they are just going to slip right in line with the way NHL and NBA already market.
I honestly fear for the Mariners more then the Sounders at this point for the PNW sports dollar. So how hard would it be to convert the Safe to a soccer stadium
i guess the reason I ask is because the type of marketing could affect or not affect sounder fans. its tough to support multiple teams in this economy.