Is Seattle ready to be an NHL city?

Hockey fans from Portland to Vancouver are giddy to hear the news that investor Christopher Hansen wants to grab an NHL team to play in a proposed new Seattle sports arena. But do we really have the fan base and corporate support to make it happen?

I learned some valuable information from a man who knows the Seattle hockey scene very well – Russ Farwell, president and co-owner of the Seattle Thunderbirds junior hockey team. He’s been hooked up with hockey in Western Washington for nearly 20 years.

“The NHL will do anything with a potential owner; they’d love to be in this market,” said Farwell. “What we learned last week [about Hansen’s proposal] was sort of pie-in-the-sky in many areas.”

Farwell is very curious why KeyArena is being offered as a temporary home for an NHL team while the new Seattle arena gets built.

In very simple words, Farwell said KeyArena is not an NHL building. He should know because it was the T-Birds’ home for several years before they moved into the more intimate ShoWare Center in Kent.

“The Ackerlys basically designed KeyArena to keep hockey out. That’s the truth of it,” Farwell explained. “There’s a third of the rink that can’t see the end of the ice at all. You have to turn sideways in your seat to see the game properly. Most of the good seats are in the ends, which American hockey fans don’t covet.”

While Farwell is enthused about an NHL team coming to Seattle, he’s not so sure we have the fan base to support it for the long haul.

“We have a hockey history in Seattle, but we’re not a strong hockey area,” said Farwell. “We’ve fallen so far behind with facilities. There’s little grass-roots interest and drive because we just don’t have very many ice rinks.”

Many of the youth and adult hockey players in the area are forced to drive long distances and share ice time at suburban rinks in King and Snohomish counties. Successful NHL teams in Philadelphia and Dallas helped build community ice arenas to generate interest.

Does Seattle have enough corporate support for four major professional teams at one time?

“Is there enough for everybody, I don’t know,” Farwell said. “The new building would have two teams, a lot of dates and a compelling argument, but those other guys [the Mariners, Seahawks, Sounders and Huskies] aren’t going to go away. They’ll be out there in the market looking for some of the same corporate dollars. It’s something to consider.”

Look at the empty corporate suites in KeyArena, Safeco Field and CenturyLink Field and you’ll get the picture.

Though one thing Farwell is certain of is that an NHL franchise would enhance junior hockey in the Puget Sound region. Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary have enough fans and corporate support to make hockey teams work at all levels.