NHL To Seattle Sometime Soon...???

((HT: Mitch Levy/950KJR Radio))

Mitch's Twitter has been busy Tuesday evening...

He has people (and we all know how influential and accurate "people" are) that are telling him that NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman is telling the Board of Governors that, when the Arizona Coyotes sale goes through and is approved, an expansion team is recommended to go to Seattle.

Here's the series...

The current MOU would undoubtedly need to be tweeked to keep the arena on track

The ownership group that was interested in buying the Phoenix franchise remains in play here, amongst others.

All of this contingent upon 1) a solid ownership coming forward and buying the team and 2) the new arena staying on track to be built

If approved, the new expansion Seattle NHL club would cost approximately $275M. It would begin playing here in the 2014-2015 season.

The end game here is that, if the arena stays on track, the city would be attractive for an NBA franchise when the NBA expands- as is anticipated when the new television contract comes up for discussion...

Ownership groups would, obviously, include the Hansen-Ballmer group that has (currently) lost out on an NHL franchise.

And this also brings up the question for franchise 32- Quebec City or Markham...
The HQ thinks Quebec with the Sun Media connections and the framework that's in place...

Here was the conversation from June when Seattle mayor Mike McGinn admitted talking to Commissioner Bettman about the league in Seattle when the Coyotes were in the discussion...
((HT: KING-TV))

Seattle Mayor Acknowledges NHL Talks As Coyotes Plan B

((HT: KING-TV))

Chris Daniels is on top of it again...

All of the HQ's talk about Seattle being an under-seated Plan B for the Phoenix Coyotes is now out there again...

Daniels caught up with the mayor of Seattle, Mike McGinn, whose response was understandably wary and tempered...
Welcome to your Monday, Phoenix... Mark Brown of Bleacher Report has the lowdown on the last public version of the deal that Renaissance has with the city: The latest deal on the table was outlined in the May 30, 2013 edition of Forbes Magazine. The transaction calls for Renaissance to put up $45 million in equity. Fortress Investment Group, with assets of $55.6 billion as of March 31, 2013, would provide $120 million, and the NHL would make $85 million available through a loan. The Fortress dollars would be repaid by a fee the citizens of Glendale incur to operate the arena. Currently, that would be the $6.5 million allocated in the preliminary budget. At this point, the proposed $120 million from Fortress and a combined $32.5 million over the next five years from the Council appear wide apart. The proposed package of $250 million far exceeds the Forbes value of $170 million placed on the franchise alone.
No word on just how much the Bartoszek-Lanza deal would be straight up cash, no NHL loan, and sans leverage from a hedge fund.