If the NHL ever decides to add a team in Seattle, a redevelopment of KeyArena could be an aesthetically pleasing home venue.
Oak View Group, led by former Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment president Tim Leiweke, announced Tuesday it has a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the city of Seattle proposing a rapid construction timeline of a revamped KeyArena. The timeline would ensure the facility would be equipped to host a professional sports franchise within three years.
KeyArena was home to the NBA’s Seattle SuperSonics before the franchise relocated and became the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Seattle is also one of the cities frequently attached to NHL expansion talk.
Following Tuesday’s announcement, the Oak View Group released a video and some new artist renderings of what NHL hockey in Seattle might look like.
“I think the most important part of this MOU is the fact it states very clearly to the leagues that this project is going to happen, we do have a deal with the city, they can make a deal,” Leiweke said. “They are very focused ultimately not only on building a new arena here and giving us the partnership and certainty in order to do that.
“But more importantly it sends a very strong message now to the NBA and to the NHL that everyone worried about, ‘Yeah will it ever get done with the city? Will they ever be able to get to the finish line? Will you ever possibly get this deal done within the politics of Seattle and the Seattle process as everyone likes to call it?’ Guess what? Game, set and match. We clearly send a message to everyone that this will get done, this will get built and we are ready now to go get one and hopefully soon, two teams.”
With files from The Associated Press
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