Professional hockey is coming back to the Emerald City. The NHL Board of Directors on Tuesday awarded an expansion franchise to Seattle, where the league’s 32nd team will play games at a redeveloped KeyArena beginning in the 2021-22 season, just a few blocks away from Amazon’s headquarters and offices of other tech giants such as Google and Facebook. “Seattle: The NHL is thrilled to welcome you,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said at press conference on Tuesday. Bettman makes it official.NHL to Seattle in 2021.#NHL #Seattle pic.twitter.com/jVrivUYDwX — Chris Daniels (@ChrisDaniels5) December 4, 2018 This is an awesome day for Seattle… Read More
NFL COO Tod Leiweke stepped down Tuesday and reports indicate that the former Seahawks CEO will team up with his brother and help lead Seattle’s potential new NHL franchise. Both the Seattle Times and KIRO Radio report that Leiweke will return to Seattle and join his brother, Tim Leiweke, who heads up Oak View Group, the ownership firm trying to bring an NHL expansion team to the Emerald City. Leiweke spent the past three years as a top NFL executive and led the Seahawks from 2003 to 2010. He spoke at our GeekWire Sports Tech Summit this past summer and… Read More
The Seattle SuperSonics played their last game at Key Arena in 2008, a few months after Amazon planted its flag just down the road with a 1.7 million-square foot office campus in the South Lake Union neighborhood. Fast forward a decade, and Amazon’s campus is more than four times its original size, with more to come, and a group of billionaires are preparing to renovate the Seattle Center stadium in pursuit of a professional hockey team. Amazon figures to have a significant impact on the project, both through its 50,000 downtown workers that could serve as a potential built-in fanbase… Read More
The International could be heading north. Valve isn’t yet talking publicly about its plans, but several clues point to the video-game giant moving its huge Dota 2 esports tournament from its backyard in Seattle across the border to Vancouver, B.C. The International is one of the largest esports events in the U.S., drawing sold-out crowds that pack KeyArena to watch the world’s top Dota 2 players compete for a $24.7 million prize pool. The tournament, which started in Germany six years ago, was previously held at Seattle’s Benaroya Hall before Valve moved it in 2014 to a larger venue at… Read More
This week marked a big milestone for the future of pro sports and live entertainment in Seattle as the City Council approved a new $660 million deal to renovate Key Arena, signed by Mayor Jenny Durkan today. It’s the latest chapter in a decade-long saga that started after Seattle’s NBA franchise departed to Oklahoma City in 2008. Numerous high-powered groups and individuals have been involved in the process of building a potential new stadium in Seattle, including former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who was part of a ownership group that nearly brought the NBA back to Seattle in 2013. But… Read More
