Home / News / Potential Seattle NHL franchise hits goal of 10,000 season-ticket deposits in 12 minutes

Potential Seattle NHL franchise hits goal of 10,000 season-ticket deposits in 12 minutes

By Cara Bahniuk

 0 Comment

March 1, 2018 11:11 pm

After months of speculation, the Seattle ownership group officially filed for an NHL expansion team in early February. Thursday, the would-be 32nd NHL franchise held a season-ticket drive to gauge interest.

The interest is definitely there.

The team hit the goal of 10,000 deposits in a record-setting 12 minutes. All together, over 25,000 deposits were placed during the Thursday ticket event. It now seems more likely than not that Seattle will be getting a professional hockey team.

A season-ticket holder drive is a required step by the NHL as part of the expansion process. Fans could put down a deposit of either $1,000 per ticket (for seats in the lower center ice level) or $500 per ticket (for general season tickets.)

Though the venue only seats 17,459 pre-renovations, the owners will keep the ticket link open until the end of Friday. Interested fans will hear in May with more information about seats and pricing after a computerized seating chart is created. Though ticket pricing is unknown, the owners have said it will be competitive to the rest of the league.

“I think the NHL is surprised, very pleasantly surprised,” Leiweke said to Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times. “And so I think they’re very happy. We still have work to do. But I think it sends a great message to the league and it’s what we’ve been telling them about Seattle. So, I think this is a great day for the league.”

In contrast, 10,000 commitments took the Vegas Golden Knights six weeks to reach.

Earlier this week, Gary Bettman said the NHL will not change the expansion draft process and Seattle will follow the same rules the Golden Knights had.

To celebrate, a NHL flag with the year “2020” was flown from the Space Needle.

Photo: @NHLSeattle_

Headline Photo: @NHLtoSeattle

,