Wayne Gretzky, arguably the greatest player of all time, is now looking to bring an NHL team to Seattle, the New York Post reported Saturday. There is no word as to whether or not this team will be an expansion team or if an existing NHL Franchise will be relocated. The newspaper reported that Gretzky’s group was none of three groups trying to bring an NHL team to the Pacific Northwest. It is also worth noting that Gary Bettman, the NHL Commissioner, and other NHL officials recently met with Seattle city officials to review the status of building a new arena in Seattle.
Investor Chris Hansen, who nearly bough the NBA’s Sacramento Kings last year, has rights with the city of Seattle to build a new arena, but he won’t move forward with building an arena until he’s secured an NBA Franchise. Gretzky’s investment group also faces an uphill battle seeing as how NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman says the NHL is not ready to expand at the moment. This isn’t the first time Gretzky has tried to become an NHL owner. In 2011, he and Providence Equity Partners, a New York private-equity firm, partnered in a $1.5 billion bit to buy both the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs and the NBA’s Toronto Raptors but the bid was rejected.
Both Gretzky and the NHL declined to comment on this report. This isn’t a huge surprise as there’s been a lot of talk about bringing an NHL team to either Las Vegas or Seattle. Gary Bettman, however, downplayed the visit to Seattle when this was reported. I can’t see why he would other than the fact that he wants to keep relocation and arena construction plans on the down low. I’d like to see an NHL team in Seattle, and it’ll be interesting to see what happens from here on out.
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