Tukwila group does not submit expansion application before NHL deadline
The future of Seattle adding professional winter sports teams grew murkier Monday when no groups submitted NHL expansion applications to bring a team here.
A source from the camp of Connecticut businessman Ray Bartoszek, who is trying to build an arena in Tukwila, Washington, confirmed he did not submit a $10 million application by the league’s deadline.
Bartoszek had represented the region’s final hope for a bid after Friday’s revelations that there would be no applications made by those pushing arena interests in Sodo District or Tukwila.
Bartoszek declined to be interviewed.
Groups from Quebec City and Las Vegas did submit applications – $2 million of which is non-refundable – though there appears to have been none made by any Toronto-area parties hoping to put a second team there. The NHL is not promising it will expand but says it’s conducting this process to determine the readiness of groups interested in having a team.
The league declined all comment about Monday’s events, which have to be a bit of a blow given the fact it sent application packets to three Seattle-area groups. Expansion to Quebec City and Las Vegas both would leave the league unbalanced as it is now, with two fewer teams in the Western Conference.
As expected, a Sodo District group led by Chris Hansen and Los Angeles hockey partner Victor Coleman did not file an application fee. A source said Friday that Hansen and Coleman have yet to reach a financial agreement that would allow a Coleman-owned team to play in a Sodo arena built by Hansen.
Coleman has indicated privately to others that he could pursue a team later, once a deal with Hansen is struck and the Sodo arena situation clears up.
A Bellevue effort that would have seen longtime NHL “power broker” Jac Sperling bring an ownership group together with a company trying to build an arena in that city also did not forward a bid. The Times reported that the Sperling effort had been ongoing until early July, but that all sides had abandoned the Bellevue attempt about 10 days ago.