With a deadline looming to complete a deal to build the Edmonton Oilers a new arena, the team's brass turned up the heat on city councillors by paying a visit to Seattle.
Oilers owner Daryl Katz, team president Patrick LaForge and president of hockey operations Kevin Lowe were in Seattle on Monday for meetings about a possible relocation to the city, the Oilers said.
"The Katz Group has been listening to proposals from a number of potential NHL markets for some time," the statement read.
"After more than four years of trying to secure an arena deal and with less than 24 months remaining on the Oilers' lease at Rexall Place, this is only prudent and should come as no surprise."
The Katz executives, who were joined in Seattle by former Oilers great Wayne Gretzky, toured the old Key Arena before attending Monday's NFL game between the Seahawks and Green Bay Packers.
Katz's visit came the same day that Seattle city council approved hedgefund manager Chris Hansen's plan for a $490-million US arena that both sides hope will be home to an NBA and NHL team. Seattle lost its NBA team, the Sonics, to Oklahoma City in 2008.
Seattle's hockey market is limited to the Western Hockey League's Thunderbirds. The city hasn't had a professional team since the Metropolitans, who won a Stanley Cup in 1917, were disbanded in 1924.
The news came as Edmonton mayor Stephen Mandel set Oct. 17 as the drop-dead date to complete a deal for a new downtown arena. The deal was thought to have been done last October, when council and the Oilers agreed on a cost-shared deal to build a $450-million rink with construction slated to begin in early 2013. The cost has since escalated to $475 million.
That deal was thrown into doubt earlier this month when the city councillors were told at a closed door meeting that Katz wanted millions of dollars in new concessions from taxpayers for the proposed 18,400-seat arena.
That prompted Mandel to ask Katz to appear before council to explain the new demands, but the Oilers' owner declined.
Under the deal, the proposed rink was to be funded mostly by taxpayers and ticket buyers.
The city was to pay $125 million, although councillors have since been told land sales and interest will boost that figure to more than $300 million.
That number also doesn't include millions more in transportation infrastructure, including a light rapid transit stop.
The Oilers were to pay operating costs for the facility along with $5.5 million a year for 35 years to help fund construction. In return, the team was to get all profits from Oilers games, trade shows and concerts for 11 months out of the year, along with naming rights worth an estimated $1 million.
At the closed door meeting earlier this month, councillors were told that, among other concessions, Katz wants $6 million per year from taxpayers to offset the cost of running the building.
The Katz Group, in a letter to council, said they had had a second look at the numbers and that there needed to be changes in funding to keep the team viable in a "small market."
