Everett opts for the WHL

Published 9:00 pm Wednesday, September 12, 2001

By Theresa Goffredo

Herald Writer

EVERETT – The opening of a $50 million hockey arena will give Everett a passionate rivalry that should stick to fans like Velcro.

That’s part of the reason Everett City Council members unanimously picked the Western Hockey League on Wednesday as the league it will negotiate with for a franchise lease.

The WHL was competing with the West Coast Hockey League to be the anchor tenant of the city’s proposed hockey arena and special events center, planned to open in 2003 at the southwest corner of Hewitt and Broadway in the heart of downtown.

The choice will establish what figures to be a fierce rivalry between a new Everett franchise and the Seattle Thunderbirds, who have been in the league since 1985.

“The Western Hockey League has much younger players who are trying to prove themselves,” said city attorney Mark Soine, who helped draft the resolution that singled out the Western Hockey League as the anchor tenant. “You’re really going to see that rivalry – young kids have a little more fight in them.”

And league officials would agree that a new franchise from the Western Hockey League, with its aspiring upstarts who are among the top draft picks for the National Hockey League, will draw crowds as the natural rivalry between Everett and Seattle whips up into a frenzy.

“We’re extremely excited about the close rivalry because it increases awareness of hockey and opens up a whole new market of fans,” said Colin Campbell, assistant general manager for the Seattle Thunderbirds.

A new Everett franchise would ramp up the number of Western Hockey League teams to 20. It also would give the league four teams conveniently located along the I-5 corridor: Vancouver, British Columbia (which starts play this season), Everett, Seattle and Portland.

The hockey arena also will have a second ice sheet for a public skating rink, increasing opportunities for kids to skate, Campbell said.

“The second sheet for a youth hockey program and with new rinks in Kent and Renton – it’s just the whole area that is giving the hockey interest a chance to grow,” Campbell said.

The Seattle Thunderbirds draw more than 200,000 fans to 36 regular-season home games from September through March, Campbell said. The Everett arena and events center would seat 8,000 for hockey and 10,000 for concerts and include luxury seating and suites and about 30,000 square feet of exhibition space.

“We’re delighted to hear the news that we will be negotiating directly with Everett on the arena lease,” WHL Commissioner Ron Robison said Wednesday from his office in Calgary, Alberta.

“Everett fits so well for a number of reasons,” Robison said. “There’s the natural rivalry as well as the rivalry with Vancouver and the key objective is we have a building plan that is ideally suited with a capacity of 8,000 and all those features fit very well with our plan.”

Robison said cities such as Bend, Ore., Yakima and Victoria, British Columbia, have asked the WHL for new franchises, but Everett remained the league’s No. 1 choice.

Still, the deal is not done.

On Tuesday, the Western Hockey League’s Board of Governors is expected to vote on creating an Everett franchise. A potential obstacle is the Thunderbirds’ owner, Bill Yuill, who has to agree to allow an Everett franchise he has rights to all areas within a 50-mile radius of Seattle. If the new franchise is approved, Yuill would have the option to buy the franchise, but to do so would have to give up ownership of the Thunderbirds, Robison said.

Campbell predicted that Yuill would vote in favor of the Everett franchise, because healthy competition is good business.

“We feel strongly enough that it will increase the level of awareness for hockey and help the Seattle franchise,” Campbell said.

Should the league’s governing board approve the new franchise, the Everett team could begin play in the 2003-2004 season. Everett’s hockey arena, to be funded largely through sales-tax rebates from the state, is expected to open in fall 2003. In order for the city to receive the tax rebate money, construction of the arena must begin by January 2003.

You can call Herald Writer Theresa Goffredo at 425-339-3097

or send e-mail to goffredo@heraldnet.com.