By Theresa Goffredo
Herald Writer
EVERETT — Jim Smith plans to do everything he can to be part of Everett hockey fever when the season begins to blister in 2003.
He’s second on the list for season tickets. He wants a job during games — not for the money, he’s retired, but just to be close to the action. And he plans to open his Arlington home to one of the young team players who are from out of town and need a place to live.
And don’t for a minute think Smith, 68, is an anomaly — one of those fans just a little bit too crazy about hockey. He’s not alone.
As of Friday, there were 55 people on the list for season tickets when the city’s new hockey team begins play at the sports arena and special event center being built at Hewitt Avenue and Broadway.
And the calls for season tickets keep trickling into the Everett Public Facilities District, which will run the center when it opens. People are calling for themselves and their families. One man wanted 18 season tickets for his entire extended family.
Rikke Finbraten, administrative coordinator for the facilities district, said she received 16 calls for season tickets in one day. The district has nothing to do with ticket sales, but Finbraten didn’t want the people who have called to lose their place on the list, so she began to keep a tally.
"It is obvious these people are hard-core and will go to the effort to find us. I’m amazed at that," Finbraten said. "When we were going through the controversial issues and people were calling to give us their piece of mind, those calls are nothing compared to these. This is tenfold the amount of calls we’ve had in the past."
That might indicate there are more fans than foes, those who have fought against building the event center on Hewitt. Those foes will have their day in court May 10 when a judge decides whether to put the issue of location to a public vote.
In the meantime, the Everett team’s new owner, Bill Yuill, is busy looking into opening an office downtown by June 1. Though 55 phone-ins for season tickets for a stadium that seats 8,000 means there’s still plenty of room for sales, Yuill called it a good start.
"We’re delighted with the initial reaction," he said.
Some in sports circles might have questioned Yuill’s sanity for taking on the unknown Everett market. Yuill, a cable TV and radio station owner, is the former owner of the Seattle Thunderbirds. But he had to drop the Seattle team to buy the Everett team because Western Hockey League rules prohibit the same ownership of teams within a 50-mile radius.
But Yuill, a down-to-earth millionaire who lives in Medicine Hat, Alberta, believes Everett will give him a winner. He’s been right before. As a part owner of the Toronto Blue Jays baseball team, Yuill watched his players win back-to-back World Series championships in 1992 and 1993.
Yuill happened to have the diamond-studded championship ring with him Friday while he was in town on business. He kept the ring with the engraved double-headed blue jay but sold his ownership in the team last year.
"It’s fun getting something going," Yuill said. "We had a good team in Seattle, and now this is a fresh market. It’s a growing area, a new facility, and I’m the head lease guy."
For Yuill, it’s all good.
And he predicts that the first seats to sell in Everett will be those up against the glass. Yuill believes the American hockey fan likes to be near the action. In Canada, fans like the seats up high, to better gauge the whole sheet of ice.
For hard-core fan Smith, he’ll probably want to be as close as he can get. And he’ll pay for that privilege.
"We’ll be a fan no matter what the ticket price is," Smith said.
You can call Herald Writer Theresa Goffredo at 425-339-3097
or send e-mail to goffredo@heraldnet.com.
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