Seattle NHL ticket drive is a stunning success

As per a report from TSN, nearly 25,000 season ticket deposits were reached within the first hour.

Ahead of the NHL in Seattle ticket drive, commissioner Gary Bettman said the result would speak for itself. And it certainly did.

However, even the most optimistic Seattle sports fans must have been shocked by the outcome. As reported by TSN’s Farhan Lalji, nearly 25,000 season ticket deposits were reached inside the first hour of going on sale.

Of those deposits, 10,000 came in the first 12 minutes after they were made available at 10 am PT. Regardless of what projections were calculated, no matter how many surveys were carried out, no one could have expected the speed the targets were reached.

The news was confirmed by Tim Leiweke. Speaking to Lalji, the CEO of the Oak View Group said:

“I’m shocked that happened as quick as it did, but I’m not shocked that it happened. We knew that there was a built-up passion here. As I just told a friend of mine, we just sold enough season tickets for the NHL and the NBA.”

Talking of the NBA, one school of thought was this ticket drive would help them decide how soon they want to return to Seattle. In other words, how much appetite is there for professional sports in the area.

In truth, this is a ridiculous litmus test; look no further than the 41 seasons the SuperSonics were in town, to get a vivid idea of how passionate Seattle sports fans are. Regardless, the crushing success of the NHL ticket drive should remove any doubt Adam Silver and the NBA may have had.

Anyway, the NBA can wait for another time. Today is about the NHL.

To get some perspective of how successful the ticket drive was, let’s compare it to the one carried out by Las Vegas in 2015. Prior to the launch in February of that year, the goal was to reach 10,000 deposits.

As per NHL.com, more than 5,000 tickets were sold within two days, and 9,000 were sold within a month of the launch. Las Vegas finally received deposits on all 16,000 season tickets for their first season, in September 2016.

Again, this speaks volumes about the success of the NHL ticket drive in Seattle. And to think there were actually some concerns the drive might fall flat on its face.

The capacity for the renovated arena at Seattle Center will be 17,500. As such, given the number of deposits received, some will be for partial season tickets.

Ultimately, the main thing that comes from the events of Thursday is that the NHL is coming to Seattle. In the process, the area has proven it is worthy of being considered a premier sports market within North America.

What was your reaction to the result of the ticket drive? Are you among those who paid a deposit towards a season ticket? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.