NHL won't vote on expansion after Seattle presentation on Oct. 2
The Seattle ownership group will make a formal presentation to the NHL's board of governors on Oct. 2 in New York. However, the board will not vote on expansion at that meeting, NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said, according to Sports Illustrated's Alex Prewitt.
"In a vacuum, I think everyone assumes (the board of governors) would be inclined to expand to Seattle," Daly said. "But there's distance between here and there in terms of taking a vote."
The board's reluctance to vote on Seattle expansion could be due to both sides being willing to wait another year before the potential franchise's inaugural season.
Also on the NHL to Seattle front... Bill Daly tells me the league isn’t tethered to 2020-21 for an inaugural season. In fact, sounds like ownership group & league are open to 2021-22 instead.
— Emily Kaplan (@emilymkaplan) September 6, 2018
On Wednesday, the Seattle ownership group revealed a development agreement for the new arena, a long-term lease agreement, and an integration agreement, which were transmitted by Seattle mayor Jenny A. Durkan to city council for its consideration.
The group also announced several new local investors, including David and Jeff Wright (whose family owns the Space Needle), Seattle Sounders majority owner Adrian Hanauer, and Amazon Web Services CEO Andy Jassy.