Seattle arena tour by Edmonton Oilers group thrusts team's future into question

EDMONTON - A visit of Seattle's arena by a group representing the Edmonton Oilers once again sparked questions about the team possibly being moved out of the city, amid a stalled downtown arena discussion.

Ian Furness, a Seattle radio sports host broke the news Monday afternoon with the following tweet: "A group representing the #Edmonton Oilers, including team president, owner was in Seattle today taking a tour of Key Arena."

Global News learned through local sports radio host, Dan Tencer, that Edmonton Oilers' owner Daryl Katz was part of the visit, along with Patrick LaForge, President and CEO of the Oilers, and Kevin Lowe, the President of Hockey Operations. Wayne Gretzky was with the group as well, but claims he was only there on a social level.

The Oilers group is said to have met with Chris Hansen, the businessman behind a new Seattle arena which has been approved for that city.

Oilers management, in a news release, said it has to look at other options like Seattle because talks on a new rink in Edmonton have been going on for four years with no resolution.

But Edmonton mayor Stephen Mandel said the two sides had a deal a year ago. He blames the new impasse on recent demands from the Oilers management for millions of dollars more in concessions from taxpayers.

While Mandel said he assumes Katz is negotiating in good faith, the mayor admitted he wasn't surprised that the Oilers owner had gone to Seattle.

"I hope at some point in time Mr. Katz tells us what he wants and council can react to it," Mandel said. "Then council can react to it. Right now, we don't know what that is. And until we know what that is, it makes it very difficult for us to do anything."

On Monday, the mayor set a "drop dead date" of October 17th for a presentation on the deal.

Seattle City Council, meanwhile, approved hedge-fund manager Chris Hansen's plan for a US$490-million arena Monday that both sides hope will host an NBA and NHL team in the future.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has downplayed the threat of the Oilers moving south of the border, though.

"We continue to believe that an arena deal is achievable, and with a new arena there should be no reason to have any doubts about the future of the Oilers in Edmonton," Bettman said in a statement released Tuesday.

It follows the following statement made on Monday evening by Bob Black, the Executive Vice President of the Katz Group.

"We remain committed to working with City Administration to achieve a deal commensurate with what Winnipeg and Pittsburgh have done to sustain the NHL in those small markets. If we can achieve such a deal, the Oilers will remain in Edmonton and we can get on with the important work of developing the new arena and investing in the continued revitalization of Edmonton's downtown core.

Nonetheless, and as the City of Edmonton is aware, the Katz Group has been listening to proposals from a number of potential NHL markets for some time. 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.

We are extremely grateful to Oilers' fans for their patience and loyalty as we work through this process towards what we sincerely hope will be a long and successful future for the Oilers in Edmonton. We have no further comment on the status of our discussions with other markets at this time."