What held back Seattle groups from applying for NHL expansion?

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman will deal only with applications from Las Vegas and Quebec City, none from Seattle, in this round of NHL expansion. (AP)

Hope for an NHL team in the Seattle area has gained significant momentum in recent years, but in the city’s first real shot to throw its hat into the ring, the three groups rumored to be interested in ownership were silent.

The NHL’s deadline for hopeful expansion teams passed on Monday, and only groups from Las Vegas and Quebec City filed applications, something that came along with a $10 million down payment, including $2 million nonrefundable.

While it may seem shocking that no groups from Seattle, including one headed by Connecticut-based businessman Ray Bartoszek that has a proposal to build a new arena in Tukwila, filed to be considered for expansion, 710 ESPN Seattle’s Justin Myers saw it coming.

“Is it all that surprising, really? There’s no place for them to play,” Myers said on Tuesday’s edition of “Justin and Gee,” noting that Seattle’s lack of an NHL-ready arena puts it at a disadvantage.

The fact that Seattle doesn’t have a place ready to house an NHL team brings to mind another issue.

“Don’t you think if you wanted hockey, there would be an arena?” Myers continued. “You look at all the markets that the NHL has expanded to in the last 20 years – wouldn’t hockey be here if Seattle wanted it?”

Myers believes Seattle sports fans are more focused on bringing another pro sports league to town, and the potential ownership groups know it, making the collective price of applying for an expansion team and building a new arena too much of a commitment when the fan base has no proven pro hockey connection.

“Do you really want hockey here to be a hockey fan and to be a hockey town, or is it because you know that if you get a hockey team here, that’s a better chance of bringing the NBA back?” Myers asked. “If Vegas is going to pony up the price tag and Quebec City is going to pony up the price tag, it tells me that they have faith that those markets are going to have additional income, that they will eventually make money. When everything makes such sense for the NHL to be in one of the West Coast’s biggest markets and to get into the Northwest and add to the West Coast travel with teams in Vancouver and Edmonton, why hasn’t it happened?”

You can listen to the entire conversation starting at the 1:40 mark of the podcast of the second hour of “Justin and Gee.”