Geoff Baker - Rising From the Deep - The Seattle Kraken, a Tenacious Push for Expansion and the Emerald Citys Sports Revival

Contents

Foreword by Jerry Bruckheimer

As a young boy growing up in Detroit, I was fortunate to discover three things that not only inspired me but altered the course of my life. When I was six years old, my uncle gave me a secondhand Argus camera, a fascinating contraption that triggered my lifelong love of photography. I tinkered around with it for hours on end and took pictures of just about everything. By the time I was in high school, I had turned our basement into a makeshift darkroom, printing my own photos and even collecting a few awards along the way.

It wasnt long before movies entered the picture. At eight years old, I saved enough money to go to the Mercury Theater for a double feature matinee, and my life was never the same. Sitting in the front row of that magnificent setting and looking up at the images of John Wayne and Rita Hayworth was pure magic. That experience opened up a different world of fantasy, adventure, and imagination. It also fanned the flames of my future career as a storyteller.

But like other Detroit kids, especially during the freezing Michigan winter months, I also dreamed of Gordie Howe, Terry Sawchuk, and Ted Lindsay wearing the red and white of our beloved Red Wings hockey team.

The Red Wings werent just any team. In the early 1950s they were the best in the world. I followed them religiously and started collecting Parkhurst hockey cards, a hobby that had a catastrophic fate: after I left for college, my mother threw them away.

When I was 10, Tony Leswick scored his Stanley Cup overtime winner to beat Montreal. It was the best feeling a young boy could have.

But even better were the days my father came home from his long hours at work with hockey tickets to see the Red Wings play at the old Olympia. The two of us would head downtown to Grand River and McGraw and climb the arenas steps right up to the ceiling rafters. Although the seats were nowhere near the action, that didnt matter. I got to spend quality time with my father as we ate hot dogs and cheered on future Hall of Famers. Soon, I was intrigued by every aspect of the game.

I began teaching myself to skatea task that wasnt easy since my skates were two sizes too big. This obstacle didnt seem to faze my mother at all. She told me we couldnt afford new ones, so Id just have to grow into them!

And then there was the outdoor rink itself. It was otherwise known as the 8 Mile Drive-In. During the winter months, the slope of the parking lot created a gully that froze over, thus transforming it into a makeshift ice rink. Regardless of its major imperfections, for me, this was heaven on earth.

Soon, I began to gather up my friends and organize neighborhood games until we eventually joined a local league. Like most kids our age, we just couldnt get enough of hockey, and we played long after dark, never wanting to stop.

These pastimes could have become insignificant footnotes in an ordinary childhood, incidents that faded into ones memory. But even at a young age, one thing was clear: my obsession with photography, film, and hockey was destined to play a major role in my future.

Not everybodys dreams materialize, but I was lucky enough to refine my photography skills into an advertising career that eventually took me to New York, and that success created another opportunity to move to Hollywood and produce movies and television. This career has spanned 50 incredible years and I still love it as much now as I ever did. Ironically, this also honors my dads advice. He said to pick a job that I loved. Dont spend your life looking forward to a two-week vacation.

When dream No. 1 and dream No. 2 had come true, it was time to revisit an old passion. And for me, the final unfulfilled dream stemmed from those first encounters with hockey. They had grabbed ahold of me and never let go.

During my first years in California, hockey was not at the forefront of my life. But that changed when the Great One was traded to the Los Angeles Kings. I immediately bought season tickets and became an avid Kings fan, attending as many games as possible and becoming interested in the operation of the various teams. In the meantime, I organized games with retired NHL players and Hollywood celebrities and even created an annual hockey tournament with some of these same players.

But its one thing to dream of a hockey team, and quite another to create one.

And for that transitional leap, I needed a little help from my friends

One such friend is Harry Sloan, a successful entrepreneur and avid sports enthusiast who was aware of my love of hockey. Through the years we had endless discussions about the possibilities of owning a team. At one point, Harryprobably weary of hearing me talk about itsaid, Lets just do this!

Finally, it was time to take the big dreams and bring them to life.

Our first notion was to find an existing NHL hockey team we could buy or, secondarily, to identify a city that didnt have a team. These plans began to take shape when Harry introduced David Bonderman, the Wayne Gretzky of finance, as a new partner.

For several years, we continued the search for the perfect scenario. But it soon became clear that indeed the best strategy was to focus on a city without an NHL team. We flirted with numerous possibilities, including Las Vegas, but nothing clicked. Throughout our journey, Seattle was always my top choice. It was the place that had it all: vitality and excitement, the beauty of the great Northwest, and best of all, enthusiastic sports fans.

Seattle became a reality when my longtime friend Tim Leiweke, co-founder and CEO of the Oak View Group, approached us with an inventive plan to build a new facility underneath the original roof of the historic KeyArena. This was no small accomplishment, as we knew we were facing a daunting engineering challenge.

Nonetheless, having this blueprint, plus the addition of the brilliant Tod Leiweke to run the entire operation, catapulted our game plan to a higher plane. We now had a team of people who were not mere friends and business partners, but forces of nature. With their skills and determination, we were one step closer to a deal.

On October 2, 2018, we were seated outside a conference room in New York City. With hundreds of details and hours devoted to this project, we were finally ready to present our vision to the nine most powerful NHL owners in the next room. Those owners would decide that day whether to let the leagues full board of governors meet later to vote on giving us a franchise. If they said yes, the remaining 22 owners would almost surely follow. But if they said no, the discussion was over.

My role in this meetinga rather terrifying onewas to conclude the presentation, the one that would take us across the finish line. Here I was, face-to-face with my dream, feeling the pressure of this monumental task. What magic words could I possibly say that would persuade this group to seal the deal? Finally, I settled on my childhood memories. What better way to reach them than to share my personal story, the very one I am telling you now?

Fortunately, what emerged from that room was an ultimate vision fulfilled: the birth of the Seattle Kraken.

In the grand scheme of things, my mission has always been to entertain people. Whether it involves photography, film, or hockey, I aim to transport them from their everyday lives to another reality. This is what I have spent my life doing. And now, I am honored to contribute this knowledge to my sports partnersDavid Bonderman, Tim and Tod Leiweke, and the rest of Seattles ownership group. We are devoted to finding innovative ways to energize our fans and restore the fun of good, old-fashioned hockey of generations gone by.