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Đã gửi: Thứ 4 05/09/18 9:58During his first stint in Seattle Daeshon Hall Jersey , Tod Leiweke helped develop the Seattle Seahawks into a benchmark franchise.
He’s returning to the Northwest this time with a chance to build a franchise from scratch – pending NHL approval.
Leiweke was introduced Wednesday as the CEO and president of the prospective NHL expansion franchise seeking to call Seattle home beginning with the 2020 season. The announcement has been expected since Leiweke announced he was stepping down from his role with the NFL earlier this year. But it was another step forward for the expansion bid.
”It’s kind of fun to start from scratch because you can build a culture the way you would want a culture to be built with likeminded people who want to serve, who love the game of hockey. In this, it is a grand opportunity,” Leiweke said.
The prospective majority owner of the franchise, David Bonderman, said he believed there could be a possible conditional announcement about the franchise from the NHL in June and a potential formal announcement in September coinciding with upcoming NHL Board of Governors meetings.
”We hope there is not any doubt about it and it’s certainly not just a formality. However, there is a process with the NHL and we expect to play through that process,” Bonderman said.
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, speaking before the playoff opener in Las Vegas on Wednesday night, wasn’t as optimistic Corey Grant Jersey , saying there is no set timeline for a decision on Seattle’s expansion bid.
”We don’t have a timetable,” Bettman said. ”That would be nothing more than speculation. I would be surprised.”
While announcing the president and CEO for a team that doesn’t exist yet might seem a bit presumptuous, Leiweke brings the kind of clout that will only strengthen a bid that almost appears to be a foregone conclusion.
Oak View Group, a partner in the franchise and the group responsible for renovating KeyArena, is expected to begin construction on the building later this fall and have the remodel done for the 2020 season. The season-ticket drive that started on March 1 was a rousing success and was capped at 33,000 deposits.
Leiweke got his start in hockey with the Minnesota Wild. He also worked in Vancouver and most recently helped build Tampa Bay into a powerhouse in the Eastern Conference. Leiweke left the Lightning in 2015 to become the COO of the NFL and didn’t have any interest in leaving the league office until the project in Seattle began to gain real traction.
”The fact is I found the NFL to be a pretty amazing and fascinating place to work and I was starting to get quite comfortable in my role there so I wasn’t looking,” Leiweke said. ”But I think the stars aligned and my son’s advice was, `Dad, how can you not do this?’ Today, I think he’s right.”
Leiweke’s job will be to capitalize on a market whose demographics have changed significantly since he left the Seahawks in 2010 after being largely responsible for the team hiring head coach Pete Carroll. Seattle is the largest market in the country without a winter pro sports franchise and has seen an influx of wealth in recent years. Even when he was running the Seahawks Rashard Higgins Jersey , Leiweke believed Seattle was ripe for the NHL and the response to the season-ticket drive only strengthened that belief.
”It really is a great fit. I always thought this could be a great hockey market and it proved it. So far, so good,” Leiweke said. ”Now it’s on us because I think people are going to show up opening day ready to believe and what are we going to put out there? Does it all connect?”
Leiweke’s hiring also reunites him with his brother, Tim, the CEO of Oak View Group, which created the privately funded deal to finally solve Seattle’s arena issue.
”I’m so in awe of what we did here,” Tod Leiweke said. ”This has been a challenging issue and my brother came in here and figured it out.”
—
Joe Mixon took a handoff from Andy Dalton and found the hole off right guard for a 25-yard run in the first quarter of a game at Pittsburgh on Oct. 22. The Bengals lost 29-14, falling to 2-4. For Mixon, it would be the longest run of his rookie season.
That’s not what Cincinnati expected when it took a public relations hit and drafted Mixon in the second round last year.
But it wasn’t only Mixon who came up short. Giovani Bernard had a pair of 25-yard runs as his best efforts. The Bengals’ running game finished last in the league with those 25-yard runs as their longest from scrimmage.
The Bengals’ running game was one of the worst in their history. In four games, the running backs failed to produce a run of at least 10 yards. Andy Dalton had a 25-yard scramble in one game that matched the biggest gain on the ground all season.
”I’m glad it’s a new year Rigoberto Sanchez Jersey ,” Mixon said. ”We definitely are going to make that up, for sure. I can tell you that now.”
Mixon is going to be leading the way.
The Bengals were so enamored of his ability to catch passes as well as break long runs that they took him in the second round of the draft, knowing they’d get a public backlash . He was suspended for his freshman season at Oklahoma for punching a woman in the face.
He made little impact as a rookie, sharing time with Jeremy Hill. His only noteworthy game was a 114-yard effort over winless Cleveland on Nov. 26. He had 96 yards in the final game against Baltimore.
Unhappy with the results, Mixon changed his diet in the offseason and lost 12 pounds, getting back to his playing weight at Oklahoma. He’s looked good in training camp at 216 pounds, with coach Marvin Lewis singling him out for praise on Wednesday.
”I’ve been excited about Joe Mixon and what he’s doing,” Lewis said.
Hill left as a free agent after the season, leaving Mixon and Bernard to share the bulk of the plays at running back. Coordinator Bill Lazor has redesigned the playbook to fit their ability to catch passes as well as run the ball.
”He knows we both can do anything,” Bernard said. ”It’s not the situation of a first-down back or a second-down back or third-down Russell Shepard Jersey , it’s none of that. It’s just plug-and-play.”
The biggest problem with the running game last season was the offensive line, which provided little room to run. The Bengals made it their overriding priority in the offseason, trading with Buffalo for left tackle Cordy Glenn and drafting Ohio State center Billy Price in the first round.
”There’s been a lot of urgency within the offensive line to get things moving, and it shows,” Bernard said.
GIO’S DONATION: Bernard helped his future mother-in-law donate a van to an injured Marine veteran on Tuesday, the team’s day off. Bernard drove the van – owned by his future mother-in-law – during his rookie season.
”It was obviously hard to see it go, but it was fun to see it go to a family that needs it,” Bernard said.
CLEARED TO PRACTICE: Linebacker Brandon Bell passed a physical on Wednesday and was cleared to practice. He was limited for the first five days of camp.
PLAY OF THE DAY: Tyler Boyd reached over cornerback Darqueze Dennard for a catch in the corner of the end one during a goal-line drill, drawing cheers from teammates. He also made a slick over-the-middle catch during an 11-on-11 drill. Boyd was slowed by a knee injury last season and finished with only 22 catches in 10 games.
NO TELLING: Lewis declined to say whether Tyler Eifert would play in any preseason games. The tight end is coming off his second back procedure and was cleared to practice on Monday.
—
Collin Sexton Jersey ,
He’s returning to the Northwest this time with a chance to build a franchise from scratch – pending NHL approval.
Leiweke was introduced Wednesday as the CEO and president of the prospective NHL expansion franchise seeking to call Seattle home beginning with the 2020 season. The announcement has been expected since Leiweke announced he was stepping down from his role with the NFL earlier this year. But it was another step forward for the expansion bid.
”It’s kind of fun to start from scratch because you can build a culture the way you would want a culture to be built with likeminded people who want to serve, who love the game of hockey. In this, it is a grand opportunity,” Leiweke said.
The prospective majority owner of the franchise, David Bonderman, said he believed there could be a possible conditional announcement about the franchise from the NHL in June and a potential formal announcement in September coinciding with upcoming NHL Board of Governors meetings.
”We hope there is not any doubt about it and it’s certainly not just a formality. However, there is a process with the NHL and we expect to play through that process,” Bonderman said.
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, speaking before the playoff opener in Las Vegas on Wednesday night, wasn’t as optimistic Corey Grant Jersey , saying there is no set timeline for a decision on Seattle’s expansion bid.
”We don’t have a timetable,” Bettman said. ”That would be nothing more than speculation. I would be surprised.”
While announcing the president and CEO for a team that doesn’t exist yet might seem a bit presumptuous, Leiweke brings the kind of clout that will only strengthen a bid that almost appears to be a foregone conclusion.
Oak View Group, a partner in the franchise and the group responsible for renovating KeyArena, is expected to begin construction on the building later this fall and have the remodel done for the 2020 season. The season-ticket drive that started on March 1 was a rousing success and was capped at 33,000 deposits.
Leiweke got his start in hockey with the Minnesota Wild. He also worked in Vancouver and most recently helped build Tampa Bay into a powerhouse in the Eastern Conference. Leiweke left the Lightning in 2015 to become the COO of the NFL and didn’t have any interest in leaving the league office until the project in Seattle began to gain real traction.
”The fact is I found the NFL to be a pretty amazing and fascinating place to work and I was starting to get quite comfortable in my role there so I wasn’t looking,” Leiweke said. ”But I think the stars aligned and my son’s advice was, `Dad, how can you not do this?’ Today, I think he’s right.”
Leiweke’s job will be to capitalize on a market whose demographics have changed significantly since he left the Seahawks in 2010 after being largely responsible for the team hiring head coach Pete Carroll. Seattle is the largest market in the country without a winter pro sports franchise and has seen an influx of wealth in recent years. Even when he was running the Seahawks Rashard Higgins Jersey , Leiweke believed Seattle was ripe for the NHL and the response to the season-ticket drive only strengthened that belief.
”It really is a great fit. I always thought this could be a great hockey market and it proved it. So far, so good,” Leiweke said. ”Now it’s on us because I think people are going to show up opening day ready to believe and what are we going to put out there? Does it all connect?”
Leiweke’s hiring also reunites him with his brother, Tim, the CEO of Oak View Group, which created the privately funded deal to finally solve Seattle’s arena issue.
”I’m so in awe of what we did here,” Tod Leiweke said. ”This has been a challenging issue and my brother came in here and figured it out.”
—
Joe Mixon took a handoff from Andy Dalton and found the hole off right guard for a 25-yard run in the first quarter of a game at Pittsburgh on Oct. 22. The Bengals lost 29-14, falling to 2-4. For Mixon, it would be the longest run of his rookie season.
That’s not what Cincinnati expected when it took a public relations hit and drafted Mixon in the second round last year.
But it wasn’t only Mixon who came up short. Giovani Bernard had a pair of 25-yard runs as his best efforts. The Bengals’ running game finished last in the league with those 25-yard runs as their longest from scrimmage.
The Bengals’ running game was one of the worst in their history. In four games, the running backs failed to produce a run of at least 10 yards. Andy Dalton had a 25-yard scramble in one game that matched the biggest gain on the ground all season.
”I’m glad it’s a new year Rigoberto Sanchez Jersey ,” Mixon said. ”We definitely are going to make that up, for sure. I can tell you that now.”
Mixon is going to be leading the way.
The Bengals were so enamored of his ability to catch passes as well as break long runs that they took him in the second round of the draft, knowing they’d get a public backlash . He was suspended for his freshman season at Oklahoma for punching a woman in the face.
He made little impact as a rookie, sharing time with Jeremy Hill. His only noteworthy game was a 114-yard effort over winless Cleveland on Nov. 26. He had 96 yards in the final game against Baltimore.
Unhappy with the results, Mixon changed his diet in the offseason and lost 12 pounds, getting back to his playing weight at Oklahoma. He’s looked good in training camp at 216 pounds, with coach Marvin Lewis singling him out for praise on Wednesday.
”I’ve been excited about Joe Mixon and what he’s doing,” Lewis said.
Hill left as a free agent after the season, leaving Mixon and Bernard to share the bulk of the plays at running back. Coordinator Bill Lazor has redesigned the playbook to fit their ability to catch passes as well as run the ball.
”He knows we both can do anything,” Bernard said. ”It’s not the situation of a first-down back or a second-down back or third-down Russell Shepard Jersey , it’s none of that. It’s just plug-and-play.”
The biggest problem with the running game last season was the offensive line, which provided little room to run. The Bengals made it their overriding priority in the offseason, trading with Buffalo for left tackle Cordy Glenn and drafting Ohio State center Billy Price in the first round.
”There’s been a lot of urgency within the offensive line to get things moving, and it shows,” Bernard said.
GIO’S DONATION: Bernard helped his future mother-in-law donate a van to an injured Marine veteran on Tuesday, the team’s day off. Bernard drove the van – owned by his future mother-in-law – during his rookie season.
”It was obviously hard to see it go, but it was fun to see it go to a family that needs it,” Bernard said.
CLEARED TO PRACTICE: Linebacker Brandon Bell passed a physical on Wednesday and was cleared to practice. He was limited for the first five days of camp.
PLAY OF THE DAY: Tyler Boyd reached over cornerback Darqueze Dennard for a catch in the corner of the end one during a goal-line drill, drawing cheers from teammates. He also made a slick over-the-middle catch during an 11-on-11 drill. Boyd was slowed by a knee injury last season and finished with only 22 catches in 10 games.
NO TELLING: Lewis declined to say whether Tyler Eifert would play in any preseason games. The tight end is coming off his second back procedure and was cleared to practice on Monday.
—
Collin Sexton Jersey ,
