Born in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1934, Barry Ackerley began his career in the advertising industry selling space for the magazine Better Homes & Gardens.
By 1968, the billboards in northern California had generated enough income to provide Ackerley with the start-up capital he had lacked in New York five years earlier.
Heavy relocation rumors began to circulate, amongst them a potential move to San Diego[4] or possible sales to groups in other markets like Milwaukee or Toronto.
[6] They would eventually purchase land in the SoDo District near the Kingdome, some of which included the site that would become the Mariners' current home, T-Mobile Park.
To sweeten the offer, Ackerley sold city leaders on the idea that the new arena in SoDo could also attract an NHL club.
The NHL briefly flirted with relocating the Pittsburgh Penguins to Seattle (and the California Golden Seals to Denver) to address a troubled market and fill the expansion commitment, but ultimately kept the team there.
Eventually, the Seattle franchise award was rescinded altogether when the potential ownership group was unable to secure the funds for the expansion fee.
In July 1990, the city council approved a deal for a privately owned $100 million facility to be built on the Ackerley land in SoDo, despite objections over traffic and parking by the Seahawks and Mariners in the neighboring Kingdome.
It would also pay $2 million for street improvements around the proposed site, including a pedestrian walkway over South Royal Brougham Way.
Another selling point of the new arena was luxury suites, a means to attract corporate money and sponsorship that was then an emerging new revenue stream for sports team owners.
[10][11] Thought to play a factor in Ackerley's decision were the significant demands by the NHL for an expansion team: a $50 million expansion fee that was more than any NHL club was valued at the time; a $5 million down payment that would be forfeited if 10,000 season tickets weren't sold in the first year – the Sonics had never sold more than 9,000 season tickets; season tickets needed to produce at least $9 million annually, which would've made the tickets the second most expensive for a team in the area at the time; a 20-year lease with a "substantial" share of arena revenues from concessions, parking, and ad signage; priority status for postseason arena dates; and a secured $5 million line of credit in case the league had to take over ownership of the team at any point.