Hawks test out their new Renton practice facility
RENTON
It took only a trouble of minutes for the headquarters to win outer the players, though.
“Everything about it was kind of fun and exciting,” quarterback Matt Hasselbeck said Wednesday.
The relocation to Renton becomes official Aug. 18. Wednesday morning was more preference a test drive similar to the Seahawks loaded a rosterful onto buses and drove south without interruption I-405 to habitual performance outside the strange training facility in continuance a field tucked between the freeway and Lake Washington.
It’s more than just a field. It’s four fields, actually. Each regulation size, all precisely manicured. Three are grass, the fourth any artificial turf that is indoors, covered by a structure that bears an bad resemblance to an airplane hangar.
The acreage is meanly double from the team’s current headquarters in Kirkland. The building itself is three stories and covers five times as crowd square feet. There are whirlpools and cold tubs and a pool that includes a treadmill for rehabilitation work.
There’s an auditorium with extra-large seats to accommodate the extra-large bodies, and each locker in the clubhouse has its own electrical outlet.
The Seahawks announced construction plans in 2006, locating it on a parcel of land owned by Paul Allen. The team built the complaisance since every investment in the future. A down payment of sorts. It’s up to the team to produce the dividends.
“Paul built this by intentions adhering us to form on what we’ve accomplished and keep going,” linebacker Lofa Tatupu said. “He put a lot of money into this, and we want to capitalize and make him proud. Make Seattle proud.”
Holmgren related that the real results will show up in the team’s ability to attract free agents and make the franchise even more of a desired destination.
“Letting players know that we will do everything possible for the players,” Holmgren said, “to make it a great experience, all that kind of stuff. This building says that.”
A seaplane flew nearby since the team practiced kickoff drills Wednesday morning. Construction workers in orange vests were finishing up landscaping work on the row of 50 or in the same state trees bordering the fields.
