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[Speculation] NHL expansion - Atlanta, Houston, Salt Lake City & Quebec City


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The private funding for the project is approved and can move forward. Any public funding is contingent on point 2.

 

"If the NHL approves a team to return to Georgia, Forsyth County would offer $350 million toward the arena and an additional $40 million toward a single-arena parking deck, according to details in the new vote passed Wednesday."

 

"Forsyth County officials visited the NHL headquarters in New York, where they toured UBS Arena -- an arena constructed in 2021 that is home to the New York Islanders."

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5 minutes ago, Coconuts said:

I think time is finally running out

 

 

 

When a fledgling PWHL is playing to sellout crowds or nearly sellout crowds, and their fans are eating this brand of hockey up, you have to wonder is Bettman really aware of what's going on? The Mullet Arena is past it's due date. Phoenix is past it's due date, let's move along.

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13 minutes ago, Johngould21 said:

When a fledgling PWHL is playing to sellout crowds or nearly sellout crowds, and their fans are eating this brand of hockey up, you have to wonder is Bettman really aware of what's going on? The Mullet Arena is past it's due date. Phoenix is past it's due date, let's move along.

 

I think they'll end up elsewhere, the NHL may have to pressure ownership to play ball sooner than later 

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2 minutes ago, Coconuts said:

 

I think they'll end up elsewhere, the NHL may have to pressure ownership to play ball sooner than later 

I've agreed with this for 30 years. They haven't ever had stable ownership, an NHL arena, a fanbase, and deep enough pockets to sustain a franchise. Sooner can't come soon enough.

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2 hours ago, Coconuts said:

Interesting, a couple new locations involved

 

There's no way the NHL would entertain Omaha. Less population than Winnipeg but without the rabid hockey culture and just as middle of nowhere.

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On 10/4/2023 at 5:17 PM, Warhippy said:

Another team in Toronto and one in Quebec would mean an immediate and sustained revenue boost for the league that would cushion the suck of two potential teams in markets like Atlanta and Arizona.

 

Problem is...it probably wouldn't add that much. The CBC and SportsNet contracts would be re-written to accommodate the 2 additional markets, but the net gain from those 2 re-writes would be negligible. Folks in PQ and TO are probably already subscribers watching the Habs and Leafs. There would be gate revenue but that is the smaller portion of the financial pie. Expansion to brand new markets (ie/ Houston, SLC, Atlanta, Portland etc) would truly bring in a ton of new subscribers and subsequently increase the value of the TV contracts for NBC etc. The real money is in non-traditional markets as the burden of failure rests on the owners' shoulders (the entire NHL collectively) but the net positive result would windfall and benefit both local and league-wide franchise structure (to the tune of 52.5% I believe)...ie/ the risk is worth the reward.

 

The real problem is the watering down of the top end talent. It would re-define what it means to be a Top line F, Top 6 F and a Top2 D. And I think the toughest position would be G...there's about 10-14 really good steady elite goalies in the league. To water that down further would mean backups would now be starters...and scoring would go WAY up. We just might see a lot more 10 goal games (ask SJS...they know of which I speak). Quality goaltending would be difficult to find for 36 teams...it's hard to find for half the league now as it is.

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17 minutes ago, ABNuck said:

 

Problem is...it probably wouldn't add that much. The CBC and SportsNet contracts would be re-written to accommodate the 2 additional markets, but the net gain from those 2 re-writes would be negligible. Folks in PQ and TO are probably already subscribers watching the Habs and Leafs. There would be gate revenue but that is the smaller portion of the financial pie. Expansion to brand new markets (ie/ Houston, SLC, Atlanta, Portland etc) would truly bring in a ton of new subscribers and subsequently increase the value of the TV contracts for NBC etc. The real money is in non-traditional markets as the burden of failure rests on the owners' shoulders (the entire NHL collectively) but the net positive result would windfall and benefit both local and league-wide franchise structure (to the tune of 52.5% I believe)...ie/ the risk is worth the reward.

 

The real problem is the watering down of the top end talent. It would re-define what it means to be a Top line F, Top 6 F and a Top2 D. And I think the toughest position would be G...there's about 10-14 really good steady elite goalies in the league. To water that down further would mean backups would now be starters...and scoring would go WAY up. We just might see a lot more 10 goal games (ask SJS...they know of which I speak). Quality goaltending would be difficult to find for 36 teams...it's hard to find for half the league now as it is.

Totally agree re: watering down talent. Although, over the years we are seeing more / better / improved talent from around the world. I guess it’s whether all that talent can catch up / sustain the extra teams if / when added??? 

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The reason there's parity isn't the talent pool. It's the points structure. A lot of teams take the games to OT and get a point. You can get an 82 point team and never actually win a game.

There is basically 16 good teams, 4-8 meh teams. And 8 God awful teams. The way the draft is with the lottery doesn't help the truly bad teams get better. It rewards luck.

The funny part is teams that are bad now tend to stay bad. The NFL doesn't have a draft lottery. And if you have a good GM and organization the draft helps you get better.

If you have lousy coaching, scouts, and GM all the #1 picks will not help you get better. And I'm ok with that.

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13 minutes ago, cripplereh said:

To me it seems Quebec has been asking for the longest out of the group.

 

Would make sense to add two teams.

 

 

Might have to restructure the teams north versus south to make it work better.

 

It'll almost certainly be more than two, at least long term

 

Atlanta, Houston, and maybe not Utah seem inevitable

 

Maybe Kansas, maybe Quebec

 

Maybe all of them if someone relocates 

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