Thirteen groups representing eight cities arrived in New York in February 1966 to present their cases to the Board: five groups from Los Angeles, two from Pittsburgh, and one each from Vancouver, Buffalo, Philadelphia, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Baltimore and San Francisco.
Five groups made their 30-minute presentation February 7, five more the morning of February 8, and three the afternoon of February 8. It was an eclectic group of bidders for NHL teams, with potential owners coming from the worlds of sports, entertainment and politics.
Among them were George W. Eby, owner of the Ice Capades, representing one of the Los Angeles groups. Another group seeking a team for Los Angeles mentioned having comedian Bob Hope as a director. Los Angeles Rams owner Dan Reeves was part of another L.A. group, and said he would be bringing in Clint Murchison Jr., president of the Dallas Cowboys, as a partner. Buffalo Bills owner Ralph Wilson made his own bid for a team in Los Angeles. Jack Kent Cooke, who owned the Los Angeles Lakers and was part-owner of the Washington Redskins, was trying to bring a team to Los Angeles.
Other candidates were Seymour and Northrup Knox, who were bidding for a team in Buffalo. There was a group from Pittsburgh that featured Pennsylvania state Sen. Jack McGregor as president and Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney as a director. Famed broadcaster Foster Hewitt represented the Vancouver bid, and there was a Philadelphia group led by Philadelphia Eagles owner Jerry Wolman.
On February 9, Campbell announced that five cities had been unanimously awarded conditional franchises: Los Angeles, which would be owned by Cooke's California Sports Inc. and included plans for an arena that became the Great Western Forum in Inglewood, California; San Francisco; Minneapolis-St. Paul; Philadelphia, which included plans for the arena that became the Spectrum; and Pittsburgh, to be owned by the group led by McGregor.
The Board also announced St. Louis had been awarded a conditional franchise based on a qualified application being received before April 5, 1966. If none was received, the conditional franchise would be awarded to Baltimore. A suitable ownership group was found in St. Louis, and when the 1967-68 season started, the California Seals, Los Angeles Kings, Minnesota North Stars, Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins and St. Louis Blues began play in the NHL West Division.