NHL Board of Governors to approve opening of expansion process; Atlanta and Houston believed to be leading candidates

[x Tame Impala]

They should make a second division of the NHL like Euro sports leagues with relegation and promotion instead of making the NHL even more bloated. 32 teams is enough, stop it.

Not making the playoffs is enough of a distinction. I would hate a secondary league. Soccer sucks.

 

[Reality Czech]

Not making the playoffs is enough of a distinction. I would hate a secondary league. Soccer sucks.

I'd prefer it to a 40 team NHL.

 

[DaPhazz]

QC is the cute girl the NHL hangs around for no other reason than to make the hottie they actually wanna bang jealous.

NHL has weird taste since Atlanta is more of a toothless missus eating cigarettes for dinner

Calgary who left in 1927?

And winnipeg who is barely holding on when the team stinks and wont likely last there?

Great examples.

well, that can be said to most US teams

 

[SirClintonPortis]

Wouldn't surprised if the NHL is dead afraid of the WNBA surging as competition due to Caitlin Clark.

 

[Mike Jones]

Too many teams - not enough players. Why can't the league get that through their heads. If Houston or Atlanta want a team they can have the Flames. They're costing Calgary taxpayers way too much and we need to make money from our new arena and recover our investment.

 

[Soundwave]

At this point they're going to do it no matter what, so whatever I guess. Should cause a nice bump in the salary cap with new revenue coming in.

Bettman is saying the expansion fee could rise to a whopping $2 billion, lol.

 

[Golden_Jet]

At this point they're going to do it no matter what, so whatever I guess. Should cause a nice bump in the salary cap with new revenue coming in.

Not necessarily, the pool just gets divided between more teams.

 

[Bounces R Way]

Too many teams - not enough players. Why can't the league get that through their heads. If Houston or Atlanta want a team they can have the Flames. They're costing Calgary taxpayers way too much and we need to make money from our new arena and recover our investment.

About time to let go of this fantasy of yours isn't it.

 

[SEALBound]

f*** off Atlanta.

I wish someone was interested in Portland

Portland needs to clean itself up, I think, before anyone commits big money to a professional sports team there.

 

[Soundwave]

Not necessarily, the pool just gets divided between more teams.

The expansion fee is a huge chunk of cash for HRR. Bettman is already talking like they want 1.7-2 billion next time around.

It's pretty obvious why they want to keep expanding ... the amount of money it brings in will be enormous just from the expansion fee alone.

 

[ItWasJustified]

Because they can be made to care if a team is there.

Which gets you more of a return: 90% of 100,000 people, or 1% of 10,000,000 people? You and others are looking at the 90% and saying "that's more".

Yeah, it worked really good in Phoenix, a huge media market with a huge population of people who don't give crap about hockey.

 

[Soundwave]

$100+ million salary cap incoming.

 

[Golden_Jet]

The expansion fee is a huge chunk of cash for HRR.

No it’s not, expansion fees give zero dollars to HRR, it’s not included.
That’s one of the reasons I said, pool just gets divided between more teams.

 

[Some Other Flame]

lol they really want McDavid to break those scoring records don't they

 

[Soundwave]

No it’s not, expansion fees give zero dollars to HRR, it’s not included.
That’s one of the reasons I said, pool just gets divided between more teams.

It's still generally good for league wide revenue, the novelty of a new team generally sells tickets for a few years before the shit hits the fan if things are going to go south.

 

[ItWasJustified]

Not making the playoffs is enough of a distinction. I would hate a secondary league. Soccer sucks.

You do realize that there's promotion and relegation in almost every European hockey league too? It's not only a thing in football. I wouldn't even watch my team if they somehow decided to close the SHL.

 

[LiveLongandProspal]

Let he or she who would take a team away from fans first volunteer his or her own. Absolutely no exceptions, no matter who you are or what team you're cheering for.

Yeah, and I'm sure the Coyotes fans had a say in their teams being taken away.


It's not personal. It's just business.

 

[x Tame Impala]

You do realize that there's promotion and relegation in almost every European hockey league too? It's not only a thing in football. I wouldn't even watch my team if they somehow decided to close the SHL.

Fine, euro sports suck. Better? Relegation is an awful idea and I'd want no part in a league that does it.

 

[Matty Sundin]

The league is not ready for more teams to dilute the talent. I actually think 32 teams now has slightly diluted the talent around among teams in the league.

 

[Salsero1]

Yeah, it worked really good in Phoenix, a huge media market with a huge population of people who don't give crap about hockey.

Believe me, you are not smarter than the people willing to drop a billion dollar check to put a team back in Atlanta.

 

[Golden_Jet]

You do realize that there's promotion and relegation in almost every European hockey league too? It's not only a thing in football. I wouldn't even watch my team if they somehow decided to close the SHL.

Ya it’s terrible, luckily NA doesn’t do that,
no owner is forking out 2 billion for an arena and team, to end up relegated to the AHL, or wherever.

 

[HockeyScotty]

This is getting asinine. Let's settle in at 32 for a decade or so at least.

Rather than growing the game it seems like Bettman's only strategy is to churn out new franchises.

Curious why you seem to think that "growing the game" and expanding with new franchises in new markets are mutually exclusive?

I see them as being symbiotic.

 

[Viqsi]

Yeah, it worked really good in Phoenix, a huge media market with a huge population of people who don't give crap about hockey.

You need to also get the basics right, like, say, a place to play. They flubbed that. And yet it still managed to produce folks like, oh, say, Auston Matthews.

 

[ItWasJustified]

Ya it’s terrible, luckily NA doesn’t do that,
no owner is forking out 2 billion for an arena and team, to end up relegated to the AHL, or wherever.

Well, stay plastic.

You need to also get the basics right, like, say, a place to play. They flubbed that. And yet it still managed to produce folks like, oh, say, Auston Matthews.

Yeah, Auston Matthews became a hockey player because of Phoenix media market.

 

[Viqsi]

Yeah, and I'm sure the Coyotes fans had a say in their teams being taken away.


It's not personal. It's just business.

That's not the point. The point is about putting your money where your mouth is. If you're going to push for relocation as a general good, do so in a manner such that you would take the impact, rather than lazily and callously expecting others to take the hit for you.