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

[Crow]

Simple. The NHL still has the least amount of teams in the US out of the Big 4 leagues. Whether this is the right approach or not, that's one of the reasons.

How do you figure?

Oh in the US. Never mind.

 

[Pinkfloyd]

Or relocate fledgling teams from weak markets

There's no real team/market that this argument makes sense for. The Coyotes already moved to Utah. Nobody else is in a market where relocation is a reasonable option.

 

[ucanthanzalthetruth]

36 teams? It makes me sick

 

[LiveLongandProspal]

The NHL is the least popular and money-earning league of the Big 4 and yet they'll have the most teams. How does that make sense?

 

[Gnashville]

Poor Quebec. NHL really doesnt care to go back there.

They locked their expansion price in at $500 million and will expand there if they pay the expansion fee.

 

[Pinkfloyd]

The NHL is the least popular and money-earning league of the Big 4 and yet they'll have the most teams. How does that make sense?

Because they're a gate-driven league and more gates means more revenue opportunities. Not very difficult.

 

[LiveLongandProspal]

Because they're a gate-driven league and more gates means more revenue opportunities. Not very difficult.

Except many teams are selling tickets for low prices and quite a few teams can't sell out their home games. It's not like every ticket sold is at MSG where they charge an arm and a leg and still get sold out...

 

[Pinkfloyd]

Except many teams are selling tickets for low prices and quite a few teams can't sell out their home games. It's not like every ticket sold is at MSG where they charge an arm and a leg and still get sold out...

So? Selling out leaguewide at some arbitrary high price isn't the benchmark for doing expansion. The league doesn't and never has had to have such a thing to have expansion happen and work. Arizona was in shambles the entire time that Vegas and Seattle came into the league and their inclusion hasn't made anything worse for anyone. There are no teams that makes any sense to worry about resolving some issue with relocation currently. Even if there was, it doesn't have to be resolved for expansion to happen and be fine.

There aren't any good reasons against expansion. It's just people wanting to gatekeep coming up with stupid reasons.

 

[dj4aces]

I would rather see GTA or Hamilton over Atlanta. New York and LA easily support two teams. I think GTA could too.

GTA and Hamilton have barriers that Atlanta doesn't: The Leafs (and Sabres). That significant barrier would've been a whole lot easier to overcome in the 80s or 90s, but at that time, the league didn't want Hamilton either. Whether or not a GTA team would work is a question I can't answer.

32 is literally the perfect number of teams.

I'm old enough to remember reading people say the same about 21. Whether 21 was or 32 is or isn't is a matter of opinion, not fact. At this point, it sounds like the league disagrees with everyone making this argument.

Atlanta is a different story for me though. While I am aware that the Atlanta Spirit effectively did everything they could to get rid of the team, I don't recall the team being a success off the ice prior to the Spirit Group either.

No... the Thrashers were never really a success in its entire time here. If you're going to have a team in an area no one wants to go, the team has to be worth the price of admission. That lack of success and poor choice to put them downtown was already two strikes against them.

The NHL is the least popular and money-earning league of the Big 4 and yet they'll have the most teams. How does that make sense?

This particular argument is indicative of an entirely different problem: Marketing. Even today, the league depends on teams doing all the legwork when it comes to marketing its stars, while other leagues seem to have little problem marketing theirs.

 

[ohcomeonref]

So? Selling out leaguewide at some arbitrary high price isn't the benchmark for doing expansion. The league doesn't and never has had to have such a thing to have expansion happen and work. Arizona was in shambles the entire time that Vegas and Seattle came into the league and their inclusion hasn't made anything worse for anyone. There are no teams that makes any sense to worry about resolving some issue with relocation currently. Even if there was, it doesn't have to be resolved for expansion to happen and be fine.

There aren't any good reasons against expansion. It's just people wanting to gatekeep coming up with stupid reasons.

Diluting the talent pool is a good reason to not do it.

 

[Slats432]

The NHL is the least popular and money-earning league of the Big 4 and yet they'll have the most teams. How does that make sense?

Because it is the only league that has 7 Canadian teams. It has the fewest US teams.

 

[ItWasJustified]

Because it is the only league that has 7 Canadian teams. It has the fewest US teams.

Because hockey is by far the least popular sport in the US. In Canada it's the other way around.