NHL Expansion back on agenda?

[um]

GTA2/Hamilton, Virginia Beach keeps sniffing around, they could flip Nashville to the Eastern Conference, at an extreme stretch, Indianapolis or Cincinnati, there are a couple things they can do if needed. Or, tbh, just live with 35 until something makes sense.

GTA 2 with Bell being the owner would be something.

 

[uhlaw97]

Given that Fertitta owns the arena inside which any hypothetical Houston NHL franchise would play, it is a given that he will need to be at least the 51% owner of any such franchise.

Perhaps he can get a bunch of other local investors together and come up with a bid no other city or potential owner can match.

 

[voyageur]

Tampa though is an established brand of 30 years, with an established fan base (and Stanley Cup winning pedigree) so I would expect them to be valued more than an expansion team in Houston or Atlanta.

But yeah - maybe Fertitta is trying to hold them to something closer to $1.2 billion, and the NHL is trying to go higher.

If the value of an expansion franchise is a $1 billion, he would have bought the Coyotes before Ryan Smith did. NHL would have taken $1 billion for that team to play in a full arena in a market that fit its needs.


I think Fertitta's number is considerably lower than a $1 billion. I don't think he wanted to get in at $500 million when the NHL was sniffing at the market. Maybe now, but seems like he doesn't think an NHL franchise is worth all that much. And maybe the numbers being thrown out are inflated, based on 2 recent sales.