NHL Expansion back on agenda?

aqib

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Feb 13, 2012
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It would be karmically amusing if the same guy whose new arena cost San Diego their NFL team built an arena that gave San Diego an NHL team.
The Chargers were leaving anyway. If Kroenke hadn't gone to LA the Chargers would have built their stadium in Carson.
 

StreetHawk

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Sep 30, 2017
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The Chargers were leaving anyway. If Kroenke hadn't gone to LA the Chargers would have built their stadium in Carson.
But,. also never felt right that the Chargers and Raiders would share a stadium, being in the same division.
 

Sgt Schultz

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Jun 30, 2019
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Santa Fe, NM
But,. also never felt right that the Chargers and Raiders would share a stadium, being in the same division.
Yeah, that was always going to be an odd idea.

Truth is, given the Raiders business history and ownership "style," I'm not sure anybody should be sharing a stadium with them. Heck, even in Vegas there were problems with what they wanted to share the stadium with UNLV. I THINK they eventually came to their senses and UNLV got what they wanted, which was a pretty routine situation for stadium use.

But the Chargers were not staying in San Diego unless a new stadium suddenly appeared.
 
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Final Baton

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Nov 13, 2010
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Bettman saying in today's interview, that there has never been a proper bid submitted by a Québec City group (at 4:55, in english) :

 
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GordonGraham

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Sep 12, 2009
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Bettman saying in today's interview, that there has never been a proper bid submitted by a Québec City group (at 4:55, in english) :


That has to be a lie

 

Brodie

HACK THE BONE! HACK THE BONE!
Mar 19, 2009
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But,. also never felt right that the Chargers and Raiders would share a stadium, being in the same division.
there was a long-standing agreement in place to move the Rams to the AFC in this scenario, it had been agreed to at the last realignment in 2002
 

StreetHawk

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there was a long-standing agreement in place to move the Rams to the AFC in this scenario, it had been agreed to at the last realignment in 2002
So they’d swap the chargers to nfc west to replace the rams? KC and Den likely want the rivalry with Raiders more than chargers.
 

rojac

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The actual wording that Bettman used was something like "Nobody, who has been in a position to do what needs to be done, has come forward and presented a plan that says I'm prepared to do what is necessary to get a team here." To me this sounds like the application by Quebecor was deferred because Quebecor could not come up with the expansion fee, which has been speculated by several people n this board. The poster you replied to simply referred to this as a proper bid.
 

aqib

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Feb 13, 2012
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But,. also never felt right that the Chargers and Raiders would share a stadium, being in the same division.
The league probably would have moved one to the NFC (probably the Chargers). The Chargers were also willing to go it alone if the Raiders didn't get approval to join. Worst case they would have gone to some other city. There was no way they were going to stay in San Diego with the crappy stadium that was outdated in the 80s.
 

StreetHawk

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The league probably would have moved one to the NFC (probably the Chargers). The Chargers were also willing to go it alone if the Raiders didn't get approval to join. Worst case they would have gone to some other city. There was no way they were going to stay in San Diego with the crappy stadium that was outdated in the 80s.
A few years later, neither club has anything resembling a home field advantage. Both franchise values have increased, but LAC is a tenant and their home games, you see a lot of visiting teams fans. LV, it's a destination city so fans from other cities will make a weekend of it. Game ends before 5pm PST. So enough time to get to the airport and head home if located from westcoast to midwest.
 

aqib

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Feb 13, 2012
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The actual wording that Bettman used was something like "Nobody, who has been in a position to do what needs to be done, has come forward and presented a plan that says I'm prepared to do what is necessary to get a team here." To me this sounds like the application by Quebecor was deferred because Quebecor could not come up with the expansion fee, which has been speculated by several people n this board. The poster you replied to simply referred to this as a proper bid.

I mean at this point do you really trust Bettman to tell the truth? Like do you really think the idea of the Utah deal really just came to him a month before it closed?
 

StreetHawk

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Sep 30, 2017
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I mean at this point do you really trust Bettman to tell the truth? Like do you really think the idea of the Utah deal really just came to him a month before it closed?
Bettman is a lawyer, so he's very precise with his words. End of the day, NHL didn't want QC, were hoping that SEA would have submitted when LV did, but the arena deal wasn't ready yet, so instead of doing what the NHL did in the 90's for expansion, and just go ahead and award teams based on who applied, they opted to just go LV and wait on SEA.

Utah, NHL had that in their back pocket. I mean, no way the NHL repeats AZ with a non nhl caliber arena unless they have stronger assurances that there is either a new arena or a massive reno to the Delta Center. That is not happening within a month.
 

Max Milk

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Jun 2, 2023
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In a sane world, where teams don't cost an absolutely excessive amount of money, and fans can still afford to attend games, it should be:

  • Portland (long-standing junior program in the city)
  • Milwaukee (long-standing university program in the state)
  • Cleveland (lead the AHL in attendance)
  • Quebec City (wanting a team is basically their whole personality)

But, in the nightmare realm where we exist, it will be:
  • Atlanta Thrashers
  • Houston Aeros
  • Phoenix Coyotes
  • San Diego Seagulls

    They'll mostly have fans who don't really watch the games or understand the game all that well, with a small amount of die-hards who post here & on twitter. But that doesn't matter, the important thing here is that it'll make everyone who is already obscenely rich, just a bit more rich, so off we go. God bless this glorious league and its sponsors.
 
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Salsero1

Registered User
Nov 10, 2022
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In a sane world, where teams don't cost an absolutely excessive amount of money, and fans can still afford to attend games, it should be:

  • Portland (long-standing junior program in the city)
  • Milwaukee (long-standing university program in the state)
  • Cleveland (lead the AHL in attendance)
  • Quebec City (wanting a team is basically their whole personality)

But, in the nightmare realm where we exist, it will be:
  • Atlanta Thrashers
  • Houston Aeros
  • Phoenix Coyotes
  • San Diego Seagulls

    They'll mostly have fans who don't really watch the games or understand the game all that well, with a small amount of die-hards who post here & on twitter. But that doesn't matter, the important thing here is that it'll make everyone who is already obscenely rich, just a bit more rich, so off we go. God bless this glorious league and its sponsors.
Dude, hockey is not that complicated. Anyone can approach and appreciate it. Come to a game in Raleigh and see for yourself how we actually understand what icing is.

What kind of cushy reality do you hail from where sharing a sport is your nightmare?
 

Takuto Maruki

Ideal and the real
Dec 13, 2016
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Portland (long-standing junior program in the city)
How many times does it need to be said that whoever owns the Blazers, owns the key to whether or not the NHL will actually go to Portland? And until Paul Allen's widow decides to give up the Blazers in order to keep the Seahawks, or vice versa, there's no chance of that happening.

Milwaukee (long-standing university program in the state)
Means squat, especially considering that Milwaukee is well within Chicago's media market and they may not exactly like giving up that slice. And once more...who holds the cards in terms of arena management in Milwaukee? The Bucks? They haven't shown any interest, and made Fiserv specifically as a basketball venue.

Cleveland (lead the AHL in attendance)
Also means squat, in the end.

Quebec City (wanting a team is basically their whole personality)
Peladeau and Quebecor have been silent since VGK set the going rate for an expansion team, and when you're ostensibly trying to angle for a team with political reasoning, you're going to be left out in the cold, especially when all your bluster ends with a whimpering and empty pockets.

They'll mostly have fans who don't really watch the games or understand the game all that well, with a small amount of die-hards who post here & on twitter. But that doesn't matter, the important thing here is that it'll make everyone who is already obscenely rich, just a bit more rich, so off we go. God bless this glorious league and its sponsors.
Welcome to the world of business in sports, bud. This has been the case since the 1930's, at minimum. You could enjoy minor league or major junior hockey, but you run into the exact same business and politicking, except at much lower stakes.
 

dj4aces

An Intricate Piece of Infinity
Dec 17, 2007
6,514
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Duluth, GA
In a sane world, where teams don't cost an absolutely excessive amount of money, and fans can still afford to attend games, it should be:

  • Portland (long-standing junior program in the city)
  • Milwaukee (long-standing university program in the state)
  • Cleveland (lead the AHL in attendance)
  • Quebec City (wanting a team is basically their whole personality)

But, in the nightmare realm where we exist, it will be:
  • Atlanta Thrashers
  • Houston Aeros
  • Phoenix Coyotes
  • San Diego Seagulls
This is what is commonly referred to as a "business decision", by both the league's board of governors and prospective owners. If owners don't exist in those markets, nor do any outside the market want to own a team there? Well then, a franchise just won't happen there.

It also doesn't take a blind person to realize that the "sane world" locations are all north of the 40th parallel, while the "nightmare realm" exists south of that line. Fun fact: Hockey fans exist everywhere, and there are a lot of folks moving to places like Phoenix, Houston, and here to Atlanta from points north.

To be clear, there's a myriad of different reasons why the league would return here and Phoenix, and finally bring Houston into the fold, but the growth in these cities is just one reason why these cities are circled on the map.
 

Max Milk

Registered User
Jun 2, 2023
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Dude, hockey is not that complicated. Anyone can approach and appreciate it. Come to a game in Raleigh and see for yourself how we actually understand what icing is.

What kind of cushy reality do you hail from where sharing a sport is your nightmare?
The nightmare realm is the pace where it costs 1 or 2 billion dollars to acquire a franchise. Where a beer costs $20+ and playoff seats cost a month's rent. Yeah that's a complete perversion of what was once an affordable night out for common folk.

The people of the southern United States have gotten plenty of NHL teams since the early 90's. Will you guys stop acting like dang martyrs all the time?

  • Tampa Bay
  • Miami/Ft Lauderdale
  • Anaheim
  • Dallas
  • Phoenix
  • Raleigh
  • Atlanta
  • Nashville
  • Vegas
  • San Jose (debatable on whether that's a sunbelt market)

    And it's mostly worked fine, but I think this race to the moon that the NHL is engaging in hurts not only the fans, but the development of the game by ignoring the places where most NHLers tend to hail from (which buddy, is overwhelmingly still not the sunbelt)
 

Takuto Maruki

Ideal and the real
Dec 13, 2016
397
279
Brandon, Manitoba
And it's mostly worked fine, but I think this race to the moon that the NHL is engaging in hurts not only the fans, but the development of the game by ignoring the places where most NHLers tend to hail from (which buddy, is overwhelmingly still not the sunbelt)
It's almost like, and this may be a shocking concept, the Sun Belt is where the vast majority of the migration since WWII in the US, and largest booms in growth even since the 80's, have been. And the NHL is simply following those trends.
 
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Max Milk

Registered User
Jun 2, 2023
33
27
I understand the reasoning behind the NHL's business decisions, and I expect nothing less of them, but I certainly don't have to like them or the insane cash grabs & gimmicks that the NHL constantly engages in.

It's the smart business decision for them, of course, but if you can't see that it's costing the fans more and more each year, then I don't know what to tell ya. The people on this forum seem so very interested in growing the NHL's bottom line. I don't. The NHL's Board of Governors aren't my friends.
 

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