NHL met with a group interested in expanding to New Orleans

[Voight]

The arena is old. Is this the same group that owns the Pelicans? NO can't have 2 arenas for the 2 clubs. Unless the 2 clubs are looking at a Dallas Stars/Mavs arrangement, not seeing that it works.

Plus, market size....

Gayle Benson owns both teams but given her age I doubt she's the one looking to bring in a hockey team.

Her net worth is pretty much entirely tied up in both teams, specifically the Saints. So she's unlikely to have an extra billion or so laying around.

 

[New Jersey Devil]

can we do relocation instead of expansion if it comes to it.

No.

 

[KrugAvoy]

NHL no, AHL team sure, I'll bite

 

[Bjorn Le]

The NHL will listen to any ownership group for any city if they are willing to pony up the exorbitant expansion fee the NHL requires. Quebec would get a convo too if they were willing (they definitely are not). This New Orleans group won’t be either when they find out the price tag.

There is a lot of money now in Southern Louisiana with the oil & gas/biofuel sector and other booming industries, but the population/TV audience isn’t affluent enough to make New Orleans a likely success story. Vegas is a larger metro and the NHL was the first big name brand in town, that built a lot of loyalty. You won’t have that in New Orleans. Other southern success stories like Dallas and Tampa are much larger, more affluent metro areas that won the Cup relatively early into their existence. With that in mind, I can’t see any investor group willing to put up a multi billion dollar expansion fee.

 

[covfefe]

Gayle Benson owns both teams but given her age I doubt she's the one looking to bring in a hockey team.

Her net worth is pretty much entirely tied up in both teams, specifically the Saints. So she's unlikely to have an extra billion or so laying around.

It's private credit guys bringing their pals into the fold. Look at the Tampa transaction for more clues.

 

[CHRDANHUTCH]

NHL no, AHL team sure, I'll bite

AHL/ECHL BYLAW requires an NHL Affiliate ...... besides the Brass has been tried in NO....

 

[FriendlyGhost92]

People gotta understand, some locations are serious contenders, and some locations are just there to wine and dine to drive up the price for the serious contenders.

There's girls the NHL wants to f***, and there's girls they flirt with to make the girl they wanna f*** jealous.

 

[waitin425]

The New Orleans Voodoo

With their mascot......

 

[Crow]

For every Vegas there's a Minnesota, Seattle, Columbus, Nashville...

Maybe pump the brakes a bit Gary.

What’s wrong with those franchises? They seem very healthy

 

[bov]

I don't know why but I kind of like the concept of an NHL team in New Orleans.

 

[Your Boy Troy]

It's a city that has great history and food. That being said, it's got some rough areas. I wouldn't bring a family there.

 

[Bear of Bad News]

For every Vegas there's a Minnesota, Seattle, Columbus, Nashville...

Maybe pump the brakes a bit Gary.

What do you find offensive about Seattle?

I mean, all of the teams you mentioned are doing just fine, but Seattle is a goddamn delight.

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

Horrendous idea. Bad market

It's a city that has great history and food. That being said, it's got some rough areas. I wouldn't bring a family there.

The NHL is in Newark and they don’t even have the history or food! lol

 

[robertmac43]

NHL is crazy. 32 teams is more than enough. Even 30 was more than enough. Just crazy.

They will keep going until they get to 36 and then who knows....

Too much money for them to not.

 

[FlyguyOX]

That would be SOO freaking awesome.

But man would the humidity be trouble for the ice conditions. But Florida deals with it fine so not a problem.

New Orleans has one snowstorm in 130+ years and everyone loses their minds, apparently?

Love the city, but I can't imagine it would have the fanbase required.

This argument always gets me.

You think they have the infrastructure to deal with that?

It's like when Toronto schools shut down because it hit 32C. Down here in the south we were in complete disbelief at the talk of things like "Heat stroke" and were laughing hard about it.

Nashville has been a tremendously successful organization what are you talking about

Agree I have no idea what point was being made in that post.

 

[kerrabria]

But Florida deals with it fine so not a problem.

Not really. The Panthers and Lightning are repeatedly cited in player polls as having some of the worst ice in league. Each of the past five years there have been issues with the ice during the playoff runs.

 

[FlyguyOX]

BTW you wouldn't meet a more raucous crowd in the league than one for a potential New Orleans team.

Not really. The Panthers and Lightning are repeatedly cited in player polls as having some of the worst ice in league. Each of the past five years there have been issues with the ice during the playoff runs.

And yet players want to play there and not extremely cold places where the ice is better.

 

[Scandale du Jour]

If we are not getting les Nordiques de Québec, might as well get Les Sudistes de la Nouvelle-Orléans.

 

[Tawnos]

People: this isn't happening. I said this on BoH, but he NHL will listen to anyone expressing interest. It doesn't mean that the interest is seriously reciprocated.

They also listened to the interest from Omaha, remember? Omaha actually has a slightly bigger metro population than New Orleans at this point but it's still too small. Keep in mind, we're talking about places with similar populations to Greenville, SC or Knoxville, TN.

 

[kerrabria]

And yet players want to play there and not extremely cold places where the ice is better.

I'm not denying that, just correcting that the ice is definitely an issue.
New Orleans would have it even worse because they have even worse humidity and an older arena. And New Orleans a complete shithole--one of the worst cities in the US. Nobody will want to play there.

 

[MrHeiskanen]

NHL is crazy. 32 teams is more than enough. Even 30 was more than enough. Just crazy.

The league is so watered down, comparing 4 Nations hockey to a regular season game is night and day. I don't want to watch 4th line scrubs.

 

[saintunspecified]

"What's that out on the ice PJ? It's kind of big, and moving fast"

"My friend here calls them palmetto bugs. But back in juniors they called them giant flying cockroaches."

 

[No Fun Shogun]

Quebecois fans: We demand a team to represent French North America!
Bettman: Gotcha, New Orleans it is.
Quebecois fans: We admittedly should've been more specific.

I have doubts, but nothing wrong with meeting with potentially interested parties. And I'm all about another CTZ team.

Louisana admittedly does have a fun track record of minor league hockey, albeit we're a bit removed from that and that's like comparing an apple to an orchard, admittedly.

 

[Perfect_Drug]

Gayle Benson owns both teams but given her age I doubt she's the one looking to bring in a hockey team.

Her net worth is pretty much entirely tied up in both teams, specifically the Saints. So she's unlikely to have an extra billion or so laying around.

Yeah dude,

Nobody on the planet has a billion or so laying around.
Every billionaire has equity in shit, just like Gayle Benson.

The richest man in the world just owns a massive amount of Tesla SpaceX and Twitter.
Bezos just owns a bunch of Amazon stock.
Bill Gates just owns a bunch of Microsoft stock.

What any of them can do is what Gayle Benson can do:
Use their equity to buy an NHL team.

 

[AlainVigneaultsGum]

I don’t think Carolina wants to share it’s team name

Came in to make this joke lmfao. Well done.