NHL met with a group interested in expanding to New Orleans

[cvaicunas]

New Orleans is a horrible, terrible idea. Never let it be said that I'm a hack for the Svnbelt and just hate Canada and the Rust Belt. This would be dumber than Quebec, possibly even dumber than Hartford.

Living 20 minutes from Hartford, I can't imagine a worse option. Although to some previous points, Louisiana is a football state. At least in New England you might have Bruins and Rangers fans attending the home games.

 

[viper0220]

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.

You can say that about any US city.

 

[tarheelhockey]

You can say that about any US city.

It’s not the same. New Orleans is a wonderful city but the “rough” parts there are on par with the worst of a much larger city like Chicago or Miami.

 

[No Fun Shogun]

It’s not the same. New Orleans is a wonderful city but the “rough” parts there are on par with the worst of a much larger city like Chicago or Miami.

That may be the case, but like any city with crime problems big or small, it’s not like NHL players would be living in the unfortunately blighted areas. There are very rough parts of Chicago, Miami, LA, St. Louis, Detroit, and New Jersey, etc., but the core parts and affluent neighborhoods are perfectly fine and dandy to live and play in for millionaire athletes in their prime.

 

[Voight]

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.

Benson would have to sell a good chunk of her NFL team to get the equity. I dont think she has any interest in doing so, given her NFL team is the equivalent of an ATM.

& I dont think she'd be interested in selling her NBA team just to start a hockey team that may or may not work.

 

[Hansen]

We really getting the New Orleans Sudiques before the Nordiques return

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

For the love of God no more expansion. These 4 nations games show how much better the product is with concentrated talent.

 

[Jeune Poulet]

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.

The league is not watered down.

We've got 4th line forwards and 7th Ds today who will struggle to reach 100 games in this league but are better than a stay at home D like Doug Houda who was able to miraculously play over 500 games in this league for being a pylon on skate.

The worldwide pool of talent is growing faster than expansion teams.

 

[StreetHawk]

Benson would have to sell a good chunk of her NFL team to get the equity. I dont think she has any interest in doing so, given her NFL team is the equivalent of an ATM.

& I dont think she'd be interested in selling her NBA team just to start a hockey team that may or may not work.

NFL, if you take the Raiders, Mark Davis had like 47% ownership stake in the team, but his stake controls football operations, so when he sold like half of his interest to Brady and the 2 private equity firms, he's got to be down to under 25% interest in the team, but he still controls the football ops.

So, I'd assume the same can occur for Benson if she is interested in doing that. But, NFL is a money maker. NHL, in NO, going to need more work to keep it making money. Really, not a good use of money unless she needs to make the move to help fund an arena to keep the Pelicans in town.

NFL will make you money each year and increase in value.

 

[Colorado Avalanche]

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

I couldn't agree more. Stop this madness. Grow the game instead of adding "fake" new revenues by adding teams and watering the competition.

This will hurt the NHL long-term. NHL already has enough teams.

 

[Voight]

NFL, if you take the Raiders, Mark Davis had like 47% ownership stake in the team, but his stake controls football operations, so when he sold like half of his interest to Brady and the 2 private equity firms, he's got to be down to under 25% interest in the team, but he still controls the football ops.

So, I'd assume the same can occur for Benson if she is interested in doing that. But, NFL is a money maker. NHL, in NO, going to need more work to keep it making money. Really, not a good use of money unless she needs to make the move to help fund an arena to keep the Pelicans in town.

NFL will make you money each year and increase in value.

I suppose yea she could sell like 35-40% and get a good chunk of change but as far as I know she doesn't have any interest in hockey and if she was connected to this group, we'd know about it by now.

 

[Danarqhy]

Would New Orleans residents even watch Hockey? Not to be the one to point out the obvious, but New Orleans is a majority black city and that market has traditionally been a very tough one for the NHL to penetrate. This would probably bomb in hilarious (but expected) fashion, but I wouldn't be all too shocked to see uncle Gary attempt such a ridiculous undertaking.

 

[Maple Leaf]

New Orleans Fish

 

[BLNY]

You get a team! You get a team! You get a team!

 

[Prairie Habs]

The New Orleans Voodoo

New Orleans yeti. Would help establish a rivalry right away.

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

New Orleans Fish

NO Poboys

 

[tarheelhockey]

That may be the case, but like any city with crime problems big or small, it’s not like NHL players would be living in the unfortunately blighted areas. There are very rough parts of Chicago, Miami, LA, St. Louis, Detroit, and New Jersey, etc., but the core parts and affluent neighborhoods are perfectly fine and dandy to live and play in for millionaire athletes in their prime.

I agree, people make way too much out of the worst part of town. It’s irrelevant to the pro athlete lifestyles we’re talking about.

Part of the reason this is more of an issue for New Orleans is that the city in general is just smaller and poorer than other NHL cities. If you’re a pro athlete in Chicago, you’re in one of the most exclusive suburbs in the country, or living a bachelor’s dream life in some condo tower. If you’re in Miami, you’re in a mansion on South Beach, eating at a Michelin star restaurant before you hit the club. In New Orleans, the most expensive suburbs are of course very nice, but they’re not anywhere near Beverly Hills level nice. And the single-guy lifestyle is in the Quarter or the Garden District, which are full of bad news and get old fast if you live there. You could go to the casino, I guess? But really the city just isn’t that big and the offerings for a multimillionaire are going to run short after a few weeks in the offseason.

Of course there are some other cities that fit this description — Raleigh, Columbus — but they’re also very safe and quiet and clean and wealthy and modern-suburban. None of which New Orleans is. The kind of lifestyle that makes smallness seem nice, is on a lower level there. It’s like living in Baltimore if Baltimore was in an actual swamp instead of next to a metaphorical one with world class suburbs.

I don’t mean all that to be overly negative on the city. It has legitimately great food, some high end nightlife, and the winter weather beats the hell out of most places. It just doesn’t seem like a lifestyle destination for a bunch of guys from Manitoba and Sweden. It walks that fine line between loving a place with all your heart, and actively resenting having to live there.

 

[Oscar The Grouch]

Late stage capitalism. Cities that have absolutely no historical or cultural connection to a sport get a team while those who do, don't. $$$$

 

[Long Live Lyle]

New Orleans makes absolutely no sense. Metro NO has only about 1,000,000 people. It’s not even a top-50 metro area in the U.S. It also already has established NFL AND NBA teams. Those two things alone (relatively-small size combined with NFL and NBA teams) would make it a poor choice even if it was in the north. Then throw in that it’s in Louisiana too.

NO does a great job hosting major sporting events (Super Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Final Four). But what events would that be for the NHL? The draft, the ASG and an outdoor game? So you’re going to put a team there so it can host the draft once, host the ASG once and host an outdoor game once (and where? The Saints play indoors and there’s no MLB team)? NO is a fun tourist city, but not one that’s going to draw more people to it repeatedly the way a Vegas or Nashville does (and both those cities also have higher metro populations and fewer non-NHL pro teams).

There’s at least 10 American markets that would make more sense (probably more like 15, plus Hamilton / Quebec / Toronto 2 / Halifax). Honestly, even Birmingham would make more sense (larger metro, no pro teams at all in Alabama, semi-close to Nashville so could potentially blossom into a rivalry).

 

[MK9]

 

[NOLAPensFan]

Madness. 32 teams is already too many and nobody cares about hockey in Lousiana.

But Bettman and the Board of Governors have already shown that they will gladly destroy the quality of the game for that sweet expansion money, so it's not impossible.

Ahem.

My time has come

 

[Three On Zero]

36 teams with a play-in style format for the playoffs. Make it happen, Bettman

 

[hockeyguy0022]

What's funny is the NHL could probably put both a team in Markham/north toronto/top of the TTC and also in Hamilton and they would both be cash cows lol

Maybe once Gary is gone....

 

[Cas]

...all this means is some people who say they want an NHL team in New Orleans had a meeting of indeterminate length and specificity with some unnamed NHL officials.

My business occasionally has meetings with people who will never be customers, because the cost in time for some manager is worth not blowing off someone who might talk to other potential customers and prevent a sale someday.

People always get way too worked up over some expansion-related news that really represents a perfunctory and ultimately meaningless gesture.

 

[Devil Dancer]

Love New Orleans, lived down there for a few years. This is a terrible idea.

Hockey has done well in nontraditional markets where they're the only pro game in town, but the NFL and NBA are already there, plus college ball is huge.

And it's not like NOLA is an area lacking in entertainment options.