OHL expansion

[three dog night]

Dies the league expanded any further or do we go the other way and drop some franchises.

 

[HockeyPops]

I suspect they try to stick with 20. Chatham getting a new rink makes things interesting, but by the time it's ready you might find a team struggling enough to be ready to sell/relocate.

 

[NOA]

Dies the league expanded any further or do we go the other way and drop some franchises.

The parity in the league with 20 teams is already poor and the revenue that a majority of teams generate is barely sustainable. The idea of more teams to me just means watering down the competition and less share of the money revenue for the current teams. I’m not sure in what world that’s an approach the OHL would take. The attendance and interest has only lessened over recent years so investing in more teams now seems unwise. Now all that said, the OHL is unwise so any move is always on the table with them.

 

[AttackSound]

Dies the league expanded any further or do we go the other way and drop some franchises.

This topic has been spun for the past few seasons.

It's time to put it to bed, the OHL has no plans to expand the league. There's 20 governors in the OHL and if they wanted to expand they would obviously they don't want to or nor has a location in mind to expand to.

Where do you have in mind on location? no city that doesn't have an OHL team already has any real interest in the OHL beyond Cornwall, and that's been a debating point for 2 decades and is more just hot air talk them actual planning.

To answer your second point not only will the OHL likely not drop any teams is simply because the OHL is run by a BOG, and they would have to vote on it and no team is willing to leave that has been around and we'll established in the OHL. The OHL has a yearly meeting after the season is over and that is the time for the BOG to talk about that stuff. If the OHL does anything it will be have team renovate buildings.

There's really only 1 team that that could move if at all and really only 1 location for then to move to and that would be Mississauaga. This is simply due to the struggles that the Steelheads have trying to attract fans from the GTA then anything else, if they do leave the GTA they will end up in Cornwall.

But I can't see that happening any time soon.

 

[Devin]

IMO I don’t see how Newmarket wouldn’t be able to support a team in 2022.

Buffalo
Cleveland

…Milton? Move it a little further west from missisuaga

 

[sbpointer]

No to relocation in the GTA period. It does not work!
Is Chatham worth a discussion with a new downtown arena? Maybe but its a pretty small market close to Windsor and London so I don't know..
Brantford... Pretty crowded geography of teams there and needs minimum a substantial renovation to the arena. If moving Missisauga to Cornwall works almost as good as Brampton to North Bay then that would probably be what's best for the franchise and the league.

 

[Kingpin794]

I’d love to have team out in West Michigan but every city has some team already. GR has the Griffins. Muskegon has the USHL, and Kalamazoo has Western (NCAA). Only city large enough to have a team would be something like Battle Creek.

 

[OHLTG]

This is the topic that never ends. Yes, it goes on and on my friends. Someone, brings it up, roughly every other year... and they'll continue talking about it just because this is the topic that never ends. Yes, it goes on and on my friends...

Cornwall, Chatham, Brantford, Timmins, Thunder Bay, White River, Glencoe, Kenora, Paquette Corners... it's not happening anytime soon.

 

[Uncle]

This is the topic that never ends. Yes, it goes on and on my friends. Someone, brings it up, roughly every other year... and they'll continue talking about it just because this is the topic that never ends. Yes, it goes on and on my friends...

Cornwall, Chatham, Brantford, Timmins, Thunder Bay, White River, Glencoe, Kenora, Paquette Corners... it's not happening anytime soon.

was this ever a thing? I laughed

 

[OMG67]

The only reason for expansion would be strategic like a team in NY State. Even then I would suggest it would more likely be a move rather than a new team added.

 

[OHLTG]

was this ever a thing? I laughed

If White River was ever considered, I'D buy season tickets. (I have an attachment to the town)

 

[AttackSound]

I'm sure if we the posters have discussed this topic to a point where we could play the what if game with each other for eternity, then I would imagine that everyone connected to the OHL isn't having the same discussion every year.

To re-spin what I posted earlier in this thread.

The OHL has no plans to relocate or expand the league at this time, if that was the case doesn't everyone connected to the teams in the league think they they haven't discussed this to conclude that 1. The league isn't interested in expansion. And 2 the OHL certainly doesn't feel relocation of any teams is necessarily needed either if so wouldn't it have happened again by now.

After 2 years of no hockey in the league and limited financial assistance an gains that's past season. If teams were on the edge of relocation I think it would've happened before last season.

This has become the debate like the chicken or the egg, what comes first?? Well who really knows? All we can determine is they exist in society.

At the end of the day what is will continue to be and what could be will never really know. To summarize this up the OHL is where it will continue to be for the remainder of time what we see today. And until or unless the governors decide that they either need to shake things up. I'm sure that ownerships are content to remain exactly how they are.