Potential Atlanta NHL Expansion Team Thread

[tucker3434]

Salt Lake City is waiting for Arizona to fail. They already have the arena and they fit the Western team footprint. They would be the closest team to Denver.

Yeah, I heard that. And if SLC really is in the driver’s seat, I don’t know if QC will ever happen. it’s only going to get tougher for them from here.

 

[TheLegend]

Salt Lake City will be waiting…

….. and waiting….

….. and waiting…..

 

[Eco]

Have heard this all around the place, and I'm excited as it's just down the street from me.

BUT, Atlanta has had two teams leave for Canada, so I fully expect this one to pack up and move to Quebec in 10 years time.

Kidding, but maybe not.

 

[BKIslandersFan]

Salt Lake City is waiting for Arizona to fail. They already have the arena and they fit the Western team footprint. They would be the closest team to Denver.

No actually, they do not have an arena. Please see hockey configration for Delta Center and get back to me.

 

[ponder719]

No actually, they do not have an arena. Please see hockey configration for Delta Center and get back to me.

What they appear to have is an owner who is willing to eat losses in their current arena until such time as a new one is built.

 

[mikelvl]

It seems that Kevin Weekes has inside scoops on expansion. If he's tweeting about San Diego, then at the very least, the league is interested if they build an arena. That would be team 35 though.

 

[TheLegend]

Parties pontificating on bringing an NHL to their city <> Cities getting one.

 

[dj4aces]

It seems that Kevin Weekes has inside scoops on expansion. If he's tweeting about San Diego, then at the very least, the league is interested if they build an arena. That would be team 35 though.

Well, we have 32 right now. Two more will unbalance divisions, which means balance will come with adding another two. So, San Diego is a possibility. Whether it's more than just spitballing is another matter entirely.

While Weekes is definitely talking a lot about expansion as of late, the league did publicly state they're not in expansion mode. We know the league has a propensity to say one thing and do something completely different though, so time will tell.

 

[Headshot77]

Salt Lake City is waiting for Arizona to fail. They already have the arena and they fit the Western team footprint. They would be the closest team to Denver.

I get the impression that SLCs potential owner would pay for the billion dollar expansion fee.

It would be nice if QC could get the Yotes as a relocation at a manageable price, then the NHL expands to 34 in two Western markets (take your pick). Then teams 35 and 36 can be Atlanta 3.0 and Arizona 2.0.

 

[KevFu]

I don't believe San Diego is in the running. I think it's Salt Lake City. I could be wrong, though.

Who cares?

I know we're all competitive people, so we want to act like our market is better than everyone else (Maybe it's because I'm a New York fan in an AHL market that I'm so pragmatic, but....)

More is better.

All you anti-expansion cucks can come at me on this, but more is better. If we have to go to 40 to get Quebec back in, more is better. There isn't really a downside. "Oh, the talent pool, quality will drop off." From 32 NHL markets and 8 AHL markets to those 40 markets having NHL? No one can tell if the 3rd line winger 10 years ago would be on the 4th line back then...

... The ONLY thing you care about is where you finish relative to the rest of the league. The 2022 Tampa Bay Lightning fans give ZERO EFFS if they'd lose 7-1 to the 1992 Pittsburgh Penguins. Penguins fans can think that while Tampa fans shirtless chug booze giving broken English interviews.

If your team wins in a watered down 40-team league, you gonna say your name shouldn't be engraved on the Cup? Helllllllll nah.

 

[cowboy82nd]

Who cares?

I know we're all competitive people, so we want to act like our market is better than everyone else (Maybe it's because I'm a New York fan in an AHL market that I'm so pragmatic, but....)

More is better.

All you anti-expansion cucks can come at me on this, but more is better. If we have to go to 40 to get Quebec back in, more is better. There isn't really a downside. "Oh, the talent pool, quality will drop off." From 32 NHL markets and 8 AHL markets to those 40 markets having NHL? No one can tell if the 3rd line winger 10 years ago would be on the 4th line back then...

... The ONLY thing you care about is where you finish relative to the rest of the league. The 2022 Tampa Bay Lightning fans give ZERO EFFS if they'd lose 7-1 to the 1992 Pittsburgh Penguins. Penguins fans can think that while Tampa fans shirtless chug booze giving broken English interviews.

If your team wins in a watered down 40-team league, you gonna say your name shouldn't be engraved on the Cup? Helllllllll nah.

I agree with you that more is better. But you quoted my post when I said that I don't think San Diego is a possibility for a expansion team (for now). I'm not against expansion, jut didn't think San Diego was in the running.

 

[GreenHornet]

UPDATE:

 

[dj4aces]

I agree with you that more is better. But you quoted my post when I said that I don't think San Diego is a possibility for a expansion team (for now). I'm not against expansion, jut didn't think San Diego was in the running.

There are hopes that the new building being constructed there will attract a team. Whether the league is interested, and if so, whether anyone there has a cool $1bn-$2bn to drop on a team, is certainly the other side of the coin to be sure.

I understood what you meant with your post, because it's really a big question mark with San Diego specifically, and generally any market without a team that's also constructing a new building with the goal of attracting the league's attention. With how close to the vest the league typically holds their cards, its difficult to know what they're really thinking, even if they're playing preseason games in a market.

 

[nhlfan79]

I'm assuming this is Weekes just catching word about last week's news about the ARC's approval. I don't read this to be anything we don't already know, but him amplifying it is nice, so we got that going for us.

 

[TheLegend]

I'm assuming this is Weekes just catching word about last week's news about the ARC's approval. I don't read this to be anything we don't already know, but him amplifying it is nice, so we got that going for us.

He followed that one with a quote reply tweet to the “NHL to Houston” account listing 5-6 other cities which have interest in an NHL franchise.

Quebec City
San Diego
Portland
Houston
Toronto 2
Salt Lake City

…were all on his list.

 

[AintLifeGrand]

ATL's got the most Rizz of any of those cities, with a HM to my adopted home of SLC

 

[dj4aces]

He followed that one with a quote reply tweet to the “NHL to Houston” account listing 5-6 other cities which have interest in an NHL franchise.

You mean this one, aye?



At the end of the day, I think it all boils down to money. Namely, do the prospective owners have what it'll take to buy in to the rich franchise owners club?

In The Athletic yesterday, Bettman had been asked by LeBrun after the BoG meeting how much an expansion fee would cost. Bettman responded with "A lot", and continued by saying he feels teams in the league are undervalued. I think this lends some credibility to the idea that expansion fees could reach $2bn.

Bettman again stressed that the league isn't in "expansion mode", but that people from several markets (ATL, HOU, QC and SLC mentioned specifically) have expressed interest. He said, quote, “If something were to progress along where you say, ‘Well, this could be ready to go,’ then I’ll bring it to the owners and we’ll discuss it. But we’re not in a mode where I’m saying, ‘OK, if you’re interested in expansion, submit your applications and we’ll evaluate them,’ like we’ve done previously. We’re not there."

I'm willing to bet once The Gathering is approved by Forsyth County and crews begin construction, we'll start to see some forward momentum on the idea of expansion.

 

[AtlantaWhaler]

You mean this one, aye?



At the end of the day, I think it all boils down to money. Namely, do the prospective owners have what it'll take to buy in to the rich franchise owners club?

In The Athletic yesterday, Bettman had been asked by LeBrun after the BoG meeting how much an expansion fee would cost. Bettman responded with "A lot", and continued by saying he feels teams in the league are undervalued. I think this lends some credibility to the idea that expansion fees could reach $2bn.

Bettman again stressed that the league isn't in "expansion mode", but that people from several markets (ATL, HOU, QC and SLC mentioned specifically) have expressed interest. He said, quote, “If something were to progress along where you say, ‘Well, this could be ready to go,’ then I’ll bring it to the owners and we’ll discuss it. But we’re not in a mode where I’m saying, ‘OK, if you’re interested in expansion, submit your applications and we’ll evaluate them,’ like we’ve done previously. We’re not there."

I'm willing to bet once The Gathering is approved by Forsyth County and crews begin construction, we'll start to see some forward momentum on the idea of expansion.

I still want to see who the $$ is before I get excited. I don't want a group of retired sports stars, or a car dealership guy or even a "Balcan" or whatever. If Atlanta has a shot at getting a team it'll need to be an organized, rich entity.

My guess (hope) is that Liberty Media is quietly in on this. They already own the Braves and Formula One and have expressed interest in adding to their sports portfolio. They were rumored to be asking about the WWE before that was sold elsewhere. This development is obviously similar to the Battery which is printing money right now.

 

[BKIslandersFan]

I still want to see who the $$ is before I get excited. I don't want a group of retired sports stars, or a car dealership guy or even a "Balcan" or whatever. If Atlanta has a shot at getting a team it'll need to be an organized, rich entity.

My guess (hope) is that Liberty Media is quietly in on this. They already own the Braves and Formula One and have expressed interest in adding to their sports portfolio. They were rumored to be asking about the WWE before that was sold elsewhere. This development is obviously similar to the Battery which is printing money right now.

And build an arena next to Braves stadium. I hate where the current proposed site for the new arena is. And it makes sense because NHL season is during MLB offseason. It might not draw near the number Braves draw in terms of crowd but it’s still getting people to the area to shop and eat.

 

[AtlantaWhaler]

And build an arena next to Braves stadium. I hate where the current proposed site for the new arena is. And it makes sense because NHL season is during MLB offseason. It might not draw near the number Braves draw in terms of crowd but it’s still getting people to the area to shop and eat.

THAT...would be awesome, but no chance that happens.

 

[dj4aces]

I still want to see who the $$ is before I get excited. I don't want a group of retired sports stars, or a car dealership guy or even a "Balcan" or whatever. If Atlanta has a shot at getting a team it'll need to be an organized, rich entity.

My guess (hope) is that Liberty Media is quietly in on this. They already own the Braves and Formula One and have expressed interest in adding to their sports portfolio. They were rumored to be asking about the WWE before that was sold elsewhere. This development is obviously similar to the Battery which is printing money right now.

Honestly, the only excitement I have in all this (so far) is that my ten year shot-in-the-dark prediction may not miss the mark by too much! In all seriousness, It's really cool to see a development being proposed 10-15 minutes away, but until we start to see fire associated with all this smoke, there's no reason for anyone to be excited just yet.

I too share your idea that Liberty Media may be the ones involved. To me, it makes perfect sense. Having sports ownership already under their belt, they also know the importance of marketing and branding. I've long felt one of the failings of the Thrashers was not embracing the identity of the region, Not to mention, Liberty can afford a $1bn or higher expansion fee. Like you though, I also don't want some "Balkan" type dude (insert Kincade's tweeted image of a shoe here), or any other sort of snake oil salespeople type nonsense like another Atlanta Spirit. However, it does seem like they've learned from their Atlanta Spirit debacle, because they seem to be doing a far better job of vetting owners these days.

 

[BKIslandersFan]

THAT...would be awesome, but no chance that happens.

If LM is involved then that’s what should happen. I don’t think LM a will be so I agree with you.

 

[AtlantaWhaler]

If LM is involved then that’s what should happen. I don’t think LM a will be so I agree with you.

I'm pretty sure it's not physically possible without demolishing any existing buildings. Now that Truist is building a major office there, there's not enough room for an arena and additional parking (needed for later spring into early fall summer).

 

[BKIslandersFan]

I'm pretty sure it's not physically possible without demolishing any existing buildings. Now that Truist is building a major office there, there's not enough room for an arena and additional parking (needed for later spring into early fall summer).

I dunno man I see plenty of land around the developed area.

 

[nhlfan79]

I too share your idea that Liberty Media may be the ones involved. To me, it makes perfect sense. Having sports ownership already under their belt, they also know the importance of marketing and branding.

I'm not sure I fully buy that. I have no inside information, of course, but that idea seems like they would be cannibalizing their own uber-successful development at The Battery if they were to get behind another similar development, also in the northern suburbs. The Battery is intended to be (and pretty much is) a year-round destination, even outside of baseball season.