The NHL has discovered its new favorite way of making money; expansion fees. Vegas and Seattle each brought the league massive expansion fees and new teams are only going to bring in even higher sums.
NHL Insider Confirms The League Wants To Keep Expanding
Pierre Lebrun indicated in a recent interview that the league is still interested in expanding after the successful additions of the Golden Knights and the Kraken.
"You certainly got that sense from listening to Gary Bettman and looking at the body language of the NHL commissioner Wednesday at the Board of Governors meeting in New York. It felt like he came so close to just saying it's going to happen, but he said, No, we aren't ready yet,"
- Pierre LeBrunLebrun expanded on this by telling us what cities are most likely to receive a new team. The four cities he mentioned are Atlanta, Houston, Salt Lake City and Quebec City. Quebec City has long been a dream destination for NHL fans, but always one that seemed a bit unlikely for many reasons including the fact that Quebec City would be one of the smallest markets in the league and it is a Canadian market so revenue would likely be lower than an equivalent U.S. based market. We may have to wait for awhile until we see a new expansion team though as one factor is holding things up.
NHL Wants Clarity With Coyotes Before Expanding
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After Lebrun discussed which cities are most likely to get a team, he pointed out that the league wants to know where the Coyotes are going to be before expanding.
"As other governors told me Wednesday at the meeting, there's no question you have to figure out Arizona first in case you have to move them to one of those cities that we just talked about, Especially whether that's Houston or Salt Lake City."
-Pierre LebrunIt is no secret that the Coyotes are in a precarious situation when it comes to staying in Arizona. With no permanent solution seemingly on the horizon, it is quite possible that they will be relocated to one of the very cities the NHL wants to expand to. Obviously, if this were the case, they would have to relocate the Coyotes before expanding so it makes sense that this is the approach the league wants to take.
| POLL | ||
7 OCTOBRE | 177 ANSWERS Major: NHL Considering Expanding Into Quebec City Where should the NHL expand to next? | ||
| Houston | 10 | 5.6 % |
| Salt Lake City | 12 | 6.8 % |
| Quebec City | 133 | 75.1 % |
| Somewhere else | 22 | 12.4 % |
| LIST OF POLLS | ||
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