The National Hockey League appears to be planning further expansion.
With rumors of an expansion, including a return to Atlanta, the insider TSN and RDS contributor Pierre LeBrun stressed that the addition of new organizations to the NHL would be more a question of time.
“Yes, in my opinion it’s a question of ‘when’ rather than ‘if’. This is what Gary Bettman suggests when we listen to him and look at his physical behavior on Wednesday at the meeting of the Board of Governors in New York. It seems like he came so close to just saying it was going to happen, but he said, “No, we’re not ready yet.” But then he talked about recurring interest in conversations with the cities of Atlanta, Houston, Salt Lake and Quebec. ”
“He was also asked about the approximate value of the costs for the next expansion. Remember, Seattle paid $650 million. Bettman responded, “A lot,” and pointed to the recent values of some NHL organizations. Ottawa was sold for $950M, so do the math. Eventually, I exchanged messages with Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith, who said a few months ago that he wanted an NHL team. He reiterated that he was “super interested” in having an NHL team. The league has several options when it’s ready. ”
Before the NHL can consider expansion, however, the league will need to know the long-term future of the Arizona Coyotes. The Coyotes will play at Mullet Arena with a capacity of 5,000 people again this year, after their most recent proposal for a new arena in the same area was rejected in May.
“There’s no doubt that Coyotes owner Alex Meruelo feels like this is a definitive proposition as to whether he can resolve the arena situation in Arizona. Gary Bettman said Wednesday that he hoped to have more clarity on the matter in January or February, and that the league was still optimistic that Arizona could find a solution,” LeBrun said.
“But as other governors told me on Wednesday, there is no doubt that the NHL needs to clarify the Coyotes situation first, in the event that the team has to move to one of the cities mentioned above . Especially if the future city is Houston or Salt Lake City. ”
