Report: Toronto one of four cities to get NHL expansion team

[NorthernDancer]

This would make the GTA far and away the smallest metro area with multiple NHL teams.

http://www.si.com/nhl/2014/08/26/rep...-nhl-expansion

Apparently Las Vegas isn't the only city on the National Hockey League's expansion team radar: Seattle, Toronto and Quebec City will add franchises as well with a target date of 2017, according to a tweet from SportsBusinessNews' Howard Bloom.

Bloom said the four-fold expansion, which would increase the number of NHL teams to 34 and the number of Canadian team to nine, could raise $1.4 billion in expansion fees.

[Beedok]

Hamilton will be outraged. Can the new team at least be in Burlington?

[dc_denizen]

makes sense.

[Shawn]

I'd want a second option to follow if I had been subjected to two decades of Leafs futility, that's for sure

[llamaorama]

I always have to remind myself that Seattle does NOT have an NHL team. I think that's interesting. I would have thought the NW would be big into hockey?

Will the Quebec team revive the Nordiques name the way Winnepeg reclaimed the name Jets?

[Quixote]

Las Vegas Craps?

I think Hartford Whalers sounds better.

[seaskyfan]

Originally Posted by llamaorama

I always have to remind myself that Seattle does NOT have an NHL team. I think that's interesting. I would have thought the NW would be big into hockey?

Not so much. It doesn't get cold enough for lakes to freeze over typically and there aren't a lot of ice rinks. Soccer is huge here.

[Derek]

Oh?

http://www.thestar.com/sports/hockey...to_report.html



This started from a tweet guys, there is no official report stating that any of the aforementioned cities are being considered. All of this speculation is sensational click-bait at best.

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by Beedok

Hamilton will be outraged. Can the new team at least be in Burlington?

'Toronto' might just mean the Golden Horseshoe. It could very well mean a Hamilton team. I'd much rather see Hamilton get a team than see Toronto get a 2nd team. Hamilton is as big as Winnipeg and Quebec City and likely needs this team more than they do. It will help Hamilton fight that perception that they're just a bedroom community of Toronto. Hamilton has always been a big independent city just like Milwaukee or Baltimore.

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by NorthernDancer

This would make the GTA far and away the smallest metro area with multiple NHL teams.

http://www.si.com/nhl/2014/08/26/rep...-nhl-expansion

Chicagoland is 10 million. The GGH is 9 million. Looks to me like the GGH is due another franchise. This being Canada, it could likely support 2 more franchises. Put 1 in Hamilton and another in York Region.

[ssiguy]

I always found it odd that Cleveland never got a team but now that Columbus has one, I don't think they ever will.


Toronto could support another team financially but I think the city is just too tied to The Leafs. One may survive in LV but only due to tourist, a bit risky.

Quebec would do well and I think Seattle would as well, I think some of the suffering southern teams like Florida, Anaheim, and Phoenix should just call it quits. They were never really embraced by the cities anyhow. I think SLC would do well and it definitely has a real winter and is a winter sports mecca with skiing and playing host to the Winter Olympics. I also think Indianapolis, and Milwaikee, could make a go of it and possibly Kansas City.

I do not think the league needs more teams but rather a shifting of locations. Florida, Phoenix, and Anaheim could be moved to other locals and no one would even notice. The Islanders are also struggling.

Toronto could maybe support another team but I think other cities, especially Seattle and Quebec should be at the top of the list and I definitely do not agree with more total number of teams in the league. Bettmen has never cared about the sport and sees it as strictly another business like Starbucks or IBM. The quality of the game is irrelevant to him.

[Buckeye Native 001]

Cleveland had a team (the Barons, IIRC) for a few seasons back in the 1970s, but I don't believe another Ohio city would be able to support an NHL team. Columbus is barely able to support the Blue Jackets. I'm a fan, but I live on the opposite end of the country.

[isaidso]

Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati are roughly the same size. Columbus is the only one without a team in one of the pro leagues so it made sense that the NHL club went there. I suppose there's a case to be made for the Cavs sharing an arena with an NHL club.

Btw, if NHL can do well in Pittsburgh surely the same thing can be accomplished in Columbus. Pittsburgh isn't all that much bigger.

[ssiguy]

Actually Columbus and Nashville, two relatively newer teams, have very high attendance rates nearing capacity. It is because of the reason just mentioned above...........they don't have any other sports teams so the cities have embraced them 100%.

The problem with going to large cities that have every team sport known to man is that you are competing with other sports that already have a huge fan base and already get seasons tickets for those other sports and don't have the money or time to spend on another sporting event.

[Metro-One]

Seattle having a team would be fantastic, Vancouver would no longer be the most isolated franchise and we could have a true rival.

[mhays]

In the Seattle media...crickets. There's really not much coverage of hockey in the papers I read. Though I did see something about it being the NHL playoffs while channel surfing.

The public might kick in for a suitable arena if the timing is right, but I suspect an NBA team would need to be at the forefront, and even then our history suggests only the bravest politicians would back it if a sizeable subsidy was involved.

I'd vote yes for an arena because I'm fine with subsidizing teams, even for sports like hockey that I don't pay attention to, or like the NBA that I barely pay attention to but probably would more if we had a team again. But I don't buy the "economic benefit" arguments...those are written for clueless audiences, like the ones who think $50 for a ticket is somehow "new" money for the region.

[pizzaguy]

NHL doesn't need to expand. If anything it needs to contract.

[Doug]

Originally Posted by Quixote

Las Vegas Craps?

I think Hartford Whalers sounds better.

The team could play at a new arena on the Strip, anchoring a Canada themed casino. In addition to hockey, "Canada Las Vegas" would bring the honored tradition of the loonie toss to the Vegas strip club scene. The ideal location would be between Paris and the Venetian, owing to Canada's more Europen style of social justice and stylel. One uping the environmental excess of the Belagio foundations, Canada Las Vegas would offer a Strip front outdoor ice rink with perfect ice and outdoor air conditioning so that guests can skate in comfort wearing authentic Canadian winter clothing at mid day in July.

[dave8721]

Originally Posted by pizzaguy

NHL doesn't need to expand. If anything it needs to contract.

^^This. Relocate a couple of teams, contract one or two more and they'll be in better shape.

[Steely Dan]

the NHL absolutely does not need more expansion and talent dilution.

just move more of the unloved sun-belt franchises back to canada, where people actually give a shit about hockey, and the problem is solved.