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Expansion Wasn’t Even Discussed
by Paul on 09/17/08 at 08:13 AM ET
Comments (10)
from Tim Wharnsby of the Globe and Mail,
...despite the apparent fascination, expansion was not a topic on the agenda at the NHL board of governors meeting in Toronto yesterday.
“We like our 30 teams now and we don’t feel this an appropriate time to do it,” commissioner Gary Bettman said. “What the future may hold, I’m not prepared to predict, but it’s not on the agenda.”
When an appropriate time for expansion arrives, Bettman was asked, would the NHL first investigate Europe or North America.
“I know there has been a lot of speculation about going to Europe,” he said. “The fact is anything is possible. We don’t have plans yet or maybe never to put franchises on the continent. We think endeavours in Europe are important because 30 per cent of our players come from Europe, but our first priority is here in North America.”
more from the BOG meeting yesterday
Filed in: NHL Talk, NHL Business of Hockey | KK Hockey | Permalink
Comments
Did you read the article? He said they have no plans for Europe with the economy what it is and their focus is on North America. But of course that gets in the way of what you want to see. As for crappy markets, I wouldn’t get so cocky, wasn’t long ago Pittsburgh was a crappy market team about to move to Hamilton. Bettman saved the franchise as he did in Edmonton, Ottawa, Buffalo and now is trying in to do in Nashville. I guess we could say they all were crappy markets and let them move.
Posted by Tero from Tacoma on 09/17/08 at 09:07 AM ET
The question is do we believe Gary Bettman? The talk going into the meeting was that expansion was one of the big topics on the table. We have a new stadium to be built in Las Vegas. Even if the end result of discussions are no expansion right now, it would re irresponsible for them to not discuss the topic.
Posted by Greg Ballentine on 09/17/08 at 09:17 AM ET
Pierre LeBrun at ESPN,
Without any prompting, Bettman himself brought up Vegas.
“There were some articles indicating that there’s no building deal yet in Vegas,” Bettman said. “We’ve had expressions of interest from lots of places, both north and south of the 49 parallel, and at some point we may deal with them. But not right now.”
The NHL will be Vegas one day. You can bet on it.
Posted by Paul from Motown Area on 09/17/08 at 09:32 AM ET
They’re crazy to be expanding or relocating a team to Las Vegas. If the Jets’ relocation to Phoenix proved anything, fans will not follow the team to their new digs. The Coyotes have a hard time drawing in their fans now despite having Gretzky as their head coach.
I was at the All-Rookies matchup between the Ducks and the Sharks last night at the Orleans Arena and we didn’t even sell half the arena (7,778 total seats) whereas the prospects camp in Traverse City is regularly full.
I wish this talk of expansion/relocation to Las Vegas would just DIE.
Posted by SYF from Las Vegas, NV on 09/17/08 at 09:40 AM ET
The rookie tournaments have draws that vary depending on many variables. I covered the Sens’ three games in the Rookie Tournament in Kitchener. The arena accommodates 6,268 seated people. Half of the arena was off limits, and you would find (I believe) players’ families there in scant numbers, and the team’s coaching and management staff at times as well. For the Pittsburgh game at 2pm on a Monday, there were maybe a couple hundred people, whereas Sunday at 7pm against the Leafs you would find probably a couple thousand, not fully filling the available half, and on Saturday against the Panthers at 2pm it was probably several hundred.
Kitchener-Waterloo has 300,000 people, and the Kitchener Rangers, so it shouldn’t have had trouble drawing fans.
Posted by SENShobo from Waterloo, ON on 09/17/08 at 09:51 AM ET
What worries me here is that Vegas and Kansas City are both on the table and soon both will have lush new arenas ready and waiting for a team. KC already does, as we know. This is what worries me with the talk of the worries over Canada’s dollar value. Obviously a lot of the league’s financial success comes from how well the Loonie compares to the dollar and if the Loonie falls off again against the dollar, this will resonate league-wide and exacerbate the problems with Nashville, Florida, Atlanta and even Phoenix (even though they’re not going anywhere).
Seems to me that Vegas and KC are being dangled out there as easy out clauses that would benefit those looking to get out or just find a nice change of scenery. If problems with the dollar continue to rise, those folks in KC and Vegas could have people fighting over who gets to move there.
Posted by HockeyJoe from NY on 09/17/08 at 10:00 AM ET
If it means anything, AEG owns the new KC arena and the proposed arena in Las Vegas will have AEG as a partner.
Wait...they’re also the owners of the Kings’ Staples Center.
Posted by SYF from Las Vegas, NV on 09/17/08 at 10:36 AM ET
AEG has their hands in a lot of arenas and they’re also in on the potential Vegas arena as well. Yes, they also own Staples Center, but then again, the team Philip Anschutz (he’s the A in AEG) owns plays there too.
Posted by HockeyJoe from NY on 09/17/08 at 10:47 AM ET
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So he likes the 30 teams we have… But they want to expand to Europe…
So when teams in crappy places finally breathe their last breath, instead of moving them to places in the US and Canada that would support an NHL team, they are going to move them to europe?
Posted by Kevin from Pittsburgh on 09/17/08 at 08:36 AM ET