BREAKING: Gary Bettman's Plan to Revive Arizona Has Been Leaked
With the roaring success of recent NHL expansion to Las Vegas and Seattle, it looks like the league has no planning in halting future expansion.
Expansion on the Horizon
The major success of NHL expansion has given the league even more reason to expand beyond the current 32 NHL Teams.
On a recent episode of the 32 Thoughts Podcast Elliotte Friedman and Jeff Marek spoke about future expansion plans:
With the recent sale of the Ottawa Senators totally $950 billion, it is reasonable to expect a whopping billion dollars dropped on any owner wanting to be a part of NHL expansion.
Another major plus for NHL owners is that they do not have to share any of the expansion fees with NHL players, so for example if there was a $1 billion expansion fee, the 32 current teams would all get a $31,250,000 cheque that they don't have to share with the NHLPA.
Future of Arizona
Friedman and Marek also mentioned that Atlanta is a prime candidate for yet another expansion franchise.
They made the connection that Atlanta is the location of rights holder TNT, which could factor into the decision.
Possibly the Arizona Coyotes move to Atlanta, and then a few years down the road they receive an expansion franchise once a new arena is built.
Atlanta has had two NHL franchise before; the Atlanta Flames who relocated to Calgary in 1980 to become the Calgary Flames, and the Atlanta Thrashers who became the Winnipeg Jets in 2011.
| POLL | ||
Where Should the NHL Expand to next? | ||
| Houston | 47 | 22.1 % |
| Salt Lake City | 39 | 18.3 % |
| Quebec City | 115 | 54 % |
| Atlanta | 12 | 5.6 % |
| List of polls | ||
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