speculation that expansion to Quebec City & the GTA could be part of the near future?
Quote:
...Massive new streams of hockey-related revenue? Check. Dozens of new jobs for NHL players, in markets they've been clamoring to receive teams? Check. Appeasement of bitter Canadian fans who would suddenly shower Gary Bettman with candy and flowers like the good people of Winnipeg did? Check...
yeah cause everyone in Canada would really care all that much if they added two more teams, that would just totally make my life, for realz.
and i don't know for sure, but i'm guessing that while Winnipeggers are happy that they have a team once again, they still aren't all that fond of Gary.
Quote:
...In some ways, this isn't a surprising comment. It's been more than a decade since the NHL's last wave of expansion, and there have been a number of hints that the league sees itself at 32 franchises eventually — including the attempted realignment to four divisions this past year...
makes sense
Quote:
...Polarizing agent Allan Walsh said recently that expansion fees could reach $500 million per team. That seems a bit high, but the message is clear: Expansion will bring the league a lot of money, and those fees get divvied up by the 30 existing teams. That's a really great, simple way to make up for revenue lost in a lockout...
obv lots of issues to work out, but yep that's a lot of money (esp wrt to the TML), and owners love to take that expansion fee cheddar
also if one of those markets is a no-go, think i heard Seattle just got approval for that arena deal...
but yeah it's pretty win-win in the sense that it's more money for owners, more jobs for players, more teams in profitable markets (in the short term at least), etc
http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl...0812--nhl.html