SIX Most LIKELY NHL Expansion Cities
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- čas přidán 30. 05. 2024
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NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said the league “has no plans" for expansion at the moment, but "if somebody wants to express interest and tell us they want an expansion team, we'll talk to them as we've talked to people in Houston, in Atlanta, in Cincinnati, Kansas City." Bettman: “There seems to be an increasing and vibrant expression of interest in having an NHL team in places where there aren’t.”
Chapters:
0:00 Is expansion EVEN a good idea?
4:37 Salt Lake City, Utah
6:26 Cincinnati, Ohio
8:03 Houston, Texas
9:30 Omaha, Nebraska
11:38 Kansas City, Missouri
13:35 Atlanta, Georgia
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#nhl #hockey #sports - Sport
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I have a background in hockey if you ever want...an opinion that isn't some shill for Arizona or Atlanta coughing nonsense into your ear
Just saying - not qualified to talk about baseball lol but if you want I can explain why Cincinnati is a nonstarter
@@sampicanoNot sure if Mr. Brazil will take you up on your offer, but I would be interested in the Cincinnati situation. I live in Pittsburgh and a big Pens fan. A Cinci team would be a natural rival for us. But I do agree with Mr. Brazil's assessment that an NHL expansion right now could do more harm that good. The possibility of one or more teams moving would also be something I would like to know about if you have any thoughts on that. As far as Atlanta is concerned, dead on arrival if that ever happens. Thanks.
@@jeffreywj7773 "Not sure if Mr. Brazil will take you up on your offer, but I would be interested in the Cincinnati situation."
I agree.
He took up someone on their Atlanta shilling just this week.
@@sampicano i mean... that person left a great detailed comment that i was able to easily respond to. you're absolutely welcome to do the same.
@@brodiebrazil I did my friend.
I provided a lot of information on your Atlanta, and Arizona NHL videos - and I left a detailed comment on this video
much love man, but that guy spreads disinformation about the Atlanta hockey market
IT IS A HELL OF A COINCIDENCE that since Atlanta announced they were building an arena, the amount of accounts spreading lies about Atlanta's hockey market grew too...
Weird right? Nobody comments from 2011 to 2022
Then the Gathering at Forsyth gets announced and then all the CZcams accounts pop up talking about how good of a market Atlanta was.
"It was managements fault"
"Atlanta is the fastest growing hockey market in the South"
"Atlanta had fans and good attendaces"
All of that is lies. Weird how the lies started ramping up after they decided to build an arena haha
disinformation campaign - A disinformation campaign is a targeted, organized information attack on a company, a party, an institution or an individual, whereby a large number of demonstrably false or misleading information (disinformation) is published, which serves the purpose of manipulation and is deliberately disseminated on a large scale.
Oh so that's a thing? Interesting.
Must be a coincidence that those CZcamsrs didn't say anything between 2011 and 2022.
Talking NHL expansion sans Quebec City is a crime. I'd also be curious as to what Milwaukee or Oregon has to offer.
you might be the only sane person in the entire comment section
- portland, milwaukee, quebec city, toronto-hamilton should be the FIRST and only spots for expansion
Milwaukee just doesn't have ownership, I live in the city and we just built the Bucks new arena a few years ago which hosts NCAA hockey. The former Admirals owners the Petit's in the early 90s were almost granted an expansion team (around time of Tampa) but in the end Lloyd thought it would be a money pit and pulled out (and Tampa was a money pit in the 90s, as in the team always lost money).
@@sampicanoNope. Nuh-huh. Wrong.
@@penguinsfan251 they have medications for what you have
Cry about it. Tiny city/market and the US dollar is superior
Kansas City is more likely than Omaha. We used to have a team, after all. Plus the potential for an I-70 series in hockey would be fabulous.
Brodie has become one of my favorite youtubers. Underrated af.
thanks very much!
Idea: If you had 36 teams, you could have a 20 team playoff format:
12 teams qualify for playoffs, and 8 teams qualify for brief best-of-3 play-in series to decide the final 4 spots. Quick bo3 series would avoid long waits for the 12 qualified teams, and would be very urgent from game 1.
Just an idea! This would help deal with the issue of franchises suffering from not qualifying for the playoffs for many years running like what happened to the Thrashers…
If the NHL goes to 36 teams and the Nordiques aren't back I would have a conniption. A regular season game between them and Montreal would be more important to more people than the cumulative affect of all games the Squids have played, including a round one win. Omaha, Kansas City and Salt lake city!!! How many hockey fans are in these 3 cities combined? Compared to Quebec?!?
Prepare for a conniption.
Tiny market in comparison to even SLC. An ant compared to a market like Atlanta and Houston
Cry about it. Also the US dollar is more resourceful than the Canadian dollar. So get those tissues ready
SLC can fill a basketball arena regularly. They will fill a hockey arena too. Nothing else todo😅
As a long time NHL fan I am also in favor of Quebec City getting a team, whether it be through expansion or relocation. The Videotron Centre is phenomenal! OUTSTANDING venue! I hope the Nordiques are back because I agree that the provincial rivalry would return immediately. However, your statement about Kansas City not having any hockey fans is untrue. There is a core fandom in place in Kansas City (for all the sports, not just hockey) and from that there would IMO be adequate to excellent support. Obviously Quebecers would overwhelmingly welcome a NHL team and would support it because hockey is and always will be the #1 sport in Canada. But I'll defend Kansas City to the end here because I've seen the and been a part of the fan support here 1st hand and know that once the NHL team got a foothold as far as fandom is concerned, they'd be here forever.
There will be no team in Québec while Bettman lives!!! Also, has anyone noticed that the Habs haven't won the Cup since the Nordiques moved? And their last Cup? Remember 1993?? If Patrick hadn't stepped up in the locker and motivated their team to beat the Nords, they would NEVER have come out of the 1st round. Their motivation? LES NORDIQUES!!! The next Cup they win will be with a team packed with québécois, and in a league where there's a team 2.5 hours down the "20". So, Geoff? Are ya listening??? :^p
Hi Brodie. I enjoy your videos, thank you for taking the time to produce them.
As someone who is a native of Kansas City and used to attend Scouts games back in the 1970's I can accurately state that Kansas City NEVER got a fair chance to succeed in the NHL the way other teams did. By the time Kansas City got a team, all they had left for players were castoffs from other NHL teams and many of those weren't NHL caliber. The Scouts ownership group was quicky saddled with unexpected debt as the World Hockey Association teams (begun in 1972 and were in direct competition with the NHL for players) inflated the salary structure to where the Scouts owners couldn't compete on an even basis. Clarence Campbell was the NHL Commissioner at that time and his "sink-or-swim" attitude toward ALL NHL teams was one that didn't help the Scouts cause. Had Gary Bettman been Commissioner at that time he would've insisted that the NHL Scouts stay in place and would've worked to find acceptable ownership, in order for the team to remain in Kansas City. Also factoring into their demise was the economy of the 1970's, which as the decade drew on, many MANY businesses either had to sell or went out of business altogether. For the 2-seasons that the Scouts were in Kansas City, their crowds were slowly climbing. For example, the average crowd at a Scouts game for their Inaugural season of 1974-75 was around 7,350. In the 1975-76 season their crowds were up to 7.600-plus. Keep in mind, they were a last place team the entire time and they received zero help from the NHL financially, much-unlike the Arizona Coyotes who for the last 15 or so seasons have been subsidized by the NHL partners. In Kansas City, the arena is in place (T-Mobile Center, 17,500), the fan base is there (Chiefs games draw 76,000-plus, the Royals draw sellouts when they're winning) and (NO sports city can claim that their stadium sells out when their team is in last place, in ANY sport), and contrary to your report, Kansas City DOES have a fairly decent corporate base for sponsorship (see the list of sponsors for the Chiefs and Royals). Aside from that, the Hunt family.....IS interested in the NHL but isn't ready to shell out a billion dollars for a team. Kansas City would be the BEST fit of all the aforementioned cities for the NHL's Central Division and the sports fans of Kansas City WOULD come out to support NHL Hockey. The MSA Population of Kansas City is around 2.25 to 2.5 million people which is LARGER than 8 other NHL cities populations. In closing I'll simply state that the cities of Atlanta, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Denver, the Bay area (San Jose) and Winnipeg have ALL been given 2nd chances at the NHL, and now Atlanta is being considered for a 3rd time?!!! WHY NOT KANSAS CITY!!!!? Kansas City deserves a 2nd chance!!!!
You are using reason, facts and logic. NHL expansion discussions lack all of those.
@@penguinsfan251 I can NOT disagree with you in any way!
It's going to be SLC.
Arizona is relocating 99%
Ryan SMith (billionaire owner of Utah Jazz) has expressed interest
Delta Center is NHL ready - but needs some renovations
SLC is in the Central division
It's basically a foregone conclusion
No, it isn't.
Time will tell, and I can't wait to be right and for you to be miserably wrong. @penguinsfan251
Yes, probably, assuming they don't get the Coyotes
And? Expansion is going to 36 at least
I would like to see 40 nhl teams I would love to see Hartford, Baltimore, Quebec City, San Francisco, Cincinnati, San Diego in NHl I would love to see 100 games in Regular Season
Cincy would do well, with the right backing. Look what happened to soccer here. They've been crushing attendance records since they were a team! And The Cincinnati Cyclones do well here.
Some day, it would be interesting to hear about a possible expansion in Milwaukee. I know that there are logistics issues and it's a smaller market that has already been tap to a certain degree but i would like to hear what someone like Brodie thinks.
I'm not someone like Brodie, but I am a huge hockey fan that lives in Milwaukee (so I do know the market). Honestly, I do kind of laugh every time the NHL here is brought up. The Pettits pursued it back in the late 80s, but wisely moved on from it. The market is not large enough to support both the NBA and NHL. It's like Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Indianapolis... you get one or the other. It's not a growing metro area either. The new arena (Fiserv Forum) was built primarily for basketball. It has hosted college hockey tournaments and an NHL pre-season game, but the seating configuration would not be acceptable for the NHL. The Admirals play two blocks south at UWM Panther Arena, which would definitely not work for the NHL. Also, fan support for the Admirals could be much better, as they are averaging about 6000 this season, and are consistently near the middle of the AHL in attendance. While I can't speak for everyone, there are a lot of fans like myself that do not even want the NHL. We love what we have with the Admirals... that we can take a family to see a high level of pro hockey without taking out a loan to do so. I just think there are much better markets for the NHL.
@@admirals818 " It's like Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Indianapolis... you get one or the other"
Pittsburgh - Pirates, Penguins, Steelers....okay 3 teams
Indianapolis - Pacers, Colts...okay....2 teams
St. Louis - Blues, Cardinals...2 teams
So it isn't one or the other. Turns out you can have multiple sports per city.
I guess you meant, either basketball OR hockey.
I don't know why that would be a choice - either BASEBALL or FOOTBALL not both - what a stupid thought
What is more popular in Wisconsin, basketball or hockey? It's DAMN CLOSE....
Wisconsin NCAA hockey - averages 10,059 per game...how do they find the time since they are busy supporting the Bucks????
I always thought Milwaukee was a GREAT HOCKEY CITY....are you telling me Milwaukee is the only city in the US with 1,574,731 people that can't support a hockey team???
That's mind blowing. There are cities in the South with 1.5 million that support their teams - is Milwaukee just a garbage hockey town?
See my post... I don't want MKE to have a pro team. I feeeeeeeeel like MKE doesn't have enough spare cash between Packers, Bucks, and Brewers to bankroll another winter team. The Admirals are an amazing bang for the buck when it comes to tickets. I can bring my family of 5 and watch a game with food for like $200 all up. If it were an NHL team, that'd be like 2 or 3 tickets?
@@seang13 Well, Milwaukee does have a pro team - the Admirals. I do want them. But yeah, the 20+ Admirals games my daughter and I go to every season would equal very few NHL games. I don't think we have to worry about it, fortunately.
@@seang13 "If it were an NHL team, that'd be like 2 or 3 tickets?"
Yeah probably, it would also be an NHL team competing for the Stanley Cup against the Chicago Blackhawks and Minnesota Wild...
It would be something you could WATCH AT HOME and hurry home from work and listen to on the radio during the playoffs...
It's SO MUCH better than an AHL team...
Gretna, NE (where you mentioned the outlet mall) is a growing community along with the surrounding areas. Not sure if hockey would work here. Yeah, we have a few small hockey teams in Omaha, Lincoln and Kearney. But, we have a tremendous volleyball team with the Supernovas.
I would love an Omaha/Gretna based team. I grew up in Lincoln, but have since moved to western NE. Also, don't forget about Sioux City in the USHL. That's really not far away from Omaha. To be fair, the Stars, Lancers, Storm, and Musketeers don't like each much, but I think we could all come together for an NHL team. We also have the UNO Mavericks, and I heard something about a UNL hockey team moving up. Hopefully a Big10 level team. Nebraska is a great emerging hockey market. I hate to say emerging, because it's been here for a long time, but in the NHLs eyes it's emerging.
Brodie, it will be more than 100 players because you have to build out AHL and other minor league teams of which many of those players count against the cap in Hockey.
Cheers Brodie, I love your content and watch every video you post. I even tune into Sharks broadcasts just to listen to you (and now Jason Demers), lol.
I wanted to touch on Kansas City and its potential for an NHL team. Although it seems like a mixed bag of potential and unlikelihood, we are a city that lives and dies by our sports.
We don’t have much in terms of tourist attractions or historical landmarks, but we have successful college and professional sports teams and a dedicated fanbase that is fiercely loyal.
So, I truly believe that the absence of relative competition for professional hockey in this market-trust me, we aren’t interested in the Blues here, just as we aren’t interested in the Cardinals nor were we interested in the Rams when they were based in STL-presents an opportunity.
What sets us apart in Kansas City, compared to places like SLC and ATL, is Patrick Mahomes and the Kelce Family. Travis and Jason grew up playing hockey and have expressed their love for the sport fervently. Additionally, Taylor Swift has been attending Preds games in Nashville for years!
I genuinely believe that a management/ownership team consisting of Mahomes, Kelce, & Swift could not only succeed but also elevate the NHL beyond the success of the MLB & NBA.
And let me tell you, the KC population would support an NHL franchise-whether it be in expansion or relocation-without even an ounce of doubt!
thanks for being here! and for sharing KC perspective
Can’t wait for this one!
San Diego wants an NHL expansion team too
Honestly, it would be better if the Ducks just moved there. Blow up the Battle of LA to the Battle of SoCal. The Ducks already have their farm team there too, so they already have a fanbase down there. And it's not like Orange County is THAT far away from San Diego. LA and San Diego are relatively close to each other, so it wouldn't be like the Dodgers moving from Brooklyn to LA.
Ancient arena in a non-traditional market. Dangerous choice.
@@leper73 they’re going to build a fresh new arena and should be done by 2028
@@leper73San Diego, no pro wintertime team, a market of over 3 million...yeah, dumb, real dumb. Put a team in Halifax instead
@@gabetalks9275San Diego Ducks does kinda roll off the tongue well lol
It would be so cool if Albuquerque could get an NHL expansion team.
As usual, a great video, Brodie. If I might, here’s some Canadian context to NHL expansion. There are two markets here that would take in teams tomorrow, if they could. Quebec City has been lobbying to get their team back. Their challenge is corporate support and potential blacking by Montreal. And Toronto wants a 2nd team. And they support one, not just with fans but corporate support. It would be a question of the Leafs seeing sense in the idea.
All that to say that if - and as you say, a big IF - the NHL expands to 36, there would be revolt/consternation here if at least one of those expansion teams didn’t come here. However, hockey is dwindling in popularity here. The market is monopolized and saturated to the point that people feel less and less connected to the teams. Couple that with a Stanley Cup drought of 30 years, as well as players not wanting to play in Canada, and it’s a hard sell. The NHL knows this and likely would look to places Cincinnati or Omaha to fill the gaps left by Canadian interest.
Cheers!
Great points - kinda fumbled over the finish line...
Cincinnati and Omaha have close to zero chances.
They don't even have AHL teams - that's how FAR AWAY from the NHL they are.
Not good ECHL teams, no where near the AHL....let alone being a JUGGERNAUT in the "A"
Cincinnati isn't even the best spot in Ohio hahahaha
More sammy drivel.
Forget Quebec. Not happening, not ever again. Not after the Ottawa bankruptcy and the Winnipeg troubles.
Small Canadian matket with the cheaper Canadian dollar.
Quebec City and Hartford deserves a team before Atlanta
I like the input you gave, makes a lot of sense. I appreciate and understand your point about Cincinnati with the drawbacks being so close to cities like Columbus. I am a Blue Jackets fan, however I will say I have a different take FOR Cincinnati to have a NHL team for two reasons:
1. Cincinnati had a great following when they had the Stingers in the WHA, but the city and fans were robbed when they weren’t allowed to join the consultation of the NHL and WHA
2. With MLS teams in Columbus and Cincinnati, it has created an exciting rivalry between the Crew and FC Cincinnati. If I remember right they have called the rivalry “Highway to Hell”. So I can perceive the possibly of another enjoyable rivalry occurring here.
These are just my thoughts I know, but I the positive possibilities here.
Wishing you all the best today, take care!
As far as I know Frozen Fury is only one game between two teams during the preseason here in Utah
Great Video..My personal favorites are Utah, Nebraska, and Kansas City….with that said I would like to see some talk about Sioux Falls South Dakota, it’s a growing place with a strong hockey culture. Sioux Falls would be a great place
Albeuquerque, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Houston, MilWaukee, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oregon, Quebec City, San Diego, South Dakota, Utah
Hartford Whalers anyone ?
I would love for Portland Oregon to have a team
Anyone else also go "here's Brodie Brazil" out loud when the video starts?
Always.
I love how Brodie keeps everything simple, succinct and to the point when he talks about sports while also presenting himself as a warm and friendly guy. The kind of guy you can talk about sports with for hours on end without getting bored.
🤣🤣🤣🤣 i did not know that was a thing
@@MetalGod999 very kind of you, thanks!
It's pronounced for-SYTH...and it's 30 miles, not 45 from downtown. It's also centrally located to the suburbs of Roswell, Sandy Springs, Johns Creek, Alpharetta and Milton...the areas where the hockey fans are. After Bettman allowed the second worst ownership group ever to buy the Thrashers (after the Isles and Spano) and immediately put them on the market, we should get a legit shot and having a team with committed ownership. But so does Quebec. I see the league adding SLC, Houston, Atlanta and Quebec.
100% False. ASG was clearly the worst ownership group in Pro sports history. (I totally agree with the rest and the 4 cities listed)
I am from Omaha, no offense taken. While we have the CHI Health Center in downtown Omaha, you were referring to Gretna Crossing, which is about halfway between Omaha and Lincoln. We have the Omaha Lancers of the USHL and also the University of Omaha has a division 1 hockey program.
Salt Lake City Highlanders, Cincinnati Barons, Houston Apollos, Kansas City Cougars.
I’m from Columbus and I would love to see Cincy get a nhl team cuz of the rivalry with the blue jackets. Kind of like the hell is real rivalry between the Columbus crew n fc Cincinnati in the MLS
I'm in Omaha, and I don't know if the city is the right place for an NHL team. There is a very loyal and passionate hockey community here that was excited about the idea of a team, but I question whether it is big or strong enough to make a jump from NCAA/USHL to NHL ticket prices, so I have concerns whether or not enough people that care to sustain season tickets sales (the USHL team isn't close to selling out every game in an arena smaller than what the Coyotes are playing in). Another issue with Omaha is that there isn't a lot of suburban sprawl, outside the immediate Omaha metro and Lincoln, it is virtually empty between here and the other markets (Minnesota/St. Louis ~7 hours away, Colorado/Chicago ~8 hours away). Des Moines and Kansas City are too far away to depend on enough dedicated fans (2.5 hours each).
I've been surprised with Cincinnati for expansion talks. I am in southern ohio, east of Cincy a couple hours and you're also competing with Penguins fans. For alot of us that was the main team up until the Blue Jackets came in and alot of people including myself remained Penguins fans. When we go to games in Columbus about 30% of the crowd are Penguins fans. I am also curios about folks in Kentucky as i would guess you would be stepping into Predators fans territory. So add those 2 teams to the list with Col, Det & Chicago. I would be more interested in an NBA team in Cincinnati as the closest teams now are Cleveland and Indy both a little over 4 hours away. Right now we don't have the ability to go on a one day trip to an NBA game as we do with the NHL, MLB and NFL.
Cincinnati is a metro area similar in population and in corporate HQs to Pittsburgh and there is no wintertime team.
The NBA is in Indianapolis, not far away. The NHL would work in Cincy with a new arena.
I’m not interested in expansion there’s too many teams but I would be open to Atlanta given how it’s a viable sports market but the NHL would need to make serious changes to convince me to add four more teams
How do you put Omaha, Nebraska on your list, but no Québec City?
Gary Bettman mentioned these six cities only in February.
They doubt the success of MLS in Cincinnati and look at them now
NHL and MLB probably already have four too many teams.
"Winnepeg" Tied for first in the central and difficulty filling an arena under 16,000.
I’d love to see the NHL in SLC, but despite being a winter sports center (2002 Winter Olympics, for example), I don’t know if there’s much of a hockey culture there. I think there’s only a couple of kids in the NHL that grew up in Utah. I went to the gold medal hockey game at the Olympics, and it was in a tiny arena (like 7000 seats), and most of the fans were Canadians. Maybe it would work, but I’m not sure.
Omaha is more event-based, and they do it well … College World Series, NCAA Tournament almost every year. Similar to Winnipeg, they could probably support a team, but there aren’t really outskirts to draw from … KC is 3 hours away. I used to live in Downtown Omaha, walking distance from the arena (which is nice and modern, etc.) but I am skeptical. They don’t even currently have minor league hockey.
Solid video... I think it comes down to SLC being a "rising" city. Their plan seems interesting and they have the "snow factor". I can't give ATL a third chance with a team not located downtown, especially when you see how far away Forsyth is from the city. That's a recipe for mediocre attendance. And tbh, I'd just move the Coyotes to one of the 6 cities and be done with it. If you can't straigthen out arena issues over a decade, you can't do it.
Most of the cities you listed seem like great places to put an AHL team. I'm looking at you Omaha, Cincy, and KC. Ironically, maybe Phoenix just needs and AHL team...
I love watching the NHL games, I love attending AHL games. I'd be intrigued to see if the AHL was expanding. Maybe do a video on that topic. I say this as a MKE resident.
Atlanta, a metro approaching 7 million people without a NHL team. It's about time. Expand from 32 to 36. Atlanta, Houston, Salt Lake City, and Kansas City.
The Cincinnati Stingers and Houston Aeros should have been part of the WHA merger in the 70’s. Cincinnati’s arena is pretty old and Houston is not a hockey city so unless they’re successful out of the gate like the Golden Knights, it could be a struggle. Milwaukee and a return to Hartford make more sense than any of the others listed here (Omaha?).
No Canadian cities? Quebec and Hamilton deserve it way more than most of these.
Houston to me makes the most sense. Huge city, corporate companies and a lot of money
If you read between the lines of the Gary Bettman interview during all-star weekend, it seemed evident that time is almost up for the Coyotes to secure a new arena site and financing, and his #1 relocation target is Salt Lake City. Makes sense because SLC only has the NBA so far, so the NHL could get in before MLB (heavy favorite as one of the two expansion franchises IMO) or the NFL (highly unlikely anytime in the near future) to establish a fan base.
SLC is too small for both the NHL and NBA. Put the Yotes in and find out.
@@penguinsfan251 Right - that explains why the Jazz have been in Utah since 1979.
Why not just go for it? Expand to 40. Add: Atlanta, Hamilton, Houston, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Portland, Quebec City, and Salt Lake City.
My opinion is wait a few more years (7-10ish years) and expand to 36 (SLC, ATL, QC, HOU) over a two year period.
About Salt Lake City I was there for a month for army stuff. Went to a few ECHL Utah grizzly games. Those fans love hockey it was refreshing (I live in San Jose) seeing another fan base actually care.
About Cincinnati. Tv market doesn’t mean anything. The Bay Area is a huge market for sports but the sharks and A’s rarely reach numbers like the warriors or niners do. Raiders barely got any viewership as well. So market shouldn’t matter. It should matter solely on fan base wanting it. San Jose has how big of a population? Plus add Mountain View, Santa Clara, Morgan hill, Fremont and Palo Alto being so close to San Jose and what are their attendance numbers? I love going to sharks games but today a losing team to back when the sharks were a great winning team they haven’t always filled out the tank on a prime Friday or Saturday night. So population and market size doesn’t matter. Quebec would love an NHL team again. They’re a huge fan base but smaller city and area. No doubt Quebec would sell out their games all the time just like Montreal does with their games
For all the people saying Quebec should get a team, you need to think like a business owner and not a fan. The NHL is trying to grow the game. Getting NEW fans, consumers, even players. While people think Bettman hung onto Arizona too long, there have been several top players come through that area the last few years because of the Coyotes being there. Going to Atlanta, Houston, KC makes sense from a business and growth standpoint. People in Quebec already play hockey, watch hockey, and have teams they support and buy merchandise for. Putting a team in Quebec doesn't ADD anything to the league in any way. Going to markets that could expand the player pool down the road, add new consumers, etc. is the thinking the league has, and should. Also, as a former season ticket holder for the Atlanta Thrashers, hockey will 100% work there with even decent ownership. The location in the northern suburbs will also be huge. Most of the hockey fans live in the northern suburbs and work in Atlanta. When the team played in downtown, it was difficult for people to get off work, go home, pick up the wife and/or kids, then trek back downtown to go to a hockey game.
Anson Carter's bid for an NHL franchise in metro Atlanta is a separate endeavor from The Gathering at South Forsyth; coincidentally, both proposals are in or near Alpharetta off of Georgia Route 400. Carter's group plans to redevelop the site of a struggling mall, while The Gathering is planned for an undeveloped tract near the Forsyth County-Fulton County line.
If Salt Lake City gets an nhl and mlb, make sure they get the chargers too.
MLB experienced rapid expansion, talent was diluted, especially pitching talent. You had AA pitchers facing major league hitters.
Suppose you took today's 32 teams and cut them down to six. The quality of play would be higher because you would have essentially six all star teams out there.
Honestly, it would be better if the Blue Jackets just moved from Columbus to Cincinnati. The Cincinnati market is way bigger than Columbus, and its metro area crosses over into Kentucky and Indiana. It would broaden their reach dramatically, connecting with three states for the price of one similar to how the Reds pull from all three states. They also change their branding to the old WHA Stingers while they're at it. Bringing that old hockey heritage would make them an even more attractive team to cheer for. Especially since Messier played for the Stingers before the WHA/NHL merger.
Who has a collection of all the modern era jerseys of NHL teams that have either folded or relocated: California Golden Seals (Oakland), Kansas City Scouts, Cleveland Barons, Atlanta Flames, Colorado Rockies, Minnesota North Stars, Quebec Nordiques, Winnipeg Jets (old jerseys), Hartford Whalers, Atlanta Thrashers? I think the Seals jersey would be the coolest.
Expansion Drafts will wipe out big chunks of the present teams .
I know I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again: The NHL does not need more than 32 teams. BUT…all things being equal, I think Salt Lake City, Kansas City, Atlanta & Houston all have excellent cases for acquiring teams via relocation. It’ll be interesting to see who wins the NHL franchise sweepstakes.
Kansas City had an NHL team before. The Kansas City Scouts. These days, they're known as the NJ Devils. The Coyotes have such a bad building, it would be great if they could end up in KC or SLC... Just because I hadn't realized it before, KC seems the most novel to me.
Throwing Indianapolis out there.
#25 TV market
#34 Metropolitan area with over 2.1 million
Has a ready arena to share with the Pacers.
Has a strong hockey history and loyal fans to our teams.
Only down side for indy is proximity to Chicago, St. Louis, Columbus, Nashville, Detroit. But, if NYC can have 3 teams in that TV market, Indy can thrive with NHL Hockey.
if it comes down to Indianapolis or Milwaukee, I'm voting Wisconsin ten times out of ten
Indy would be cool, but Wisconsin is synonymous with hockey
No. Indy is not a metro area of over 3 million and Indy has an NBA team.
There are a lot of countries playing hockey, but they need more Americans playing hockey. Let's hope they keep it in the US
One positive point about NHL expansion to 36 that I feel doesn’t get brought up enough is that the NHL is in a unique position amongst the professional leagues given that it has less exposure to the US market than the others, and therefore theoretically can handle more expansion at this time, specifically in the US.
It has a disproportionately lower amount of US teams (25 US, 7 CA) as a portion of its total league size compared to MLS, NBA, MLB, and NFL. Therefore the thought is that because the NFL/NBA/MLB can support 30-32 teams and/or markets in the US, then the NHL should have no problem doing so either. All expansion candidates to 36 that the NHL will genuinely consider will probably be American because of this.
It stings a bit seeing Quebec City being left out of the discussion but I am accepting that it probably won’t happen in the current environment. Canada as a whole has been mostly stagnant in terms of disposable incomes over the better part of the last decade whereas wealth and incomes in the US are growing. For the time being it is probably best to focus on fortifying the business models of the existing Canadian teams (mainly Winnipeg with its hiccups this year, all of the others are consistently doing well enough financially) instead of adding new ones.
Portland OR seems to be a dark horse. They have an arena ready to go. With a deep hockey history and tradition. Betman loves anything and everything to do with the original 6. The Portland Rosebuds became the Chicago Blackhawks.
What about Quebec City and Hamilton in Canada
Quebec City- maybe. Hamilton would have to get permission from the Leafs and Sabers for it to happen since its so close to both cities.
1. Salt Lake City 2. Houston 3. QUEBEC 4. Kansas City 5. Atlanta 6. Cincinnati 7. Omaha. Portland (OR) should probably be on this list as well and be ahead of at least 2 or 3 of these cities.
No mention of Quebec City?
It only dilutes the player pool temporarily, I think its a good thing long term. Just remember without the Yotes, there probably wouldn't be a Matthews.
I'd like to see a Milwaukee team.
if this happens, how will the playoff bracket look like?
Keep in mind the NHL ran with 21 teams for qute a few years. Perhaps even numbers and balance aren't big issues for the NHL.
The Ziegler years are a bad memory.
if there was 42 teams they better add one more round of playoffs
Winnipeg is fine. Teams go through this.
36 teams = 6 divisions * 6 teams
Top 2 teams in each division plus 4 wild cards in each conference. Add a 5 game series wild card round.
1. Quebec City (rival Montreal)
2. Houston (rival Dallas)
3. Salt Lake (rival Vegas / Colorado)
4. Atlanta (rival Carolina)
5. Kansas City (rival St Louis)
1) I agree with Bruiser Brodie: Stay at 32 teams. 2) If the Coyotes can't finalize a deal for a new arena and full financing by the summer, Bettman should push for relocation to SLC. 3) Keep Houston and Atlanta (in that order) in the league's back pocket in case one or more existing NHL cities are no longer seen as viable. A strong 32 team league is optimal IMO.
An NHL expansion team would cost close to a billion dollars today and nobody in Wisconsin is willing to spend that kind of money.
Every time i hear of the NHL expansion, I always dream of Little Rock, Arkansas getting a team. Simmons Bank Arena can hold 18,000 for hockey. Yes, I know it's never gonna happen.
San Diego is also a good Hockey Market and no longer has the NFL so there is alot of room
I think San Diego has a good shot. Even tho it seems too close to LA, keep in mind it’s more distant than many east coast teams are to each other, especially the Philly, DC, NY, NJ, Long Island, and Boston area. They also lack a big 4 sports team besides the padres and the San Diego gulls has some success in the city, a massive population too 9th biggest in the USA or something?
I’m strongly opposed to expansion , 32 is enough. Maybe not at the moment but in the future merging franchises (not folding or contraction but merge struggling franchises into 1 like they did with the Minnesota north stars & Cleveland Barons back in 1978.)
I believe 36, in division of 6 would be okay.
Milwaukee? Or is hockey not a thing there? Market considered too small? No willing billionaire available? It would seem a natural fit, you have a team in Minnesota, a team in Michigan, a natural rivalry, cold weather state also. Wisconsin residents watching, do you want the NHL?
I thought the NHL chose Columbus to eliminate the problem of choosing between Cleveland and Cincinnati...
hawks claim milwaukee as their market and would fight it.
Agree. Columbus is right in the middle of the state and can draw from both the south (Cincy area) and the north (Cleveland area). Plus, the NHL wouldn't survive in Cincy or Cleveland IMO.
FYI:
Kansas City: Lamar Hunt Jr., from the Hunt family, owns the ECHL Kansas City Mavericks (a Seattle Kraken affiliate). Their home games are in Independence, MO, 23 miles east of KC.
A second NHL team in Ohio: I don't think Cincinnati would be a good idea unless a new arena was built across the Ohio River into Kentucky. The Newport/Covington area has been built into a decent entertainment area. (In my opinion, I don't see that happening.) Also, it would make no sense to have a second NHL team in Ohio, considering Columbus is the largest city in Ohio in population (est. over 892,000) over Cincinnati (302,600), and Cleveland (383,000) despite the Monsters (AHL) recent success.
Eastern Conference:
Atlanta (Metro)
Quebec City or Halifax (Atlantic)
Western Conference:
Salt Lake City (Pacific)
Houston (Central)
NHL expansion wish list (with division placement):
Salt Lake City (Pacific)
Kansas City (Central)
Atlanta (Metropolitan)
Québec (Atlantic)
In this scenario, Arizona would move to the Pacific and Salt Lake would play in the Central to create a SLC-Denver rivalry. Arizona fits much more naturally against SoCal and PNW teams.
San Diego would be a given, but they will never get a large enough arena.
Add Atlanta, Houston, Salt Lake City, and Quebec
Omaha would be a better fit as the home of Kansas City's minor league affiliate since they're so close to each other. Kansas City would pull from Omaha, so going to the far bigger market in KC makes way more sense.
Pronounced "Fors(EYE)th"...If NHL expands they MUST reduce the schedule. Maybe that is a beneficial trade off in that they can do so without reducing revenues at the league level with more teams pulling in gate. (THG will have an aneurysm with 18 games a night though.) Interesting that none of these teams are in Canada. Sure, Winnipeg has problems, and Quebec has market issues, but a second Ontario team either in Hamilton or even the GTA is a no-brainer...Here's my category playoff ranking of the teams you put in the video:
Prep/Commitment: Salt Lake, Kansas City
TV Market Dynamics: Houston, Atlanta (not even close)
Regional TV Draw: Houston (New Orleans, San Antonio, Austin, South Texas), Atlanta (Greenville, Charleston, Birmingham, Huntsville, Savannah), Salt Lake (Boise, Great Falls, LDS Worldwide * via streaming)
Market Separation: Salt Lake, Houston, Atlanta
Weak by Proximate Markets: Omaha (KC), Cincinnati (Columbus)
Corporate Presence: Atlanta, Houston (not even close)
Potential Rivalries: Houston (Dallas), Atlanta (Carolina, Nashville), Salt Lake (Denver, Seattle)
Ownership: Salt Lake, Atlanta
I omitted other, more subjective categories, and restricted it to the obvious ones. So by my count SLC shows 5 times, KCMO 1, HOU 5, ATL 5, OMA -1, CIN -1. However, unless they can demonstrably weight a potential streaming audience in for SLC, the two major markets HOU and ATL have got to be considered front runners. In the past, the NHL hasn't generally cared where the expansion money came from, they just cared that they got it, and left the several teams to figure out how to make it work. That was a mistake. The Coyotes' plight, and the twofer failures in both ATL and WPG are a testiment that this hands-off approach only creates more, bigger, and expensive problems down the road. In the end, I can't understate the DAL-HOU rivalry, which is almost a blood feud in the other sports to rival Dodgers-Giants, Yankees-Red Sox, Chiefs-Broncos, Eagles-Cowboys, etc., etc., etc. In fact the NFL has dropped the ball in not realigning the Cowboys and Texans to the same conference IMO...Going to 36 will probably have to incorporate other changes as well, such as the sharing of minor league teams, adjustments to RFA and UFA status, and such. It probably does dilute the talent pool, not so much at the top as it does down at the bottom. Prospects get most of their opportunities with cellar dweller teams, of which there will be more with a 36 team league. But I'm not sure that the ranks below will fill with exceptional talent behind them...
Winnipeg is fine now after the hiccup with attendance at start of the season. Look at how nuts city gets in the playoffs for tickets and whiteout parties. Too bad they didn’t go as far as they wanted and met a hot colorado team firming on all cylinders. As for expansion I would say wait at least 4 years for the talent to not be as water downed. Go to 36 teams and someone else suggested so many teams make it and 8 teams have play in best of 3 rd for final 4 spots.
Can we still play 82 games with 36 or 40 teams? The bad teams will have only AHL level players
Teams might not be able to play every other team home-and-away each season, but it would be possible.
Houston here...We can take an underperforming team like Columbus or the Anaheim ducks and build up the team... AND...change the names and uniforms...Houston is big..look at the metro population...7.3 million, however, that's misleading a number because the draw would be from the suburbs as the Houston city population is primarily hispanic so you're drawing from the white population base of the metro suburbs of about 3 million...still quite a lot of fans.
The farther north you go, there you will find the hockey nuts.
No, I don’t want to see expansion. And for all the talk about dilution of talent, I wonder how people feel about diluting of officiating. I’m not one to complain about officials in general, and this wouldn’t be as dramatic as when the league went from one ref to two per game. But if I’m counting correctly, the NHL currently has 44 refs and 40 linesmen. At that pace, four more teams probably means 5-6 more refs and 5 more linesmen. It’ll take a lot for the NHL to convince fans that they will maintain or improve consistency.
As for Kansas City, they were courting the Islanders for awhile, when the future of Nassau Coliseum was in question and before the move to Brooklyn. The Isles even played a couple of preseason games in KC. I’m not sure if it generated enough interest.
KC, Houston, Atlanta, SLC are the top 4
Anyone saying Quebec City is not smart enough to understand
1. Market size
2. The US dollar is vastly more desired than the Canadian dollar
“But it’s Canada!” Yeah sure, a tiny country and tiny city
Quebec.
36 is a lot to ask of the league. More likely to lack talent
When mentioning Cincinnati you aren’t far from Nashville either.
We only get Blue Jackets games here on Balley.
The SLC Smiths!
At this point, Canada must have an extra team.
Kansas City should have a AHL team at least.Why don't the Blues put their AHL team there.
It is disgusting that Atlanta has a higher chance than Quebec City.
what about Indianapolis
portland or bangor maine need a team