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GenerationW said:
According to Bob McCown, Bettman went to the board sometime in 2010 and basically promised them he would get a whole whack of cash with expansion teams in Las Vegas and Kansas City. So there would have been expansion talk close to the time of the Winnipeg move if this story was true.
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Sure, I heard Bob talk about that too. The point was that Bettman had TV/movie producer Jerry Bruckheimer willing to pay $300million for a Vegas franchise. No one was going to pay that for a Winnipeg franchise. If Bruckheimer had tried to buy Atlanta and move to Vegas and save $200million he would have been blocked or charged a massive relocation fee......just as anyone who tries to buy Phoenix and move them to Markham would be.

The KC situation was just a crook (Boots Del Baggio) that was (not for the first time) writing cheques he could not cash.

Some markets have expansion value that the league will protect......some (like Winnipeg) are just solid, non-loss, markets which are viable relocation candidates.

I think Quebec City is more like Winnipeg but it may get held back into expansion territory as an easy "32nd" to balance the imbalance that any GTA expansion would create. Theoretically, the NHL could expand to GTA & QC and maintain KC and Seattle as quick fix relocation cities with NHL ready arenas (the NHL always needs a few of these around to keep cities/landlords of struggling teams "honest").
 
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Well, the pool of troubled/available/moveable NHL teams just keeps getting smaller.

Assuming Greg Jamison's purchase of the Coyotes goes through.....and today's announcement that the Islanders are signing a 25 year lease in Brooklyn.....what is left? Florida?
 
TOareaFan said:
Well, the pool of troubled/available/moveable NHL teams just keeps getting smaller.

Assuming Greg Jamison's purchase of the Coyotes goes through.....and today's announcement that the Islanders are signing a 25 year lease in Brooklyn.....what is left? Florida?
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Florida and Columbus, I think.
 
canarob said:
Florida and Columbus, I think.
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I thought the Blue Jackets were redoing their lease/arena/onwership deal with the city/county/nationwide in a way that it would save them nearly $10 mil a year in operating costs and would see casino money being used to change the ownership of the building and Nationwide buying into the team? In exchange for a lease that would keep them there until, I think, 2040?
 
Oh, right.

In any case, I do think the rumoured expansion to Markham and Quebec City is possible, but until it's announced it's not real. Kind of like how the NHL denied the Winnipeg rumours up until the last minute.
 
canarob said:
Oh, right.

In any case, I do think the rumoured expansion to Markham and Quebec City is possible, but until it's announced it's not real. Kind of like how the NHL denied the Winnipeg rumours up until the last minute.
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I actually see a lot of merit in a theory that I heard recently. The league is hoping/trying to get the NHLPA to agree terms that would make solvent just about all (if not all) of their teams...taking relocation off of the table for most/all teams....in agreeing to these terms, the players would be told that they are, then, making expansion more of a likelihood/reality....and that there are windfalls of cash available from two new markets (likely GTA and QC).......players would get some (not a lot but some) of that windfall in addition to creating 50 new NHL jobs for active players and a bunch of new coaching/assisting jobs for when they retire.

It is just a neat/tidy enough consipiracy theory to believe.
 
GenerationW said:
If it's true, then that carrot has had no effect on the players, and the league has made a horrible miscalculation.
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Just because the players have not agreed....does not mean the league has miscalculated (horribly or otherwise).....whether the expansion carrot is there or not and whether the players grab it or not....there is a lot of merit in creating a financial structure that ensures the financial viability of all/majority of the teams.
 
Article in the National Post pretty much kills any idea that this arena will be host of the 2015 World Juniors (the next time it is held in Canada) which is one of the events the proponents have been consistantly touting. Next available Canadian WJHC would be 2017.
 
canarob said:
I bet a funding model that's slightly more favourable to the city (naming rights could be deducted from the city's share, etc.) will be announced and it will get approved. Or the NHL will announce an expansion -- you never know!
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The NHL thing possible.....taking the naming rights away from the private sector's contribution not likely (the city might want them but I doubt the private investor would give 'em up).
 
National Post: NHL-ready arena in Markham facing fierce debate as motion questions financing

The plan to build a 20,000-seat arena capable of hosting a National Hockey League franchise in suburban Toronto is headed for fierce debate and a motion that will threaten the project’s future on Tuesday night, with the mayor of Markham conceding the arena faces “the potential of actually being killed.â€

The arena has divided city council and attracted a vocal band of citizens who are opposed to the notion of the city helping to finance a venue for professional sports — especially a venue that has so far received no guarantee the NHL would grant Markham a franchise.

“I’ve reached the conclusion that, with all the figures presented, this will be a white elephant without an NHL team,†Markham councillor Colin Campbell said on Sunday. “I have no problem at all with just putting this on the back burner. Let’s sit down and come up with a plan to see if there’s something down the road. Talk to the NHL and see where they’re going.

“I mean, let’s do this properly.â€

Campbell has forwarded a motion to rescind the financial framework council approved in a meeting last year. His motion, on the agenda for Tuesday’s council meeting, goes a step further, and requests that “all work and negotiations†with the city be terminated.
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