Cincinnati, Kansas City, and Omaha have shown interest in NHL expansion

[MMC]

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[MMC]

 

[MMC]

Man, a 40 team league with Atlanta, Houston, QC, San Diego, Omaha, Cincinnati, Kansas City, and Salt Lake City would be so cool. Probably won’t happen any time soon but it would be awesome to see.

 

[ponder719]

You can add Kansas City to that, so it seems.

 

[GKJ]

Cincinnati and Omaha best I know would be new players here, and would make sense. Cincinnati needs a new building.

You can add Kansas City to that, so it seems.

KC was sniffing around the Coyotes last year. Mahomes was in on the action

 

[MMC]

Seems like Omaha has a suitable venue, but I wonder who the potential group is that’s contacting the league and how much they’d be able to shell out for the team

 

[Tawnos]

Cincinnati is a bit too close to Columbus to make a viable NHL market. It's only like an hour and a half drive. Same reason Orlando isn't really a viable NHL market. If it were about 50% larger in population, it would overcome that, but it isn't.

Omaha is still too small. There's been some thought that their growth will bring a pro sports team at some point, but it's still pretty far away. 10 years from now, maybe?

 

[Tom ServoMST3K]

As I posted in the mega-thread, clearly markets in NA are gearing up for expansion.

Sp the NHL saying they're not in "expansion mode" rings pretty hollow.

Obviously they're not taking applications, but it's clear preliminary conversations are underway.

 

[GKJ]

I always figured Columbus would box out Cincinnati, like if it didn’t happen then, then why would it? But if Cincinnati is interested, now I’m asking questions if I’m in Cleveland, too.

 

[GKJ]

Cincinnati is a bit too close to Columbus to make a viable NHL market. It's only like an hour and a half drive. Same reason Orlando isn't really a viable NHL market. If it were about 50% larger in population, it would overcome that, but it isn't.

Omaha is still too small. There's been some thought that their growth will bring a pro sports team at some point, but it's still pretty far away. 10 years from now, maybe?

How much is it worth to be first into a market? We see it work in Vegas. But Utah was too small for the NBA when they went there and look at that area now.

 

[aqib]

I always figured Columbus would box out Cincinnati, like if it didn’t happen then, then why would it? But if Cincinnati is interested, now I’m asking questions if I’m in Cleveland, too.

Cleveland doesn't have a strong enough economy to support a 4th major league team.

 

[Lt Frank Drebin]

I watched the live stream of the press conference and Bettman laughed when he mentioned he got an email from Omaha. I don’t think they’re actually seriously considering Nebraska. His point was that there’s lots of interested cities that want expansion teams.

 

[ponder719]

How much is it worth to be first into a market? We see it work in Vegas. But Utah was too small for the NBA when they went there and look at that area now.

Depends on the market. Being first into Austin is a very different animal than being first into Dubuque.

 

[No Fun Shogun]

I'm going to have to say that I'm assuming that at least some of the interest is akin to me randomly browsing Zillow and sorting by most expensive.

 

[Tawnos]

How much is it worth to be first into a market? We see it work in Vegas. But Utah was too small for the NBA when they went there and look at that area now.

The difference is that Vegas had already been large enough for a major pro sports team for a long time, but teams were reluctant to go there because of the gambling issue.

In 1991, the SLC market had 400k more people in it than Omaha does today.

I always figured Columbus would box out Cincinnati, like if it didn’t happen then, then why would it? But if Cincinnati is interested, now I’m asking questions if I’m in Cleveland, too.

Difference being that Cleveland has an NBA team.

 

[Bostonzamboni]

Not long ago Tulsa seemed to be in the mix. Has a nice, large modern arena, I believe. But it's been quiet since.

Oh, and the Cincinnati Reds don't draw so well....sure a small market and 81 home games to support, and at likely lower average prices than the NHL would necessitate, but a small market is a small market.

 

[LadyStanley]

Cleveland doesn't have a strong enough economy to support a 4th major league team.

Didn't the naysayers think that Vegas would fail spectacularly?

Either someone(s) has a billion+ in pocket of willing to take that risk and/or they have studies showing it could/might work

 

[Tawnos]

Didn't the naysayers think that Vegas would fail spectacularly?

Either someone(s) has a billion+ in pocket of willing to take that risk and/or they have studies showing it could/might work

No one should ever use Vegas in an attempt to make a valid comparison to any other market. It's a unicorn.

 

[GKJ]

Not long ago Tulsa seemed to be in the mix. Has a nice, large modern arena, I believe. But it's been quiet since.

Oh, and the Cincinnati Reds don't draw so well....sure a small market and 81 home games to support, and at likely lower average prices than the NHL would necessitate, but a small market is a small market.

No baseball teams draw enough on a daily basis.

 

[Indy18]

I always figured Columbus would box out Cincinnati, like if it didn’t happen then, then why would it? But if Cincinnati is interested, now I’m asking questions if I’m in Cleveland, too.

Yes they would and as we know from the Columbus expansion carving out a pre-existing market to a new one would take 20 years to build up a solid consumer base and would cannibalized both teams market.

My theory...

This was a thinly veiled threat to Columbus ownership. Its no secret here our majority owner is extremely hands off and really shows no interest in the franchise as he hasn't been seen for years in the arena even on official business. Basically the team is being ran by his accountant and only picks up the phone to approve signing authority but other than that he's a blank check approving everything. Normally you don't want owners influencing GMs but this situation is running too far the other way to where the inmates run the asylum when things go wrong which in Columbus has started to happen. To our owners as long as we are running a strong gate it doesn't matter win or lose. This is basically a callout to Columbus to take more pride in its franchise and to get its house in order.

 

[x Tame Impala]

I can’t see how there’s enough talent in the league that’d fill 32-36 teams. A 16-team playoff is still the best format as well and I absolutely hate wild card/play-in rounds.

I’m not a billionaire businessman so WTF do I know, but how can a league that hypothetically watered down possibly be good for the NHL?

 

[GKJ]

Yes they would and as we know from the Columbus expansion carving out a pre-existing market to a new one would take 20 years to build up a solid consumer base and would cannibalized both teams market.

My theory...

This was a thinly veiled threat to Columbus ownership. Its no secret here our majority owner is extremely hands off and really shows no interest in the franchise as he hasn't been seen for years in the arena even on official business. Basically the team is being ran by his accountant and only picks up the phone to approve signing authority but other than that he's a blank check approving everything. Normally you don't want owners influencing GMs but this situation is running too far the other way to where the inmates run the asylum when things go wrong which in Columbus has started to happen. To our owners as long as we are running a strong gate it doesn't matter win or lose. This is basically a callout to Columbus to take more pride in its franchise and to get its house in order.

This is a good account as I can’t understand why the people running the Blue Jackets have been allowed to run amok the way they have with the decision making and seemingly no repercussions. In theory, is coming in to compete with them copacetic? It feels like that would weaken both.

 

[GKJ]

I can’t see how there’s enough talent in the league that’d fill 32-36 teams. A 16-team playoff is still the best format as well and I absolutely hate wild card/play-in rounds.

I’m not a billionaire businessman so WTF do I know, but how can a league that hypothetically watered down possibly be good for the NHL?

I think about it like this: are college sports too watered down? Talent level, it always has been. But they’re basically printing money. There’s far different circumstances, but it’s in a state of rapid growth, and has shifted to being market-based. And they turnover their star players every few years.

 

[Tawnos]

I can’t see how there’s enough talent in the league that’d fill 32-36 teams. A 16-team playoff is still the best format as well and I absolutely hate wild card/play-in rounds.

I’m not a billionaire businessman so WTF do I know, but how can a league that hypothetically watered down possibly be good for the NHL?

The last two expansion teams have been able to be competitive using players deemed expendable by their former teams. Yes, the expansion rules were favorable, but they also entirely disproved the talent dilution argument in my mind.

 

[Indy18]

This is a good account as I can’t understand why the people running the Blue Jackets have been allowed to run amok the way they have with the decision making and seemingly no repercussions. In theory, is coming in to compete with them copacetic? It feels like that would weaken both.

Nope its a "start taking pride in yourself or we are going to start putting the boot down on your throat".

There might be talks but its highly doubtful anything will materialize in Cincinnati. Basically this is a you have 15-20 years to get your house in order or we might start to consider sending you down I-71 with more motivated buyers/ownership group.