So just thought I'd re-chirp on this thread and just list potential expansion locations and some pros and cons
Cornwall - Pro: East expansion allows for easy beneficial division shuffle, Has decent arena I'm to understand. Con: Ownership questions, small market
Brantford - Pro: Extremely close to other markets for travel and away draw, largest metro in Ontario without an OHL team. Owner likely present. Con: Arena is small (2,952) and may require expansion.
Chatham - Pro: Easy West division expansion and travel location. Con: Arena questions, ownership questions.
Burlington/Oakville - Pro: Extremely close to to other markets and large metro. Con: No arena, Ownership questions, tight land availability, historically stingy council, proximity to Hamilton/Mississauga creates regional concerns.
Belleville - Pro: Rich hockey history, brings back the Bulls, has a working now renovated arena, east expansion allows for easy beneficial division shuffle. Con: Sens AHL affiliate currently plays there and is tied to a 10 year lease.
Brampton - Pro: Has an arena, ECHL team is drawing 3000+ (better then the Battalion Days), large metro. Con: Moved from Brampton to North Bay due to lack of support, currently has an ECHL team, area is already serviced by Mississauga (the arenas are literally 10 minutes down the road) and they are struggling for attendance.
Woodstock, Timmins, Brockville, Leamington, Lindsay, Stratford and Midland are also in the conversation, but realistically only because they are metros with populations greater then Owen Sound. That said, they all suffer the same problems, Ownership Questions, arenas that are too small, being very small markets, potentially already having allegiance to nearby OHL teams or in the case of Timmins, travel issues as well. I just don't see someone coming forward to make the investment in these places. I mean, it's a long and treacherous road whose promised land is to have what Owen Sound has, and that is a break even franchise that contributes to the community. Owen Sound's ownership is very clear, they are happy with that, and they share the costs amongst 5 different owners lessening the blow if a bad year comes around. It's not very often you find owners who are content with that, and the ones that are, are true hockey fans
I will also add that I am disqualifying Thunder Bay
While it may be the second largest metro in Ontario without an OHL team, its travel issues are simply insurmountable. The closest other team to Thunder Bay is SSM and it is 7 hours away. While an occasional long bus stint is acceptable, even if Thunder Bay was given it's own division of it's closest teams (SSM, Sudbury, Saginaw and North Bay) they would have 10.5 hours of travel time on average to teams within their own division. This is well beyond the current 9 hours the OHL currently has as its current max (SSM to Erie), and given every other team would be around 13+ hours away, it's just too much of a travel burden that not even teams in the WHL bear (yes they do have long stints, but they still play their majority of games in division which is usually 4 hours away). Unless the cost of air travel goes down dramatically, I can't see the league putting a team there barring an insanely rich owner who is willing to front the flight costs.