So when is Salt Lake City going to get an NHL team?

[Voight]

Houston and QC are better options. SLC does well with their one major sport team. Two if you include MLS.

 

[The Great Mighty Poo]

Do you know how tiny battle creek is? Like 50k.
Grand Rapids or Lansing would be the only other cities you could maybe squint your eyes and make a bad case for an nhl team in Michigan.
And that is only of the strength of population in the metro areas not the actual city

 

[LuckyDay]

You literally have an instant "SLC Nation" with a franchise there. There's a reason Ray Kroc opened McDonald's franchises near churches. A SLC franchise is much more broad than the 1.2m that live there or the 3.2m that live in the entire state.

Plus the Olympics were quite successful there. There's clearly money there too.

Also, Bettman needs 4 more franchises in the league to have a 32 team playoff.

The only thing I can think of against it would be competition from the NBA and college football.

 

[ArmadilloThumb]

I never get how anyone can say they would never go above 32. The NHL is a private club essentially and any Bettman statements reflect what the BOG currently want. They can change their mind whenever they want.

The world is facing a unknown future for revenues and team valuations. This could be a grand reset for a number of things including franchise fees. If four people want to offer $250M and the BOG like the idea they expand. The rationale could be deeper US penetration means a better TV deal with more people staying home. Or not. Point is anything is possible in this new environment.

SLC may become a very attractive addition if there is significant migration from places that have had unrest, and they seem to have a high disposable wealth population. Also, Texas is expected to have 40 million people by 2035. They could have both Houston and Austin/San Antonio as potential spots (and go after the Hispanic market like Arizona is doing).

I'd like to see Quebec City get the Nords back, but FX, and where Quebec/Canadian politics go could be big negatives.

Remember the NHL is only in 22 US metro markets ever after Seattle, lots of soon to expand their impact.

 

[DitchMarner]

Didn't Joseph Smith make a prophecy that Salt Lake City would be awarded an NHL team in the year 2042?

 

[HisIceness]

Didn't Joseph Smith make a prophecy that Salt Lake City would be awarded an NHL team in the year 2042?

Joseph Smith he was a prophet dum-dum-dum-dum-dum

"Can you believe that kooky Joseph Smith?" "Yeah he said that God told him that Salt Lake City was going to have an NHL franchise in the year of our lord 2042!"

Joseph Smith he thinks the NHL will give Salt Lake City a franchise by 2042 dum-dum-dum-dum-dum

 

[TheNeutralPresident]

Didn't Joseph Smith make a prophecy that Salt Lake City would be awarded an NHL team in the year 2042?

dum dum dum dum dum

and Joseph Smith went to tell Miss Harris

dum dum dum dum dum

and Lucy Harris said it wouldn't happen

smart smart smart smart smart

Lyrics written by The Neutral President with collaboration from Trey Parker
Music composed by Trey Parker
All Rights Reserved

 

[TheNeutralPresident]

Joseph Smith he was a prophet dum-dum-dum-dum-dum

"Can you believe that kooky Joseph Smith?" "Yeah he said that God told him that Salt Lake City was going to have an NHL franchise in the year of our lord 2042!"

Joseph Smith he thinks the NHL will give Salt Lake City a franchise by 2042 dum-dum-dum-dum-dum

holy god you beat me to it HAHAHA

 

[KIRK]

I lived there for about 6 months . . .

1. Don't see it being a NHL market. A small city can support a NHL team, but I harbor doubts about one with no link to hockey (like say Buffalo).

2. @GlitchMarner, I can neither confirm nor deny what you've heard Joseph Smith prophesied.

 

[Mickey Marner]

Probably never, why would they?

 

[Rich Nixon]

Calgary kept the Flames name when they moved from Atlanta.

One of my favorite factoids: An NHL team in Alberta is named after Sherman's torching of Atlanta.

 

[kerrabria]

The fact you say shit like “there are too many Canadian teams as is” ignoring Quebec City and Hamilton, who the NHL admitted would be a top 5 revenue generator, then make an argument for a place like Salt Lake City means you are either having a laugh or are being emotional and don’t understand how the league works. Hell, you list Ottawa, who’s in the green, as undeserving yet make no mention of Arizona, Carolina and Columbus.

Tell the truth, you were hopped up on soda and playing EA NHL before posting.

Quebec City and Hamilton
Give me a single source that said that either would generate more revenue than freaking Pittsburgh or Detroit. You can't possibly believe that. Unless you're being obtuse and just counting the one year where there'd be an $800m expansion fee. Winnipeg does everything right, is bigger both Quebec and Hamilton, has a larger economy with more corporate support, (isn't reliant on precarious equalization payments btw like QC is) and WPG still isn't profitable.
Not to mention that Quebec would just pull the same shit that Montreal does and weaponize an NHL team for political statements by only hiring under-qualified, French-speakers in prominent roles who purposefully lose trades to get their French kids.

Ottawa
Ottawa operates on a profit of <$5m every single year solely because of the hilarious way Melnyk manages that franchise, and you know it.

Hamilton
New York can barely support two teams. The only people you ever see advocating for a second Golden Horseshoe team are Toronto fans, who, at the end of the day, aren't gonna switch loyalties (as would be needed to support the franchise). You just want a crappy team to have a faux rivalry with like the Yankees and Mets.

American Losing Teams
Yea, I'd be in favor of moving all of Florida, Arizona, Columbus, and the Islanders. Carolina is fine though.

Tell the truth, you don't base your opinions off of anything other than undeserved Canadian entitlement when it comes to hockey.

 

[NeelyWasAWarrior]

Lots of room for expansion in SLC especially along the SLC/Provo corridor. Maybe SLC wouldn't be the frontrunner right now and may be behind Houston and possibly Kansas City but 20 years from now I can see some momentum generating that could lead to an NHL team.

I mean the whole area just screams winter sports. And to those that don't see it, who saw hockey in LA or San Jose working out before they got teams?

 

[HisIceness]

This may cause some uproar but I'm going to say it anyway, Atlanta will get a franchise again before Salt Lake City does.

Someone else already pointed out that SLC is in the same boat as Milwaukee and several other small to mid-sized markets. In other words, there's room for one of the NBA/NHL but not both. That's 82 home games combined along with the NFL, MLS, and MLB that some of these markets already have. And, you also have to factor in college sports which does take up some of the pie depending on which market you're talking about. The smaller the market, the smaller the sports dollar stretches.

Cities like Houston, and yes even Atlanta (with competent ownership this time around) can better bear that burden as their populations are bigger and there's more wealth to go around to buy the suites and higher priced seats for 82 combined home games. And, most importantly there's a better chance of finding suitable owners, and the means to build/pay for (tax the taxpayers) new arenas if needed, who would represent those cities. Invading small-market NBA territory is one of the last things the NHL should be doing.

 

[Passchendaele]

I know it would never happen but imagine putting the 1st Pro sports team for (baseball, hockey, basketball, football) into Mexico City that has a metro of 20 million. Could be an epic fail or epic win. Lots of tourists would go to games.

My bet is it would flop badly.

Do Mexicans even play hockey? Who the hell would watch a sport they can't even relate to?

At least in Scandinavian countries, hockey is a thing. If you put aside the unrealistic traveling, Japan would probably be a better choice than Mexico.

 

[EXTRAS]

My bet is it would flop badly.

Do Mexicans even play hockey? Who the hell would watch a sport they can't even relate to?

At least in Scandinavian countries, hockey is a thing. If you put aside the unrealistic traveling, Japan would probably be a better choice than Mexico.

I'm sure not much hockey was played in the southern USA before the NHL showed up. That being said, if we are going to Asia, I'd like to see a team in Seoul, Korea. Seoul temperature in the winter is cooooold. Korea has some really world class speed skaters, and figure skaters, so they would have some rinks around, although they would need to be converted.

 

[Hatter of the Beach]

Do you know how tiny battle creek is? Like 50k.
Grand Rapids or Lansing would be the only other cities you could maybe squint your eyes and make a bad case for an nhl team in Michigan.
And that is only of the strength of population in the metro areas not the actual city

Woosh

 

[Bondurant]

Do you know how tiny battle creek is? Like 50k.
Grand Rapids or Lansing would be the only other cities you could maybe squint your eyes and make a bad case for an nhl team in Michigan.
And that is only of the strength of population in the metro areas not the actual city

No one knocks Cereal City, pal. Where's my dueling glove?

 

[Zenos]

The whole idea of markets "deserving" a franchise or not is so ridiculously silly.

Seriously, if you have a solid owner(-ship group), an NHL-ready arena, can pay the NHL expansion (or relocation fee), and convince the board of governors, then you deserve an NHL team. That's really it.

 

[DudeWhereIsMakar]

I think they should be given another AHL team first and go from there.

I thought it would've been a great place for Vegas to put their AHL team if it wasn't for bringing a higher demand of hockey to Las Vegas. I even thought Seattle should've considered it.

Hope Calgary or Vancouver consider.

 

[archangel2]

Week sister to the jazz if they got one

 

[Crede777]

The NHL won't expand to Quebec City or Hamilton. They're both already captured markets for the league. Plus, for Hamilton, you'd need the Maple Leafs and Sabres to both agree which they won't because they don't want the market competition.

Maybe if the NBA put a team in QC the NHL would look to add a team there in order to maintain what they currently have. But that's never going to happen.

If you think "how many hockey fans are currently there" is a criteria for selecting an expansion city, you're incorrect.

The considerations are:
1. What do the major networks (mainly NBC) want so we can get a better deal from them?
and
2. Where are there a lot of people who aren't hockey fans yet?

 

[Big McLargehuge]

I'm not sure why so many people want to put a team in a relatively geographically isolated market with an NBA team and no real hockey culture to speak of that's the size of Buffalo...other than it just looking right on the map.

I wish SLC made more sense so I had more reasons to go to Utah, but it really doesn't. Not without the league expanding beyond its means.

 

[WeaponOfChoice]

Quebec won't get a team again.

The push is largely coming from a PQ sovereigntist (Peledeau) as a political tool.

Players did not want to play in such a hostile francophone environment, and there wouldn't be any market expansion as it's still Habs land. What they realized with Ottawa (and lesser degree Hamilton's bid), was they're not expanding any kind of market share, they're just taking away from the Leafs. Aside from gate revenue, there's absolutely no growth in revenue for the league.

Seattle makes a lot of sense as it's a HUGE hockey market that won't cheer for a regional team in Vancouver. Vegas sort-of made sense for expanding the league but IMHO it could be Arizona v2.0 once the novelty wears off. Lets see how popular they are when they're a bottom feeder for 7 years.

IMHO Florida should move to Houston (or Austin).
Arizona should move to Portland.

Why is the NHL the only league in which going to markets that actually enjoy your product is a bad thing?

You're not taking anything away from the soldout Leafs.

 

[Crede777]

Why is the NHL the only league in which going to markets that actually enjoy your product is a bad thing?

You're not taking anything away from the soldout Leafs.

Because you're not really gaining anything. Hockey fans in QC and Hamilton already give the NHL their money. Adding teams there doesn't change that.

The focus of the NHL is to try to expand to markets where people don't already spend money on hockey.