KevFu
Registered User
May be in the past the Leafs would ask for a lot of money to give it's so called territory but now seeing that they are a multi billion dollar juggernaut they might just waive the territory fee as a good PR. move because if they ask for a boat load cash up front they would have PR nightmare on there hands since they just signed that huge naming rights deal with Scotiabank & asking for money for a Hamilton (Southern Ontario) regional franchise would be deemed greedy & huge backlash will ensue against MLSE. Buffalo on the other hand I could see getting small but fair territory fee somewhere in between $50 - 80 million dollars that is it
The way to do it is a small sliver percentage cut. Because the owner of the Sabres when the Hamilton team arrives would get paid, but that doesn't protect the franchise long term.
It's beneficial for Hamilton, because the biggest hurdle for landing a team is the massive startup costs. If it costs $750 for an expansion team, $400 for an arena, and MLSE and BUF both want massive territorial fees in the $300 range... no one wants to be the FIRST owner of Hamilton, you want to be the SECOND owner of Hamilton. Because then it costs you $800 to buy the team, not $1.75 billion to buy your way into the league.