Great. now we need to find one more Western city to join shortly after Quebec.
Not a shot. Any new hockey teams we’ll see will be in the minor leagues as NHL teams solidify prospect development, a la the AHL relocation to the west coast.
Let’s say the NHL was interested in expanding. Expansion fee for Seattle is $650 mil, up from $500 mil for Vegas. You can bet it would go up to around 3/4 of a billion dollars fee for Québecor, just shy of $1 bil CD not counting startup costs and having to pay salaries, bonuses, etc. before they’ve even made a dime. They’re priced out.
And when the NHL announced they were expanding at $500mil a pop, the old expansion candidates couldn’t even afford that. Kansas City and Hamilton, arenas in hand and the strongest relocation candidates of the last 15 years, didn’t even apply. Houston Rockets owner said he wanted a team, met with Bettman, found out the cost, and hasn’t made a peep since. Shelf your goals of a NHL with more than 32 teams for a long time.