NHL Expansion By 2017 To Las Vegas, Toronto, Seattle and Quebec City
Multiple sources including a tweet by Howard Bloom, have come out this week stating the National Hockey League aims to expand to 34 teams with a target date of 2017 in mind.
The reports claim the four additional teams will be located in Las Vegas, Toronto, Seattle and Quebec City. Three of the four locations come as no surprise due to expansion talks dating before the 2012 lockout.
NHL expansion – four teams added by 2017, Quebec City, Toronto, Seattle, and Las Vegas $1.4b in expansion fees
— Howard Bloom (@SportsBizNews) August 27, 2014
There’s plenty of reason as to why Seattle, Quebec City and an additional team in Toronto can become great expansion moves for the NHL. However, I’m just not convinced on Las Vegas being a top-tier choice for the NHL to expand to.
We all know Gary Bettman is all for expansion over relocation as the Arizona Coyotes and Florida Panthers will stay put for now and keep on hemorrhaging lost revenue for the league. Do you think increasing the number of teams to 34 which is more than there are NFL teams is a good move?
If you’re interested in knowing a bit more on how the NHL has shaped up through expansions from 1967 to 1999 then you should checkout this great documentary on that era of hockey here: