Rumors of a Seattle Expansion being announced after the Olympics

[dsjunior1388 81]

http://tracking.si.com/2013/07/31/nhl-pushing-for-seattle-franchise/?sct=nhl_t2_a1

http://prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com/2014/02/13/nhl-deputy-commissioner-bill-daly-believes-possibility-for-expansion-to-seattle-is-there/

Bill Daly has confirmed the possibility of an expansion franchise being awarded to Seattle Investors, to play in recently renovated Key Arena.

Edit: Headline may be misleading, most of that was garnered from a rumor site on facebook that I havent been able to corroborate with actual news sources yet.

[Chadd 916]

Seattle and Portland have both been on the radar for more than a decade. Vegas is an interesting situation as well, but I don't think there will be another expansion in the desert for a while. I would be more interesting in seeing if the league allows one team to come in instead of two coming in together. Given the way the league was realigned before this season, I suspect that the two cities and investor groups have already been decided upon and are in the west.

[wrangler 157]

Why do I suspect this will be at the expense of the teams that make money?

[chippa13 1844]

Franchise fees and encroachment fees will put a few more dollars into the money makers pockets.

[bandits_5 18]

Kansas City? They did nearly land the Penguins. Toronto? They could easily support 2 teams and 1 in east ,1 in west means they could possibly play for the cup.

[Chadd 916]

Kansas City? They did nearly land the Penguins. Toronto? They could easily support 2 teams and 1 in east ,1 in west means they could possibly play for the cup.

They would have to move someone to the west and I have a hard time believing that Detroit would go west again willingly.

[Stodgy 8]

Send Columbus. They have the lower seniority

[Chadd 916]

Send Columbus. They have the lower seniority

Despite being farther east? Makes a ton of sense.

[IPv6Freely 2092]

Instead of an east and west, why not do two "leagues" kind of like how baseball does it (though with significantly more inter-league play)? That way Toronto and say, Montreal, despite both being obviously "eastern" terms, could still meet in the cup finals. Just a random not-very-well-thought-out musing.

[hunterphfr 12]

Instead of an east and west, why not do two "leagues" kind of like how baseball does it (though with significantly more inter-league play)? That way Toronto and say, Montreal, despite both being obviously "eastern" terms, could still meet in the cup finals. Just a random not-very-well-thought-out musing.

My first thought is the first answer to almost everything, $$$$$$. They've made a big effort in the realignment to keep travel costs down.

[HattrickSwayze 3]

As much as I would love to see this happen, I just don't see it happening any time soon. Last I checked, no teams were able to move, especially since Phoenix just signed their 400 year mortgage deal or whatever. It makes sense to me, though I'm a bit biased. The T-Birds and 'Tips have pulled solid attendance the last few years, Vancouver is a reasonable drive away, and hockey has a pretty good following around here. It's definitely not going to be confused with the Midwest, but I think there's more hockey fans here than most people realize.

[Chadd 916]

As much as I would love to see this happen, I just don't see it happening any time soon. Last I checked, no teams were able to move, especially since Phoenix just signed their 400 year mortgage deal or whatever. It makes sense to me, though I'm a bit biased. The T-Birds and 'Tips have pulled solid attendance the last few years, Vancouver is a reasonable drive away, and hockey has a pretty good following around here. It's definitely not going to be confused with the Midwest, but I think there's more hockey fans here than most people realize.

Expansion means new teams, relocation would mean moving an existing team.

[shotty 7]

vegas doesn't have any pro sports teams because, among various sports betting issues, the city is a tourist destination and the season ticket holders would probably be casinos, not real people.

there was a person involved in the sports scene in seattle on the vancouver sports radio station not too long ago, and he pretty much said that key arena is not suitable at all for hockey, and the new arena that the investors want to build has a covenant that an NBA franchise has to be secured first and foremost before anything can proceed. I would assume that as soon as the NBA decides to return to Seattle, the NHL will be right there as well.

chadd is absolutely right, the new alignment has been organized in a way to add two teams to the west.

[IPv6Freely 2092]

I would assume that as soon as the NBA decides to return to Seattle, the NHL will be right there as well.

I think you're spot on with this.

[dsjunior1388 81]

I think you're spot on with this.

I think it's important that an NHL team get into Seattle before a basketball team and set down roots before the NBA comes back.

[shotty 7]

i agree, but the arena will not be built until the NBA awards a franchise, either thru expansion or relocation. their last bid was declined/blocked by the NBA.

[IPv6Freely 2092]

The problem there is that typically franchises in either sport don't get awarded unless there is already an arena built, no?

[Chadd 916]

The problem there is that typically franchises in either sport don't get awarded unless there is already an arena built, no?

That's not always the case. Tampa played in two different places before the new Forum opened downtown. San Jose played in the Cow Palace at first. The Hurricanes relocated and played a season somewhere other than where they are now.

[Souldriver 64]

The problem with Seattle is their location is a bit remote (though vancouver being in the NHL makes it less so, but every baseball team hates the trip up there) and their sports teams tend to be a bit "faddish." No knock on the fans or the teams but the mariners used to be a big thing, now not so much and since ichiro left there isnt much. The nba always has teams flying all over and Seattle wasnt immune to it. the seahawks are the best team not only bc they won the superbowl but bc people crap their pants to go to a football game. i mean there are only 8 games a season at home so you better sell it out. but even between their super bowl appearances and before their first one there wasnt much interest payed to them.

With that said i think a Seattle NHL team could be cool, though an expansion team may get crushed for years with the way the West looks and i dont see any of the teams except maybe vancouver getting any worse any time soon.

[Jason Harris 31]

Given there are few cities that would come close to selling out if their teams are bad, I was actually surprised to see how engaged Seattle fans are with their sports teams. Real Sports had a vignette on the Seattle Sounders, who are only five seasons into their history, yet are consistently trouncing the other teams in attendance. Even better, they're like European fans who trek to the stadium en masse with drums before their games,

[Stewie 721]

Given there are few cities that would come close to selling out if their teams are bad, I was actually surprised to see how engaged Seattle fans are with their sports teams. Real Sports had a vignette on the Seattle Sounders, who are only five seasons into their history, yet are consistently trouncing the other teams in attendance. Even better, they're like European fans who trek to the stadium en masse with drums before their games,

theres something like that here with the DCFC, on a minor league team scale, its pretty fun to watch/be part of the march