NHL expansion and they may be further along in the process than we think
Sportsnet 590 The FAN: Elliotte Friedman, when asked about NHL expansion and how far will the NHL look to go? Is the NHL thinking about how many US markets they can have a team in when the next TV contracts come up?
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Matt Marchese: “You mentioned expansion and 34 teams. Can we stop this, please? Like, listen, I love hockey, and I love that it’s, you know, it’s expanding and all that stuff. I don’t like the thought of expansion only because the league, in a way, does feel like 32 is probably too many, if not enough.
Like, I know that the league wants to get into certain markets and big team. Like, I understand all that. When does it end? Like is 34 the number? Do they want to go to 36? We’re going to 36. We’re having a different conversation altogether. How far along do you think this goes?
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Friedman: “I think that’s a great question. See, like if you heard, if you heard the league last year at the Board of Governors, what this comes down to is that of the big four sports leagues in the States, there’s no team that has less, there’s no league that has less teams in the Continental U.S. than, than the NHL does. They have 25. It’s 25 and seven.
And they, they’ve kind of admitted it, and I, I know them they’ve thought this way for years. But they’ve kind of admitted it, Matt, that they feel that there are pockets there that they can still go to. And I really do think they would like to go back to Arizona.
So I think it’s at least 34. You know, there’s a board of governors meeting next week, and I think we’re going to have a pretty good idea of where that Houston/Austin thing stands next week.
Now, I think that all of this is part of a bigger thing, and that is that there’s two years left in the U.S. TV deal with ESPN and TNT. And you know, Bettman is no idiot. He’s looking at how can I get a bigger deal, and the answer he thinks part to it is, if you have a Houston in there, and I think Houston’s the fifth-largest market, fourth or fifth largest market in the U.S. And you know, Phoenix is a little bit lower. I think Phoenix is around 24, but Atlanta is 10 or 12. I have it written down. I forgot.
And I think he’s looking at it and saying, ‘Can we get a better deal if we have these markets in it?’ And you know, I think that, that’s, it’s all part of this, right? It’s all interconnected.
Now, I will say this, Matt, I have heard that there are people who quietly are like you. They’re not convinced this is the best idea. But you know Bill Daly’s been on record as saying they do think there’s enough players. They’re not worried about that. And I think you know that if Bettman gets an idea and he starts going downhill, it takes a very brave person in the NHL to stop it.
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So I’m looking at this like we should all be prepared for it to happen. Whether it happens or not is another thing, but we should be prepared for it. And I also do believe that potentially this is farther along than they are willing to admit it publicly.”
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