In today’s episode of The FAN Hockey Show, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet discussed the NHL’s possible expansion, noting that the league wants a “large number”, around $2 Billion.
Despite many recent rumblings of further expansion in the league, perhaps such a staggering amount will slow the roll somewhat. In the last few months it has been a hot topic. Atlanta has been brought up continuously, along with Arizona, Houston, and even Austin, Texas.
Given all the change in the last several years, even the most hardcore NHL fans back in the mid 2010s would be stunned to see the Golden Knights, Kraken, and Mammoth in existence. And while the idea of the league surpassing 32 teams is questionable, there is no denying that expansion has done tremendous things for the development of the sport as a whole. From California, to Florida, Dallas, Nashville, Vegas, and all the others, youth hockey hotbeds emerge as a result of the NHL coming to town, and it is hard to ignore.
Interestingly, just four years ago, the Seattle Kraken paid an expansion fee of $650 million, along with the Golden Knights’ $500 million in 2016. Clearly, if the NHL is going to go even further on expansion, it will only be to the most serious suitors who are willing to pay an exorbitant amount.
Friedman’s comments suggest that a possible league expansion is further away than it may seem. While it is a very exciting concept for fans of untapped and deserving markets, the NHL having the most teams of any major North American professional sports league is a debatable concept, especially if they were to return to a city which has already had an NHL franchise come and go.
Seems reasonable
No one is paying $2 billion. This is the NHL throwing out an unrealistic number so when it becomes $1 billion it feels like a bargain.
It’s bargain at twice the price!
It’s only 0.2% of a trillion!
Why would they ever float Arizona as an expansion city?! Bettman cant get over that it never worked there so he’s going to keep trying. Bad move.
It’s even crazier he wants to go to Atlanta for a third time.
Sorry to break it to you, but Arizona is not a city.
Sure it is. Its in Phoenix…
Are you even aware that Gary Bettman, like other major sports commissioners, works for league ownership and carries out what they ask him to do? It’s almost like you don’t know this simple factoid and think he is acting alone.
Yo dog read the article and take it up with the author. I referenced the location same as him!
I know the League is finally made changes that benefit the game and is looking healthier than it has in quite a while but to ask for that much higher a % to own a team seems a tad high I think. I mean you can ask for whatever you want but I wonder how long it would take a Hockey Team to even make anywhere near that much money back from their investment to make it worthwhile. Even if I had the dough I think I’d pass. Billionaires like to make money and this seems like a losing investment to even break even. Don’t really think the NHL needs expanding right now anyway.
The average value of a franchise right now is $2.1B. It wouldnt take long for it to be a profitable investment, especially in a big market like Houston.
Well … and how do we know that? That “average value” has far less to do with annual profits and far more to do with the purported resale value in a closed shop. If we really thought that a team was clearing as much as a hundred million a year (and this is a league still highly dependent on gate revenue), that’s still twenty years simply to break even on the deal … not taking inflation into account.
Why are we discounting resale value? That’s the most valuable part of owning a sports franchise.
That would be like buying a stock and only counting dividends as its value.
And if I’m the league officials, I’m not remotely interested in getting a franchise owner who’s solely interested in flipping the team for a profit a couple years down the road. All that approach ensures is scorched earth, a city ruined for hockey and a running sore.
I dont disagree with that sentiment, but it isnt quite where the original point of the discussion was. I was just disagreeing that it is a bad investment for a billionaire.
No more expansion!
Players, coaches, management, doctors, trainers, arena employees, etc……a long list of opportunities come with every new team. Why are you anti-job creation?
Considering that in 10 years $2B is going to be a fair price of an NHL franchise, the figure is realistic. It is also a good one because the buyer will only be able to return their investment in about 15 years. This will exclude those looking for a quick buck.
If anything, I’d be asking for $2.5B and keep raising it by 10% every year.
$2B ensures that only serious people are going to bid. $2.5B will attract only VERY serious people. And that’s what you need for expanding beyond 32 teams.
That’s one way to avoid expansion – unless the next Boots Bataglio swoops in with golden bitcoin…
Considering the fact that there are 3028 billionaires worldwide, and that 902 of them live here in the United States, the NHL might lure one or more of them in. I hope that doesn’t happen. There’s no need for more teams in the NHL. In my opinion I would be happy with fewer teams in the league. There are too many players in the league now that don’t belong here. Too many fringe players that are good in the AHL, but can’t make the jump to the NHL. But the owners have to put product on the ice to make money, so you have too many sub standard teams with five or six or maybe eight good players and the rest below NHL standards.
Jim Ballsillie on line one. Doesn’t have billions anymore. But he was worth about 3B when he wanted to buy and relocate multiple teams to the Hamilton area.
Yeah, you sort of wonder whether the old maritime joke applies here. “What’s the surest way to become a millionaire? A multi-millionaire buying a yacht.”
I always find it interesting to see why the NHL likes to go back to cities where it failed. No doubt quality ownership is the key factor on whether a franchise will be successful in any city. Curious why no cities outside the US were not mentioned?
Because no one in Canafa had 2B USD?
Depending on the list, Canada has between 62 and 76 billionaires. So no.
Toronto could use an NHL team honestly.
I would love to see Quebec come back to the NHL