Gary Bettman came forward earlier this season and stated that the NHL wouldn't be closed to the idea of adding more teams to the League given the successes they've been having.
The NHL was having a Board of Governors meeting and Bettman made quite the revelation when he revealed the three cities that had shown interest in a franchise already. Chris Johnston was on top of things when he reported that Bettman stated that Quebec City, Houston, and Atlanta had expressed their interest. To calm things down he then said:
Bettman has been known to move pretty fast on these types of things and even though he stated that it was not imminent, it wouldn't be a surprise if they didn't change their mind.
All three cities already have the building in place to accommodate an NHL team, Houston and Atlanta are already involved in other major sports Football (NFL), Baseball (MLB), Basketball (NBA), and soccer (MLS). Quebec, on the other hand, his utilizing its brand new arena for its Quebec Major Junior Hockey League team, and yes it is bigger than what Arizona currently uses, and yes it does host more people on a nightly basis even for Major Junior action.
POLL | ||
15 MARS | 287 ANSWERS MAJOR | Bettman reveals the three cities that have expressed interest in an expansion team Who's topping your list for an expansion? | ||
Quebec City | 228 | 79.4 % |
Houston | 40 | 13.9 % |
Atlanta | 19 | 6.6 % |
List of polls |