MAJOR | Bettman reveals the three cities that have expressed interest in an expansion team

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Felip Gosselin
March 15, 2023 (11:23)

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The recent successes in the NHL for expansion teams such as Vegas and Seattle have been quite the revelation. Both teams have not only been adjusting well to the financial reality, but they also didn't waste to put on a competitive show in their respective cities.

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:

"But we're not in an expansion mode right now and it's not really something, at least right now, that's anywhere close to front-burner for us."

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.