NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly opens up on league expension: More American teams to join

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Cooper Godin
August 25, 2024 (2:38 PM)

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Photo credit: Detroit Hockey Now

NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly discusses future expansion in a recent interview with Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman.

In the last seven years, we've seen the National Hockey League expand from 30 to 32 teams, bringing teams to Vegas and Seattle. Utah has also been added to the league, through a non-traditional relocation of the Arizona Coyotes, but can be classed as an expansion team as well. They're set to begin play this fall in Salt Lake City.

Both Vegas and Seattle have been very successful when it comes to filling their arena on a nightly basis and from a revenue standpoint, have probably exceeded expectations by many.

Because of the success with bringing teams to Vegas and Seattle, we could see the National Hockey League expand even further in the coming years.

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During the European Player Media Tour, NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daily sat down with Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman for an interview and was very eager to talk to talk about future expansion, but didn't give specifics as to when it could happen, how many teams they'll expand to or where they'll have new teams.

"Daly was most interesting talking about expansion. It's coming - and the union believes that as well - but was very careful not to be pinned down. "At the appropriate time" was the phrase he used. It's clear the league sees legitimate interest and is putting together a proper process, taking meetings and gathering information. He pointed out that, in the United States, the NHL is in fewer markets than its professional brethren, while Seattle and Vegas prove there is "a model that works, a model that allows you to be competitive out of the gate Doesn't mean that it's imminent, doesn't mean that it's going to happen in the next year or so."" Friedman said.

Daly went on to mention in the interview that the league does have a maximum number of teams they'd like to have, but didn't expand on that comment. It could be 34, 36 or even more than that.

"Yes. Do I know what that number is? No. I will also say it's not just (commissioner Gary Bettman) or I making that decision, it's also our ownership group that makes the decision. With the last two expansions in particular, the thought process was a lot different (than 1998-2000). Everybody was just interested in adding clubs, there was an $80M expansion fee, right? It's much more business-oriented now in terms of how clubs look at it. They don't want to add franchises just to add franchises, they want to add franchises that will grow the value of the league. 'Does this market make sense for the National Hockey League? Does it make my franchise more valuable?' Understanding that I might get a nice cheque in the short term, but this is a longer-term look at asset-value and whether they are making the league better." Daly said.

There are a number of cities that are likely interesting in adding a National Hockey League franchise to the fold. One of those, who already have an arena deal approved is Atlanta, Georgia. In their previous two times in the league (Flames & Thrashers), was unstable ownership groups, leading to relocation on both instances, to Calgary and Winnipeg.

Other potential expansion cities include Houston, Texas; Quebec City, Quebec; Portland, Oregon; Phoenix, Arizona; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Kansas City, Missouri; and Cincinnati, Ohio.

Source: Elliotte Friedman/32 Thoughts32 Thoughts: A collection of late off-season notes

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25 AOUT \| 185 ANSWERS NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly opens up on league expension: More American teams to join Which of these four cities should the NHL expand to?
Houston	29	15.7 %
Quebec City	152	82.2 %
Atlanta	4	2.2 %
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