WATCH ABOVE: NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman says Las Vegas doesn’t have a head start on other possible candidates.
LAS VEGAS — The NHL is officially exploring expansion.
The league is opening a formal expansion review process to consider adding new franchises to its 30-team league, Commissioner Gary Bettman announced Wednesday.
Las Vegas, Seattle and Quebec City are the markets that have expressed the most serious interest. A second team in the Toronto area leads the list of additional possibilities for any prospect owner with the likely $500 million expansion fee and a passion for hockey.
“The fact we are going through this process doesn’t mean we are going to expand,” Bettman said. “All it means is we’re going to stop just listening to expressions of interest and take a good, hard look at what they actually mean and represent.”
The Board of Governors met in Las Vegas on Wednesday before the NHL Awards and decided that the league will take formal applications for new franchises on July 6, closing the process Aug. 10.
The NHL hasn’t decided how many clubs it might add, and it doesn’t anticipate expansion before the 2017-18 season, Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said. Bettman indicated that an expansion fee would be at least $500 million, to be distributed among the existing clubs.
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The Board of Governors also formalized the rule changes that were approved Tuesday in a meeting of the league’s general managers. The NHL will play three-on-three hockey in overtime this fall, and coaches will be able to challenge certain goal calls on video replay. The NHL also is instituting minor changes to faceoff procedures.
But expansion is the most intriguing prospect for a league that has been at 30 teams since the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Minnesota Wild began play in 2000, with those ownership groups paying $80 million apiece to buy in.
The Las Vegas season-ticket drive received 13,200 deposits for seats at the brand new arena that’s set to open next spring, according to Daly.
Seattle and Quebec City are other leading candidates for expansion. Daly said other cities, such as Milwaukee, Portland and Kansas City have also expressed interest.
Bettman said the expansion fee will be at least US$500 million. Any applicants must also pay a fee, some of which is refundable, Daly said.
The NHL has had 30 teams since its most recent expansion in 2000, when the Columbus Blue Jackets and Minnesota Wild joined.
Currently the Eastern Conference has 16 teams while there are 14 in the West, something that could play a role in what cities the league might choose to expand to. But Bettman said geography and imbalance are not the sole factors.
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