Quote:
Originally Posted by Fire of the Phoenix
You'd think both the LV and QUE groups would compete to buy and relocate the Hurricanes, it would be way cheaper than the expansion fee. In addition, the team would come more stocked with talent than if it had to build from scratch (expansion draft).
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That would require that the NHL Board of Governors approve a relocation. They're not about to kiss half a billion dollars goodbye by doing that.
When, and only when, they have collected their pound of flesh for the two expansion franchises, they'll look at allowing existing franchises to relocate to any markets that are still available.
This is the end game – the real reason why Gary Bettman poured tens of millions of the owners' dollars down the bottomless pit of Phoenix, among other things. A cool billion in expansion fees covers those losses many times over. You may be sure that the owners gave Bettman his marching orders to do exactly that.