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Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague
It's mostly the Leafs and potentially to some extent the Senators. There aren't a lot of non-expats who are crossing the border to go and support a new franchise in Ontario.
But yeah, the big hurdle is MLSE wanting to maintain a monopoly over southern Ontario NHL hockey. An expansion there would cost them millions upon millions not only in terms of revenue but even future franchise value. If it costs 650 million to expand to Seattle, it'd probably cost almost twice that in the GTA.
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I believe Richard Peddie a few years back, "dispelled" the rumor that the Leafs were holding back a second Toronto expansion team. He said the Leafs don't officially have a veto on such a thing (and neither do the Sabres). Now, there's the reality of influence specifically the Leafs have on the league, which he never touched on, which I could totally see them not wanting it to happen especially at the time when the Leafs were mediocre. Could you imagine a Markham team being better than the Leafs and winning it all ahead of them? I'm sure it'd piss off a bunch of the Leafs fans.
I'm sure Toronto has the corporate support to have two teams - the question is where. To me Kitchener/Waterloo doesn't have the corporate appeal and is too far outside the GTA to make it work, but I could see Markham working. Really an up and coming place in the downtown area as well. Too bad they had a convicted criminal in Graeme Roustan pushing for it a few years back with a very silly plan. Get someone legit to work with them and it could be a thing in a few years.