McKenzie NHL Expansion targets: #1 Seattle and #2 Las Vegas

[DionTheDman]

Outside of the strip, I don't get the impression that LV is a very wealthy city. I wouldn't imagine there would be a lot of A) corporate support B) civic pride or C) sizable fan base that would make it work.

[DOOM]

Personally not a fan of the NHL expanding, replace the two weakest teams with Las Vegas and Seattle.

[btimbit]

Seattle would have a great rivalry with the Canucks. They'd have a supporter right here from the get-go

[djsFlames]

Originally Posted by Sidney Crosby's Hat

You just know that the arena they're building will have slot machines in the concourse. Maybe even at the seats...

That would be hilarious. At least there will be ways to keep busy when the team will suck.

My vote is for Seattle and Portland. That would be great. The Winterhawks already get a lot of support as far as WHL clubs go. Also that would allow for a bunch of teams within a short vicinity of eachother, kind of like out east. Could make some western teams more attractive with division teams never far away.

[N-E-B]

Originally Posted by DionTheDman

Outside of the strip, I don't get the impression that LV is a very wealthy city. I wouldn't imagine there would be a lot of A) corporate support B) civic pride or C) sizable fan base that would make it work.

Corporate support would likely come from the casinos so I don't think that would be a problem. I do agree with you that the town is not very wealthy. Lots of the people that live there full time do not have very high paying jobs. For me, Vegas is a total crapshoot. It could be either a total bust, or it could be genius.

[DionTheDman]

Originally Posted by N-E-B

Corporate support would likely come from the casinos so I don't think that would be a problem. I do agree with you that the town is not very wealthy. Lots of the people that live there full time do not have very high paying jobs. For me, Vegas is a total crapshoot. It could be either a total bust, or it could be genius.

Yeah for sure it'd have to be the casinos. Either that, or bail bond companies.. I didn't see much else off strip.

Spearmint Rhino ice girls would be a nice touch, though.

[Dion]

What about Edmonton? I'm sure the fans there would appreciate having an NHL quality team.

[Tsawwassen]

Originally Posted by djsFlames

That would be hilarious. At least there will be ways to keep busy when the team will suck.

My vote is for Seattle and Portland. That would be great. The Winterhawks already get a lot of support as far as WHL clubs go. Also that would allow for a bunch of teams within a short vicinity of eachother, kind of like out east. Could make some western teams more attractive with division teams never far away.

That would be great and it would make for a great road trip. Vancouver, Seattle, and Portland to get to see your favourite team coming in. I know Portlanders and Seattlites enjoyed doing that when the Grizzlies and Sonics were around.

[DiracSpike]

If Seattle gets all their arena stuff figured out and the owners are the same bros trying to bring back the supersonics I think it's an absolute home run. Kansas City has an amazing new building that they built to attract NHL/NBA, that might make it more attractive facility wise than Portland, the Rose Garden must be coming up on being 20 years old.

[Parallex]

Both seem like good ideas... depending on the state of the leagues weaker financial sisters. The NHL is not going to want to contract so I'd think they'd want relocation options that are attractive but don't include the expansion fee honeypot that is the larger underserved Canadian markets.

[Vulcan]

It seems obvious from the unbalanced re-alignment that Gary is targeting the west for expansion. My preference would be Portland and Seattle but the thing is they need owners and in Seattle's case an arena. This all seems at a very early stage for teams in the PNW while in Quebec City they have a new arena being built with a willing and moneyed owner. Meanwhile the NHL is targeting a gamble in Las Vegas, par for the course though with Bettman not seeming to know that water runs downhill.

[devo22]

I don't see LV being that risky. Looking at the average attendance of the Las Vegas Wranglers in the ECHL:

2011-12: 4,339
2012-13: 4,561
2013-14: 4,689

Stable numbers and always right around the league average. Not saying that it's a prime hockey market or anything, but if you can get 4,500 people into a god damn ECHL game, I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility to get a 14,000 or 15,000 people into an NHL game on a regular basis. Especially with all the tourists and a nearly unlimited range of possible combo-tickets.

[GreenLantern]

Love to see a team in Seattle, call them the SuperSonics!

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by Vulcan

It seems obvious from the unbalanced re-alignment that Gary is targeting the west for expansion. My preference would be Portland and Seattle but the thing is they need owners and in Seattle's case an arena. This all seems at a very early stage for teams in the PNW while in Quebec City they have a new arena being built with a willing and moneyed owner. Meanwhile the NHL is targeting a gamble in Las Vegas, par for the course though with Bettman not seeming to know that water runs downhill.

I don't like Quebec's chances. There are no teams in the East in difficulties right now plus the Quebec owner seems to be another Ballsilie, a loudmouth that Bettman doesn't like. No chance Quebec City gets a team before Bettman retires. And even then Bill Daly may just follow that same plan.

[the2bears]

Originally Posted by btimbit

Seattle would have a great rivalry with the Canucks. They'd have a supporter right here from the get-go

There's no natural rivalry here. It would have to be created.

[burn_baby_burn]

Originally Posted by nik-

I gotta imagine that Vegas would immediately become the number one standings independent FA destination.

Sunny warm climate. No state income tax. It would be very attractive indeed.

[troutman]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

I don't like Quebec's chances. There are no teams in the East in difficulties right now plus the Quebec owner seems to be another Ballsilie, a loudmouth that Bettman doesn't like. No chance Quebec City gets a team before Bettman retires. And even then Bill Daly may just follow that same plan.

I don't think the NHL will be able to ignore this gold mine for long. Money talks. Rogers will want a team here:

http://www.ville.quebec.qc.ca/webcam..._ensemble.aspx

What is McKenzie's source for any of this? Daly has said publicly many times that expansion is not on the NHL agenda.

[Reaper]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern

Love to see a team in Seattle, call them the SuperSonics!

Please welcome your Seattle Crippling Depression!

[Senator Clay Davis]

Seattle would be pretty attractive to FAs too. Washington State also has no state income tax (as do Texas and Florida), Seattle is a great cultural city, plus since the NHL doesn't drug test for weed, and since its legal in Washington State, and you can get your weed delivered direct to your door, I'm guessing young players would like that.

Las Vegas I'm skeptical whether it can actually work, but I think the NHL knows if the NBA gets into Vegas first it will likely never be able to succeed. I really only see one professional sports team working in Las Vegas, the entertainment market is obviously pretty well taped.

That said, the same can be applied to Seattle, particularly if the Sonics come back. Then you have a team from the NFL that is wildly succesful, a new NBA team that people will want to see, the Mariners want to try and be more relevant (hence the ridiculous Cano contract), then there's the Sounders who have done very well. Plus UDub wants to be a national program again and refurbed their stadium to do so (and hired a big time coach). Where does an NHL team fit into all of that? The entertainement dollar of the average fan can only see so much.

[troutman]

The pros and cons for Las Vegas and Seattle and Quebec, already laid out here:

http://forum.calgarypuck.com/showthr...egas+expansion

http://forum.calgarypuck.com/showthr...egas+expansion

http://forum.calgarypuck.com/showthr...egas+expansion