The NHL’s Expansion Timetable Is Starting To Pick Up Some Steam

Less than six months ago, commissioner Gary Bettman downplayed the idea that additional NHL expansion was imminent.

“Expansion isn’t on the agenda,” he told reporters on Oct. 4. “If something were to progress along where you say, ‘Well, this could be ready to go,’ then I’ll bring it to the owners and we’ll discuss it. But we’re not in a mode where I’m saying, ‘OK, if you’re interested in expansion, submit your applications and we’ll evaluate them,’ like we’ve done previously.”

Since then, though, the expansion steak has started to sizzle — and it might end up being ready to come off the grill sooner than expected.

According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the momentum is starting to build due to the forever-tenuous status of the Arizona Coyotes. On shaky ground from virtually the first moment that they landed in the desert back in 1996, the Coyotes looked poised to finally achieve stability with a massive privately funded entertainment district set to be built in Tempe. But the proposal was voted down by a referendum last May.

As new NHL Players’ Association executive director Marty Walsh eviscerated the team for its current situation, playing home games in 4,600-seat Mullett Arena on the campus of Arizona State University, it looks like the Coyotes are down totheir last attempt at keeping their team in the Valley of the Sun.

Now, they have their eye on a piece of land in northeast Phoenix that is set to go up for auction. But that may not happen until June. And after so many disappointments, Friedman speculates that a backup plan is likely in place if this last gasp doesn’t come together in a timely manner.

That could be a move 700 miles north, to Salt Lake City.

Smith Entertainment Group already owns the NBA’s Utah Jazz, the Delta Center, Real Salt Lake of MLS and the Utah Royals of the NWSL. In January, owner and chairman Ryan Smith issued a formal statement expressing interest in bringing an NHL expansion team to Utah “as soon as possible.”

That wouldn’t have happened without Bettman’s backing. And while Smith’s eye is on a brand-new expansion franchise that he can mold from scratch like the Vegas Golden Knights and Seattle Kraken, his eagerness to get going would make him an excellent candidate if the league ultimately decides that it must relocate the Coyotes.

It has been nearly 13 years since the last relocation — and the pieces are all interconnected. On June 21, 2011, the sale of the Atlanta Thrashers was approved. The team moved north to become the second version of the Winnipeg Jets — in the same market where the original Jets left town in 1996, and set up shop in Phoenix.

Last week, two different groups formally expressed interest in bringing the NHL back to the Atlanta area for a third try.

Auto magnate Vernon Krause is looking for an NHL team to anchor a development in Forsyth County called The Gathering.

Meanwhile, the public face of the Alpharetta Sports and Entertainment Group is retired NHL forward-turned-broadcaster Anson Carter. He currently works for the Atlanta-based ‘NHL on TNT’ and is aligned with a group on a competing bid that was announced on Tuesday. It would be to the southwest of Krause’s proposed site.

NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly acknowledged Carter’s statement without moving the yardsticks.

“The League appreciates Anson’s passion for bringing NHL hockey back to the Atlanta area, and he has certainly kept the subject on our radar screen for several years running,” Daly said in a statement on Tuesday. “While, as we have made clear, we have no expansion oriented process in place currently, it’s always good to know there is bona fide interest.”

Across the board, valuations for pro sports teams are skyrocketing. And while Vegas paid a $500-million expansion fee to join the league in 2017 and that number jumped to $650 million for Seattle, the next round of NHL fees are expected to hit 10 digits after the Ottawa Senators, one of the league’s smaller-market franchises, were sold for $950 million last year.

For owners, the best part is that expansion fees are not treated as hockey-related revenue that needs to be split 50-50 with players under the NHL’s hard salary cap. Their full share of any expansion fee goes directly into their pockets.

If the Coyotes move, a relocation fee wouldn’t be as hefty. It would still be split among the owners, but that’s another reason why the preferred path for all parties would be to save Utah for a new expansion franchise if at all possible.

For the players, every additional franchise means 23 more NHL roster spots.

And from a league point of view, further expansion into new U.S. markets is beneficial in terms of expanding hockey’s footprint and growing the game at the grassroots level. Auston Matthews’ evolution from Arizona youth-hockey player to elite scoring star is the most visible example, but the last generation has seen spikes in NHL players coming from regions like Texas, California, Pittsburgh and St. Louis.

It’s not just Minnesota, Michigan and Massachusetts anymore.