Commissioner Gary Bettman has spoken repeatedly of his desire to move slowly with the process and there’s no reason to think his position has changed.
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On Tuesday, the Bill Foley-led group as well as Quebecor made their final pitches to the NHL’s Executive Committee on Tuesday to bring their respective cities to the NHL as the 31st and 32nd teams in the league.
“They have been invited to make presentations to the Executive Committee on Tuesday”, National Hockey League Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly wrote in an email to the Associated Press. The collective bargaining agreement between the league and the NHL Players’ Assn. runs through September 15, 2022, though each side has an option to terminate the agreement two years sooner.
Bettman said earlier this month the league is “not feeling any timeline pressure” in the expansion process and has proposed an expansion fee of US$500 million – a significant jump from the $80 million fee paid by the Columbus Blue Jackets and Minnesota Wild, when the NHL last expanded to 30 teams in 2000.
The Quebec City delegation was led by Quebecor President & CEO Pierre Dion and Vice-Chairman Brian Mulroney, the Canadian Prime Minister from 1984-93. Foley said the lease for the arena has already been negotiated, which gives his group ownership rights and partial “input and control”, with Los Angeles Kings parent company, AEG, and MGM Resorts worldwide also holding a stake.
“Even with the exchange rate, we can handle the team”, Mulroney said. That may come during their winter meetings in December, when a final decision appears much more likely to be made.
Quebec City faces entirely different issues.
“We got asked a lot of really good questions”, Foley said. It was a complete presentation.
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The Montreal Canadiens “hosted” the Pittsburgh Penguins in an exhibition game on Monday night at the spectacular new Videotron Centre in Quebec City. So, we feel it went well. He likened what happened in Quebec City on Monday to the Vegas Wants Hockey group already selling 13,500 season tickets for a team that doesn’t yet exist that hopes to play in an arena that isn’t scheduled to open until April 2016. Although the 2017-18 season has been presumed to be the target date, Bettman said that is not necessarily the case. “They saw the enthusiasm in the room, but, as Pierre says, the owners will make the decision…It is their process”.
