Ducks Soup: NHL Gets Expansion Bids, and Don Cherry Approves!

We sure hope you hate the saying, “Less is more,” because the NHL is about to give you more, more more!

Hey, Ducks fans!

Even though the NHL is in the midst of its offseason, there are decisions being made that will shape the course of the league in 2015-2016 and beyond.  Since I would not be able to sleep at night unless I felt I had kept you all “in-the-know” (this is only partially true, mind you), I have scoured the internet (translation: read my email and Flipboard) to present the following news!

Don’t thank me – it’s why they pay me the big bucks (they barely pay me at all).

The biggest news going down in the NHL this week has to involve the idea of expansion.  Unless you just flat-out were paying attention, the NHL set itself up for expansion by short-changing the Western Conference by two teams.  Now, the NHL is moving ahead, having just announced that it has accepted applications from prospective ownership groups in Las Vegas and Quebec City:

"Bill Foley has put his money down on an NHL expansion team in Las Vegas. And Quebec City is getting a second chance at being a pro hockey market.The two cities moved one step closer to joining the NHL as expansion teams after the league announced Tuesday it has received applications from prospective ownership groups in both markets, a day after a deadline for submissions.The Las Vegas bid was submitted by Foley, a billionaire businessman who has spent the past seven months exploring the level of interest for professional hockey in the gambling mecca. Montreal-based Quebecor, a Canadian media and telecommunications giant, submitted the bid for Quebec City, which previously served home to the NHL’s Nordiques."

Each group had to pay a $10 million down payment, only $2 million of which is nonrefundable.  Also, should the NHL decide to grant either (or each) of these groups a franchise, it will cost $500 million.  I feel guilty about dropping $60 on a video game, so that type of money?  I can’t even begin to imagine what it’s like.

In case you were wondering, Don Cherry is extremely excited at the thought of seeing the NHL return to Quebec City.  He took to Twitter to express his joy – here is but a sample:

Man, he doesn’t really understand the concept of Twitter, does he?

Personally, I was hoping that Seattle would get a bid in, but that did not happen.  So what does that mean for the city of Seattle?

"Seattle could become the interesting safety net here for the NHL. If they decide to grant expansion franchises to Las Vegas and Quebec City, that takes the league to 32 teams. Expanding beyond that seems a tall order in the near future. But relocation remains possible somewhere down the line. The fee for relocation is substantially lower than what the NHL believes it can get for expansion.For instance, True North paid the league $60 million for relocation fees after it purchased the Atlanta Thrashers in order to move it to Winnipeg. That fee would likely be higher now, but not $500 million high like the expansion fee. That kind of discount sure would come in handy if you’re also trying to build a new arena from scratch.That’s why keeping an open line of communication with Bartoszek makes a lot of sense, regardless of what the NHL does in the expansion process next."

We’ll break down what expansion would mean to the NHL and the Anaheim Ducks once the process really begins to pick up steam.

Next: Ducks Give Josh Manson an Extension

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