NHL to focus on Las Vegas, Quebec City expansion bids

The NHL confirmed Tuesday that it had received expansion applications from Bill Foley for a franchise in Las Vegas, and from Quebecor for a franchise in Quebec City, Canada, and that the league will focus solely on those bids as it considers expanding beyond its current 30 teams.

The candidacy of both groups was boosted by the presence of a new arena in each city. An arena on the Las Vegas Strip is near completion, and a new arena in Quebec City is scheduled to open in September. None of the other groups that had been expected to apply for an expansion franchise had the advantage of a new, hockey-ready arena.

If expansion is approved, the new team or teams likely would debut in the 2017-18 season. NHL owners prefer expansion to relocation of existing franchises because expansion fees are expected to be hefty -- perhaps as much as $500 million -- and those revenues would not have to be shared with players.

Here’s the NHL’s full news release:

“As previously announced, NHL expansion applications were made available to all potentially interested applicants on July 6. Since that date, we have received requests from, and responded by sending applications to, 16 separate groups/individuals.

“The deadline for filing an application and proceeding in the NHL expansion process was [Monday]. We can confirm that we have received two applications: one from Bill Foley for a franchise in Las Vegas, Nevada, and one from Quebecor for a franchise in Quebec City, Quebec.

“Our purpose, in initiating the expansion process in the manner we did, was not only to explore the possibility of admitting new members to the NHL but also, at the outset, to set realistic guideposts to distinguish between bona fide expressions of interest (i.e., those which have at least substantial ownership capabilities and an arena or the realistic possibility of an arena) from those indications of potential interest which were, at best, merely hopes or aspirations. Apparently, only Mr. Foley and Quebecor have the confidence in their ability to secure an arena and suitable ownership capability to move forward with this process.

“We now intend to focus exclusively on the two expansion applications that have been submitted in accordance with the previously announced process. The process we have outlined for qualified applicants includes at least two more stages of documentation submission. We will provide no further updates until there is something substantive to announce.”

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