The NHL will expand by at least one team next year and add a
total of four franchises by 2000, according to William Houston of
the Toronto GLOBE & MAIL. NHL sources cite the expected payoffs
as the reason for "reversing an earlier strategy of slower
growth." With sale prices for expansion predicted at $80-$85M
per team, current teams can expect a "windfall" of about $13M
each. The NHL charged $35-50M per team for the last round of
expansion in '94. The plan, according to the GLOBE & MAIL's
Houston, is to place teams in Atlanta, Nashville, Houston and
Portland. Ted Turner would own the Atlanta team and Paul Allen
the Portland entry. The league will either add two teams for
'97-98 and two more for '99-2000, or they will bring in one
franchise at a time starting in '97. With the league going to 30
teams, Portland would be placed in the Pacific Division, Atlanta
in the Atlantic, and Nashville and Houston in the Central (GLOBE
& MAIL, 8/27).
STILL HOPEFUL: In Minneapolis, Sid Hartman reports that
Target Center head Dana Warg is in the process of organizing a
group of 10 local business persons to apply for an NHL expansion
team. Hartman also reports that the word is the NHL will add
four teams soon, but he identifies only Nashville and Atlanta as
the two cities that are "sure to get franchises" (Minneapolis
STAR TRIBUNE, 8/27).
