The NHL heard eleven presentations from nine cities vying for an NHL expansion team this week in New York. The TORONTO SUN's Al Strachan wrote "although no one will say it publicly, it is becoming increasingly clear that the NHL intends to expand by two teams for the 1998-99 season and two more for 2000-2001" (TORONTO SUN 1/15). League expansion is profiled by John Helyar in this morning's WALL STREET JOURNAL, who notes, "For the NHL, this latest growth is largely TV-driven. ... This expansion round will fill out the league's 'national footprint' as they say in NHL-speak, and perhaps allow the league to score bigger national TV money" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 1/17). The following chart examines each expansion bid. NOTE: ^ = Hamilton is listed as having 6 million TV viewers (USA TODAY 1/13, THE DAILY).
| TV MARKET METRO |
| CITY | RATING | POPULATION | LEAD BIDDER |
| ATLANTA | 10th | 3.33M | Time Warner/TBS |
| HOUSTON | 11th | 4.1M | Les Alexander |
| Three Bids | | | Chuck Watson |
| | | Gavin Maloof |
| ST. PAUL | 14th | 2.69M | Robert Naegele, Jr. |
| RALEIGH-DURHAM | 30th | 965,000 | Felix Sabates |
| NASHVILLE | 33rd | 1.07M | Craig Leipold |
| COLUMBUS, OH | 34th | 1.42M | Ron Pizzuti |
| HAMPTON ROADS, VA | 40th | 1.53M | George Shinn |
| OKLAHOMA CITY | 43rd | 1.01M | OK Publishing Co. |
| HAMILTON, ONTARIO | ^ | 599,000 | City of Hamilton |
