“NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly acknowledged Monday morning that the establishment of a second franchise in Southern Ontario is a possibility.
And if the Toronto Maple Leafs don’t like it, Daly said in so many words, they can lump it.
However Daly would not speculate on when this could happen.
“I suppose, without talking about time frame, there may be,” he said of the possibility.”(source-David Shoalts, Globe Sports)
After all the speculation as too the possible reasons for why the NHL was so intent on blocking billionaire Jim Balsillie from re-locating The Phoenix Coyotes to Hamilton during the off season, it’s still somewhat unclear what was really going on.
What is clear is that the league already had designs on putting a team in southern Ontario, and it’s more likely than not that it was the expansion fee that would be collected from the potential buyer(s) that was the real motivator to block Balsillie.
The expansion fee amount is speculated to be in the neighbourhood of $500 million (US Dollars), which is over double what Balsillie was bidding for the Coyotes.
It’s hard to say what’s really going on behind the scenes when you’re talking about the NHL front office, but this had the feel of lawyers all over it and it truly re-enforces the fact that hockey (all major sports for that matter) is really a business.
That’s not to suggest that I ever had any other impression of the reality here, but it does sting a bit with the whole “make it 7” campaign that Balsillie was trumpeting. For me that whole thing wasn’t about Canada or patriotism per say, it was about the feeling that the fans had a voice and Balsillie was listening.
What a novel idea?
To actually listen to the people who fill the stands, gather in bars and restaurants, crowd around the television at home and friends houses to watch the product your selling. The same people who are wondering why the NHL is so opposed to what seems so obvious to them. Why wouldn’t the NHL want to listen to the voice of the passionate hockey fans who only want something to cheer for?
There’s no doubt that Balsillie was looking to make money too but at least he gave the impression that he was interested in serving the southern Ontario hockey fans with an option other than the Toronto Maple Leafs. The NHL is giving an entirely different impression.