By DANIEL DULLUM – pinch-hitting for Amaury Pi Gonzalez

PHOENIX – There has been talk about expanding in the NHL, and some of the cities mentioned are Quebec City, Las Vegas, Seattle, and Toronto. Now it’s a matter of putting it together.

Back in Quebec City, where they have a new arena almost ready to go, they will be ready for a team when the day comes. As for Seattle, they’ve got places they can play like Key Arena, but the NHL has always been hesitant to put a team so close to Vancouver. Can you imagine the possible rivalry between Seattle and Vancouver? They would play each other at least six times during the season and that would be great for the league.

Toronto was mentioned, Oklahoma City is interesting in that its a non- traditional market, and Madison, Wisconsin, is the home of the University of Wisconsin is a collegiate hockey hot bed, but whether that would translate into NHL success is a big question, because Badger sports would still rule there. Milwaukee, a larger market with a proper facility, would be more favorable to the NHL.

A second team in Toronto might sound outrageous to some folks, but season tickets or for that matter walk up tickets for the Maple Leafs are almost impossible to get if your not in on the ground floor, and it’s been that way for decades. A second team, whether it’s a suburb of Toronto for instance, or maybe nearby Hamilton – where the Arizona Coyotes almost landed – would be a viable option.

Hamilton is far enough outside of Toronto and in the Ontario province and far enough away from Buffalo that the ticket demand wouldn’t hurt either the Leafs or the Sabres. As far as Las Vegas is concerned, it would be viewed more like what the NBA did, playing an all-star game there. But as long as the sports betting boards are active in Las Vegas, no major league sport wants a team to be there.

Because the odds makers are in Vegas and there is legalized gambling, most major leagues really frown on having a team in Vegas permanently and it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen.

The Quebec Nordiques, who were forced to move from Quebec to Denver in the 1990s, didn’t have a fan attendance problem. The fans were packing Colisee de Quebec, but capacity at the old arena was barely over 15,000. More importantly, the Colisee, built in 1949, lacked the modern revenue-generating amenities (luxury boxes, etc.) all arenas now are required to have.

Also, the economy wasn’t very good in Canada at that time. But that’s changed, as the Canadian dollar is now as strong than the U.S. dollar. That used to be an issue for players, but not now.

Quebec was not in a position at that time to build a new arena and so they had to let the Nordiques go, which was a shame. These are changing times now, and Quebec has a new arena for NHL hockey to bring in an expansion team.
But before the NHL has another expansion, look for the league to maybe relocate some of the teams having tough times. That said, the Board of Governors loves fresh expansion fee cash.

Daniel Dullum is filling in for Amaury Pi Gonzalez. Daniel covers A’s baseball each Thursday for http://www.sportsradioservice.com