The NHL is coming back to Atlanta and the Twin Cities and is breaking new ground in Nashville and Columbus.
Expansion to those four cities became official Wednesday when the league's Board of Governors approved the largest expansion plan since the NHL doubled in size three decades ago. By the year 2000, the NHL will have 30 teams."We'll have four new state-of-the-art arenas, and we're coming into markets we have complete confidence in," commissioner Gary Bettman said. "We're going to have great ownership."
The new franchises will cost $80 million each, with the existing teams sharing the $320 million windfall.
"If you want to compare a 30-team league to the Original Six, that's a different story. But if you want to compare where we are to where we're going," Bettman said, "we think it's adequate when you compare the number of franchises we're going to have with the other professional sports leagues."
All four cities were approved unanimously by the board, although just a three-quarters majority of 20 teams was necessary.
That's what happened to Houston and Oklahoma City, which were considered in the expansion sweepstakes until a 12-member committee recommended the other four sites. The inclusion of teams in Minnesota and Atlanta would be the second try for both.
The Bloomington-based Minnesota North Stars were part of the six-team expansion for the 1967-68 season. They moved to Dallas, becoming the Stars in 1993.
Atlanta joined the league in 1972 as the Flames, but the franchise moved to Calgary in 1980.
Harvey Schiller, who heads the Atlanta effort for Turner Sports, rejected the notion that the city at times lacks enthusiasm for sports.
Nashville will be the first entry, coming aboard for the 1998-99 season. Atlanta will skate the following season, and the Twin Cities and Ohio's capital complete the expansion in the fall of 2000.
Also, the board:
- Approved the transfer of the Hartford franchise to Raleigh. Now the Carolina Hurricanes, they will play the first two years in Greensboro while an arena is built in North Carolina's capital city.
- Approved a realignment of divisions. As part of the expansion process, the league goes from two to three divisions in each conference with the admission of Nashville. The league now is comprised of two six- and two seven-team divisions.
The new Eastern Conference will break down into the Atlantic (New York Rangers, New York Islanders, New Jersey, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh), Northeast (Montreal, Buffalo, Buffalo, Ottawa and Columbus) and Southeast (Atlanta, Florida, Tampa Bay, Washington and Carolina) divisions.
The Western Conference will have the Central (Chicago, Toronto, Detroit, St. Louis and Nashville), Pacific (Anaheim, Los Angeles, San Jose, Dallas and Phoenix) and Northwest (Calgary, Colorado, Edmonton, Minneapolis-St. Paul and Vancouver) divisions.
Toronto and Columbus will switch divisions no later than 2003.
- Extended by four years, to Sept. 15, 2004, the collective bargaining agreement with the players.
The NHL approved the expansion package in its entirety despite a lawsuit over ownership of the Columbus franchise.
Lamar Hunt, part of the original group in that city, sued the successful bidder. Hunt said he should be part of the group that includes businessman John McConnell, Wolfe Enterprises Inc., and developer Ron Pizzuti.
In his lawsuit, Hunt said each of the original group's members committed about $4.5 million. Hunt asks for the current value of the projected profits of the hockey team and the arena for the next 25 years.