NHL Expansion: Latest Franchise Updates and Comments

Don't look for a decision on potential NHL expansion anytime soon. The NHL's board of governors is not planning to make a formal decision on adding teams when it meets in December, according to Stephen Whyno of the Canadian Press (via Yahoo Sports).  

Continue for updates.

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No Decision Coming on Expansion

Thursday, Nov. 5

Quebec City and Las Vegas made formal pitches to the NHL earlier this year about expansion. No timetable has been given for a decision, but the current plan would be to have teams in place before the 2017-18 season. That means even if the board of governors isn't planning to make an announcement in December, time is of the essence.

"We are in the process of gathering information," NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said in September, per Dan Rosen of NHL.com. "There have been no deliberations as to whether or not we want to expand, how many teams, or where. There's much work to be done."

The NFL, which has 32 teams, is the only major professional sports league with more than 30 organizations. The NHL, NBA and MLB currently sit at 30, though each have flirted with expansion in recent years. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has all but ruled out expansion to Seattle or overseas for at least the next few years, per the Seattle Times (via the Seattle Post-Intelligencer), while MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred admitted adding teams is something he envisions for the future, per ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick.

With Quebec and Las Vegas already having formal plans in place, the NHL is far closer than the other two to expansion. The NHL will have to consider whether the added revenue is worth the dilution of the talent pool and also if Las Vegas, still seen as one of the nation's biggest party-heavy cities, is a viable location for a franchise. 

"We got asked a lot of really good questions, we had answers for all the questions,"Bill Foley, who led the Vegas presentation in September, said, per Rosen. "It was a complete presentation. We talked about our commitment to Las Vegas in terms of the fact that I'm a resident there and living there, arena background, economics of the team, ticket drive, 13,500 tickets. So we feel it went well."

 There is no official word on when a decision will be made.

Follow Tyler Conway (@tylerconway22) on Twitter.