PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — The NHL continues to pump the brakes on the issue of expansion.
A year after giving businessman Bill Foley the green light to do a season-ticket drive in Las Vegas and six months after opening the expansion process, the league is still deliberating. The board of governors’ executive committee discussed applications from Quebec City and Las Vegas on Monday in detail and updated the full group as another step in the ongoing process.
There remains no timetable to make a decision or even call for a vote, commissioner Gary Bettman said.
"The purpose was to update the committee on everything that we’ve done since the filing of the applications, the data that we’ve collected, the research that we’ve done and the information that we have at our disposal," Bettman said. "Having now seen the information that’s been gathered, having been 99 per cent satisfied with what we’ve identified and what we’ve reported, then the committee will have to begin substantive discussions."
The executive committee, which consists of 10 owners, met for three hours at a coastal resort on the Monterey Peninsula to talk about the expansion presentations given by Quebecor and Foley’s Black Knight Sports & Entertainment in September. Bettman said the report to the full group lasted 15 or 20 minutes.
"Very informative," Carolina Hurricanes president Don Waddell said. "The process continues, as we all know."
Bettman said there are many questions that still need to be resolved "after you get past the point: Do we want to expand?" Issues regarding a potential expansion draft are among them, but the biggest one remains.
"Are these the right markets? Are these the right applicants? Are we comfortable with the arena? The list goes on and on," Bettman said. "It’s an important, significant business decision, and it’s being treated in a businesslike way."
Bettman gave no indication when the issue will next be discussed, though the board next meets at all-star weekend in Nashville at the end of January. The earliest the NHL could expand is the 2017-18 season, something Bettman said was still a possibility if the decision was made to add one or two teams.
If expansion happens, Quebec City and Las Vegas are the only cities in the running. Amid speculation that the NHL was slowing the process to wait for another city, namely Seattle, Bettman called those reports "categorically untrue."
"We’re going to go through this process, complete this process one way or the other, and that’s where we’ll be," Bettman said. "If we decide at another point in time to re-open expansion, and I’m not saying we would, that’s a subsequent decision. This process is this process for these two applicants. Period."
They’ll just have to keep waiting as the board has what Bettman called "internal, substantive discussions." The executive committee at some point will make a recommendation, but there’s no clarity on when that might be coming.
Expansion was just one piece of a two-hour board meeting that included updates on hockey operations, player safety, officiating and business topics. Three-on-three overtime and the coach’s challenge system got the thumbs up so far.
Bettman gave a very preliminary 2016-17 salary cap projection of roughly US$74.5 million, an increase of just over $3 million from this season.
The board got a very early projection of the 2016-17 salary cap, with Bettman saying the range went from the current US$71.4 million to around $74.5 million. That increase would include the NHL Players’ Association’ using its five per cent escalator clause.
Bettman said revenues were growing despite the sagging Canadian dollar, which is worth roughly 74 cents U.S.
Plans for the NHL’s centennial celebration are ongoing, and Bettman said the NHL had hired former IMG executive producer Steve Mayer as executive vice-president and executive producer, programming and creative development. Even though no announcements were made about what’s to come in 2017, Toronto and Montreal are expected to be focal points.
"We think it’s important to recognize the 100th anniversary of the league, which happens to be in conjunction with the 375th anniversary of the founding of Montreal, Canada’s sesquicentennial and the 125th anniversary of the Stanley Cup," Bettman said. "We’re looking forward to that."
Bettman talked to the board about the departure of chief operation officer John Collins and said he’d continue to be supervising those who worked under Collins. He said he’s "not necessarily looking for a new COO."
Topics to be discussed Tuesday include the league’s concussion protocol and the controversial executive compensation policy. Bettman doesn’t expect that to be a contentious debate.
"We don’t have too many contentious discussions," he said. "This is a very, very businesslike, savvy, hockey-passionate board and overwhelmingly we come to consensus if not complete agreement on virtually everything we do."
