NHL Expansion and the Power Structure Involved
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Taylor Ford 14 October 2015
NHL Expansion and the Power Structure Involved
The National Hockey League was created in 1917 after its predecessor; the National Hockey Association was suspended as an organization. The NHL started with six original teams, and through a series of expansions, contractions and relocations is now comprised of 30 teams located across the United States and Canada (NHL History, 2015). This paper will look in depth at the power structure of expansion, as the NHL is considering expanding into two new markets in the coming years, Las Vegas, Nevada and Quebec City, Quebec. It will look at the current NHL expansion proposals and examine the roles of a number of stakeholders. Expansion in a major league sport involves many individuals and groups including: Board of Governors for the NHL, private developers, arena owners, NHL Commissioner, other NHL Executives, current NHL owners, coach and players as well as governments of the localities proposed in expansion. All these groups and individuals have some role in expansion, this paper will show the most of the power lies within the NHL as an organization, and includes the Commissioner, other Executives, and the Board of Governors. The localities of Las Vegas and Quebec City have some power as government units, but within these communities most of the power lies with the developer(s) who are looking to bring the NHL to these two cities.
Expansion in the NHL is at the discretion of the Board of Governors, which is the ruling body of the League. This Board is comprised of a Governor appointed by each team, together they review and approve changes to the game, hire and fire the Commissioner, review and approve the purchase, relocation of sale of any member as well as other responsibilities (NHL History, 2015). The Board of Governors meets twice annually. At the meeting in the summer of 2015 they discussed a number of topics including possible league expansion. The Board decided that the league would take formal application for new franchises beginning on July 6th and decided that the application process would close on August 10th. At that time the Board did not decide how many clubs wouldbe added and gave no definite timeline on when and how the league would expand. With these decision made, the Commissioner and one of his Executives acted as spokespersons for the Board (The Canadian Press, July 24, 2015). Each applicant was required to demonstrate they had a minimum financial backing of $500 million to prove to the league they had the ability to finance the opening and operation of new franchise (Seravalli, July 6th, 2015). The next step taken by the NHL was to ask the two proposed locations to provide more information regarding details about the market and arena plans (Cleveland, August 5, 2015). The final step in the expansion application involved the NHL reviewing the business plans of the developer(s) and revenue projections. Once these three steps in the application process is complete the league would award an expansion franchise to proposed markets, if deemed a viable fit (The Canadian Press, August 21, 2015). The league is interested in the viability for the team and if the markets have good financial backing. The Board of Governors would oversee the review of this process with the NHL Commissioner and his Executives acting as their spokespersons. Within this expansion power structure, the NHL, the Board of Governors, and the Commissioner and his Executives control the application process and determine the location of new franchises. These members looked at location, arena space, league popularity within the market, city infrastructure, and the developer(s) financial assets. They are the ones who have a majority of control in where the league will expand and when expansion will take place., with the local community seeking the NHL having little say formally in the decision to award a franchise.The NHL bodies caninfluence developer(s) and government officials, who though beneath the NHL in terms of the power structure still have a significant say in the expansion process by acting behind the scenes.
Developers Bill Foley and the Maloof family, who together make up the Vegas Wants Hockey group, lead the expansion process in Las Vegas. The group worked diligently to gain public support for expansion into the market. They have partnered with Las Vegas Arena, the site that would the house the proposed expansion franchise. The developing group is the main power broker within Vegas’ plan, as they are the financial backers for the expansion application and have worked to secure an arena site for the proposed franchise. The city’s chief involvement in expansion has focused primarily on the deal to develop the arena that will house the franchise. The Las Vegas Arena, which is in the process of being built, will not only serve the NHL franchise once completed but also has the ability to host concerts as well as NBA games. The city of Las Vegas is looking to bring about further community development in attracting a major league team. This development will provide the city with social and financial benefits (MGM International, 2014). The expansion of the NHL to Vegas is pushed by the Vegas Wants Hockey group and has the backing of city officials. Within Vegas the power lies primarily with the developers, partially with Arena owner then finally city government officials. The development of Vegas as a hockey town would be a great change, as hockey would be the first major league team of any sport in the city. The landscape of power within this NHL expansion plan will define whether or not expansion into Sin City is possible.
The expansion application process in Quebec City is led by Quebecor, a Canadian communications company, hoping to bring the NHL back to Quebec City, to play in the arena used by developers is the new Videotron Centre (Quebecor, 2015). The NHL has a current working relationship with the developer as they own the French-Canadian television-rights for NHL broadcast with the TVA television network (CBC News, July, 20, 2015). The developer Quebecor has enlisted the support of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper who would like to see an NHL team come back to Quebec City. Though he has no actual power in influencing the process, his voiced support has gone a long way to support the expansion application (CBC Sports, July 25, 2015). Quebecor also has a developed relationship with the Videotron Centre owner, Bell Media. Though they are working together in the expansion process to bring the NHL back to Quebec City, Quebecor is the primary financial backer of the application. The Videotron Centre was the site of a preseason hockey game, partly arranged by Quebecor to show the City’s support for NHL hockey. It is also home to a minor league hockey team (Videotron Centre, 2015). These actions show that Quebec City has the infrastructure is in place to support an NHL team to their City. City officials, and citizens in the community have also voiced their support of expanding the NHL and bringing it back. Within the Quebec City the power lies primarily with the developers, partially with arena owners and then with city officials. There are other outside power players including the Prime Minister of Canada who support NHL Expansion in Quebec. The expansion process would bring a major league team back to Quebec City and would greatly please the people of the city. The expansion of the NHL is seen as a great development tool for the developers, arena owners and the city officials in Quebec City.
Other key figures in the NHL expansion are the players themselves. They would be directly affected by the decision to expand, as certain members of each team would be drafted to play on the newly formed franchises. Overall player support for expansion has been positive. They say if financially viable markets are available then they see it as a good option moving forward. They also see Las Vegas an interesting new hockey market and think it can be a hit on and off the rink, attracting many new fans to the HL, fans who live throughout the U.S. and Canada given Las Vegas’ reputation as a tourist destination. Many Canadian players were very vocal in their support of expanding the Canadian market, many having grown up as fans of the Nordiques of Quebec City, the thought of bringing NHL hockey back to such a big hockey center is an important consideration for the players (Associated Press, 2015). The support of the players in this power structure is important when considering the Board of Governors. If the players are not strongly behind the move to a new city, the player representatives of each team are not likely support such a move and would work to have their representation of the Board of Governors vote against expansion. It is in the end, they are the backbone of the NHL and the League would want to have their support when making decisions about future expansion.
NHL expansion is a long process that has many parts and involves many actors. The key players in NHL expansion in Vegas and Quebec City include the NHL: Board of Governors, the League Commissioner, his Executives, current owners, the players, developer(s), arena owners and city officials. The Board of Governors are the ones who decides which applicants can move through the expansion process and it is the developers are who are responsible for financing this application and the team if granted an expansion team. City officials decide whether or not their infrastructure can handle the development of a major league sports team. They also decide whether or not they are willing to help the developer secure rights to build an arena or to provide incentives to make team financing more feasible for the developer. The players can influence in the media as to whether or not they think expansion is a good idea for the league. Even though there are many players involved in the NHL the power structure for NHL expansion is very lopsided. Most of the power is held by the NHL itself or by the developers of the expansion market. Smaller players including city officials and player have some but little influence over NHL expansion into new market. With the expansion plans set forth and the power structures in place, it is likely the NHL will expand into Vegas and Quebec City.
Works Cited
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The Canadian Press. "Quebec City Advances to 3rd Phase of NHL Expansion - NHL on CBC Sports - Hockey News, Opinion, Scores, Stats, Standings." CBCnews. CBC/Radio Canada, 21 Aug. 2015. Web.
Videotron Centre. Videotron Centre. Quebec City, 2015. Web.