The NHL appears to be doing due diligence to make sure a third time in ATlanta is a charm.
The National Hockey League’s New York office remains interested in putting a franchise in the Atlanta market but not interested enough to expand into the market right now. It seems that there are two groups who would like to join the NHL with arena plans in northern Atlanta suburbs but the league has not gotten enough information to seriously consider a return to the market. In Forsyth County, Krause Sports and Entertainment has plans for a $3 billion arena-village development called The Gathering at South Forsyth. Forsyth County has greenlighted the project. The Alpharetta Sports and Entertainment Group wants to build an arena-village at the North Point Mall site in Alpharetta. Both areas are around 30 miles away from downtown Atlanta. Both groups have talked to league officials but the proposals are not fully complete in the mind of the Deputy NHL Commissioner Bill Daly.
“It’s definitely not ‘shovels in the ground.’ It is having a fully baked plan to propose,” Daly said. “I think both groups are aspirational in what they want to achieve and how they intend to get there, but we haven’t gotten more than that. We need a plan that’s a little more actionable than where we currently are.” Daly did not go into much detail about the proposal deficiencies. Atlanta has had two NHL franchises in the same site, two different buildings downtown. The Flames franchise was created as part of the league’s 1972 expansion. That team was underfinanced and sold to Calgary, Alberta investors in 1980 and moved to Canada. The league expanded into Atlanta in 1999 and lasted through 2011. The franchise was sold to Winnipeg, Manitoba investors who moved the team to Canada. The Thrashers franchise suffered from bad ownership. The NHL is not pushing expansion but the office is meeting with people interested in buying an NHL franchise.
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