The NHL is not committed to expansion.
If all goes well, Vernon Krause will be flying to New York sometime soon and will get his meeting with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and tell Bettman that Alpharetta, Georgia is ready to host a National Hockey League franchise by the end of the decade. Krause will bring with him the paperwork that says Forsyth County politicians approved his The Gathering at South Forsyth plan to build a $3 billion mixed-use entertainment complex that would include an arena. Alpharetta is about 30 miles north of downtown Atlanta. Krause owns the 102-acre site but the arena will only be built if the National Hockey League ownership group decides to welcome Krause and his money, maybe as much as $2 billion into the fraternity. “This vote marks a pivotal moment,” said Krause, the CEO of Krause Sports and Entertainment and The Gathering’s lead developer. “We can go to the commissioner and ask him to start a process, which we’re hopeful he will do.” The process has already started.
In 1971, the NHL awarded franchises to Long Island, New York and Atlanta investors. The Atlanta market has fizzled twice because one group of ownership in the 1970s didn’t have the cash needed for a franchise and sold the team in 1980 to a Calgary, Alberta business group which took the team to Canada and poor ownership groups in Atlanta doomed the expansion Thrashers franchise and the business moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba in 2011. There have been expressions of interest from groups in Houston, Cincinnati and Omaha, Nebraska who want a franchise and the NHL would like to return to the Phoenix-area if an arena is ever built in the market. Bettman said the NHL is not expanding but if the right offer is made, the NHL will listen.
Evan Weiner’s books are available at iTunes – https://books.apple.com/us/author/evan-weiner/id595575191
Evan can be reached at evan_weiner@hotmail.com
