Las Vegas and Quebec City advanced to the third and final formal stage to land NHL expansion franchises.
NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly confirmed the development in an e-mail to reporters on Friday.
Daly referred to the third stage as “the last formal phase,” but added, “it does not necessarily constitute the end of the process.”
A person familiar with the process told reporters that the third stage involves the NHL reviewing the applicants’ business plans and revenue projections. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity, because the NHL has not revealed the details of the process.
The third stage is scheduled to end next month. Barring setbacks, it would then be up to the league and board of governors to approve the awarding of expansion franchises, the person added.
The NHL is not expected to expand until 2017-2018 at the earliest.
Daly’s confirmation came after Montreal-based communications giant Quebecor announced on its Twitter account that it was moving forward. The company, which is overseeing the Quebec City bid, concluded its message saying: “The goal: Bring #Nordiques back to Quebec City.”
Quebec’s capital was previously home to the Nordiques, before they relocated to Colorado in 1995.
Messages left with the Bill Foley-led group “Vegas Wants Hockey,” were not returned. Foley is a billionaire businessman who had secured more than 13,200 season ticket deposits since February, when he began exploring the community’s level of interest for professional hockey.
Commissioner Gary Bettman has proposed an expansion fee of US$500 million. That is a significant jump from the US$80 million fee paid by the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Minnesota Wild, when the NHL last expanded to 30 teams in 2000.
The third phase comes after the NHL examined each market and both groups’ arena plans.
In Quebec City, the publicly funded 18,259-seat Videotron Centre is set to open next month. In Las Vegas, a multipurpose arena under construction near the Las Vegas Strip is set to open in spring next year.
The first phase came last month, when Las Vegas and Quebec City were the only expansion applicants out of 16 to have their bids accepted by the NHL.
Taiwanese badminton superstar Lee Yang broke down in tears after publicly retiring from the sport on Sunday. The two-time Olympic gold medalist held a retirement ceremony at the Taipei Arena after the final matches of the Taipei Open. Accompanied by friends, family and former badminton partners, Lee burst into tears while watching a video celebrating key moments in his professional sporting career that also featured messages from international players such as Malaysia’s Teo Ee Yi, Hong Kong’s Tang Chun-man, and Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan. “I hope that in the future when the world thinks about me, they will
Former Formosa Dreamers player Ilkan Karaman was killed in a traffic accident in Datca, Turkey, Turkish media reported yesterday. He was 34. The former Turkish national team player was reportedly hit by a car, the driver of which was allegedly drunk, while he was standing on a sidewalk, Turkish newspaper Sozcu reported. Karaman and his friends were on their way to the beach town of Dalaman to go scuba diving when they stopped at a gas station to buy gasoline, it reported. Karaman was hit by the car while waiting on a sidewalk as his friends were buying gasoline, it
ANKLE PROBLEM: Taiwan’s Ye Hong-wei and Lee Chia-hsin had a disappointing end to their tournament after an injury forced them out of their mixed doubles semi-final Taiwanese badminton ace Tai Tzu-ying on Friday was knocked out in the women’s singles quarter-finals at her last Taipei Open. The world No. 3 lost 21-18, 16-21, 22-24 to Putri Kusuma Wardani of Indonesia in a match that stretched 68 minutes at the Taipei Arena. Despite her higher ranking, Tai said she was not too sad about the loss, given her struggle with a lingering knee injury. “Wins and losses are just part of the game. Actually, I think I’m going to lose every single match considering my condition now,” said the five-time champion of the Super 300 event, who has announced plans
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later
RSS