NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman Says Seattle Will Consider Expansion Team Bid

Seattle is seeking to own an NHL expansion team, and the league has accepted its application, commissioner Gary Bettman said Thursday.

Seattle NHL expansion team bid news

Bettman made the announcement after the first day of the board of governors meeting. The expansion’s price has been set at $650 million.

“We’ve agreed as a league to take and consider an expansion application, and to let them run in the next few months, a season-ticket drive,” Bettman said. “This is a process that we go through.”

The NHL introduced an expansion team just this year: the Vegas Golden Knights, who paid a $500 million fee to join.

The Seattle City Council on Monday approved a memorandum of understanding for the privately financed Oak View Group to move forward with a $660 million renovation of Key Arena, paving the way for potential NBA and NHL franchises. Seattle plans to have the new arena ready for use by fall 2020.

The Oak View Group is led by investment banker David Bonderman, Hollywood producer Jerry Bruckheimer and Tim Leiweke, a former Los Angeles Kings and Toronto Maple Leafs executive.

Houston is another city that has been rumored to be seeking an NHL expansion team application, although Bettman said Monday there is “nothing going on right now” with that city. The same goes for Quebec City, which boasts the 18,259-seat Videotron Centre .

Some of the noise concerning a potential Houston bid stems from Dallas businessman Tom Dundon’s purchase of a controlling interest in the Carolina Hurricanes.

Nevertheless, Bettman emphasized very clearly that a stipulation of the sale is for the Hurricanes to remain in Raleigh, North Carolina, despite Dundon’s ties to Texas.

“This is not a team that is being moved,” Bettman said. The rumors that it might be moving somewhere else are absolutely incorrect, made up, fabrications, wrong, wrong, wrong. The club is not going anywhere with Mr. Dundon’s purchase.”

Caption:NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE – JANUARY 28: NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman speaks at the Grand Opening Ceremony of the 2016 NHL All Star Festivities at the Bridgestone Winter Park Honda Stage at IntelliCentrics Outdoor Concert Series on January 28, 2016 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Frederick Breedon IV/Getty Images)