tagged w/ Toronto Maple Leafs
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appears some National Hockey League officials think the Toronto market is big enough to have two teams.
According to The Globe and Mail, NHL governors have had informal talks about putting a second team in Toronto.
''Why shouldn't we put another team in the best and biggest market in the world?'' one governor told the newspaper anonymously, adding one scenario involves Research in Motion CEO Jim Balsillie being awarded an expansion franchise after coming to the aid of the financially-strapped Nashville Predators.
''I've heard bits and pieces of this scenario, although not in that kind of detail,'' Calgary Flames co-owner Harley Hotchkiss told The Globe and Mail. ''Our priority is to have the existing franchises solid.''
President of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment Richard Peddie said his organization would listen to any expansion suggestions and downplayed any negative effect it could have on the Maple Leafs.
''When and if the league brings expansion to the table, we'll listen and decide what is best for hockey,'' Peddie told The Globe and Mail. ''The Maple Leafs would not be hurt one bit. In fact, it would help them. They could make all kinds of money renting the Air Canada Centre to the other team.''
Another governor told the newspaper the league would be better served by moving an exisiting team as opposed to granting an expansion franchise.
“I don't think it can be an expansion team,” the unnamed governor told The Globe and Mail. “We can't expand because we would be the laughingstock of professional sports. We've got too many troubled franchises."
In recent years, Balsillie has made attempts to buy the Predators and Pittsburgh Penguins amid speculation he would move the team to the southern Ontario region.
appears some National Hockey League officials think the Toronto market is big enough... more
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