NHL in Cincinnati?

Currently, three professional sports teams call Cincinnati home. But recent rumblings indicate Cincinnati may welcome an NHL expansion team relatively soon.

In a press conference before last season's All-Star game, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman indicated that there is a growing interest for an NHL franchise in the Queen City. Bettman would later state, "If somebody wants to express interest and tell us they want an expansion team, we'll talk to them as we've talked to people in Houston, in Atlanta, in Cincinnati, Kansas City," 

But what needs to happen  in order for the NHL to come to Cincinnati?

First, a new arena or major renovations to Heritage Bank Arena are vital. Currently, Heritage Bank Arena hosts the Cincinnati Cyclones, a minor league hockey team from the ECHL. The capacity is not the problem, at roughly 18,000 the arena would rank exactly average in the NHL in terms of capacity. The arena is extremely out dated, seeing it's last major renovations in 1997. If Cincinnati makes the proper renovations I believe they have a much better case for a team. 

Alternatively, we have seen talks of completely demolishing Heritage Bank Arena and replacing it with a new arena in either the same location or 6 other locations across the city. While this is highly unlikely due to the high price tag, a brand new area would make an NHL team a near guarantee.

Now we have an arena, what's next? Well, when an expansion team is added to the NHL, the city receiving the team must pay what is called an expansion fee. In 2017, the city of Las Vegas paid $500 Million to acquire the Golden Knights.  Then in 2021. the city of Seattle paid $650 Million to acquire the Kraken. Unfortunately, NHL teams have only become more expensive with a price tag of roughly $1 Billion being the current estimate. It is hard to say if Cincinnati would be able pay this price but let's just say they fork the money over.

After finding an arena and the funding required for an NHL team , we need to find a mascot and develop a brand for the franchise. This is something I will delve into soon so check back for that article.