[NHL to Atlanta] Forsyth County votes to approve the final documentation that would allow the Krause group to formally propose NHL expansion into metro Atlanta…The vote, which passed this evening, was widely seen as the final hurdle; expansion is likely imminent.

49 comments

  3. Fuck Atlanta.

    There’s 6 other cities that deserve the team before that tire fire market.

  5. Good news for Canada since almost 1/3 of current Canadian teams started in Atlanta.

  7. The proposed stadium called The Gathering at South Forsyth is an hour drive from Mercedes-Benz Stadium and downtown Atlanta. Neighboring businesses include a Dog Shelter, Church, and a Trader Joe’s.

    I just do not see what they’re thinking, unless it’s money laundering then I get it.

  8. It’s always money laundering.

    When you deal with billions, it’s easy for a few million to disappear.

  9. Honest question: does this really mean anything? The county approves and there is financial backing…couldn’t/woudn’t the NHL tell them “gee that’s great but don’t call us, we’ll call you.” KC, OKC, Hamilton and Quebec are all league ready yet no one is pounding down their doors.

  13. Hamilton, QC, Kansas City, Houston, Portland, Milwaukee should all get a team before Atlanta again…

  14. As a Canadian, I am thrilled to see that we’ll soon have another team north of the border after the NHL once again primes up its feeder city to build us another franchise.

  15. 32 teams is the perfect league size, we’re completely losing the plot at this point

  18. Wouldn’t Indianapolis make more sense? Surely it’s a big enough market with a good sport fanbase. Or Milwaukee? Halifax? I just don’t get why they would try to put a franchise in a place where 2 other franchises failed.

  19. Congrats to the people of Quebec City.

    Canada should really have a monument to the city of Atlanta.

  20. Atlanta didn’t work. Stop with Atlanta.
    Indianapolis

    Milwaukee

    Kansas City

    Houston

    Quebuc

    Hamilton

    Halifax

    Anywhere but Atlanta and Phoenix.

  21. As a recent transplant from CA. to GA. I hope it works. Nothing will ever replace my Kings, but a team here would be a great way to save a 5-hour drive to Nashville.

  24. Atlanta has already had two NHL teams and couldn’t sustain either. Quebec and Toronto are far more deserving.

  25. Such bullshit. If at first you don’t succeed, do it again and fail, then get rewarded again…

  26. I like how Atlanta gets a team after two miserable failures before Wisconsin ever even gets considered. Fuck this league.

  29. the funniest possible outcome here would be for the NHL to add four teams: the Arizona Coyotes, Atlanta Thrashers, Quebec Nordiques, and Hartford Whalers

  30. As someone who lives in Atlanta, downtown Atlanta where Mercedes-Benz and State farm arena are located is not an area that would care much for hockey. Its the primary reason why the first two franchises failed. I know the ownership group for the thrashers sucked, but hockey is just never going to work in downtown Atlanta. There’s a reason why they moved the braves to Cobb county which is about half an hour outside the city.

    I know it might seem crazy, but this is actually a pretty good spot to put a hockey team. How well though actually perform competitively and how it’ll affect the rest of the lead, that I couldn’t tell you.

  32. I want to add some context here, which is really missing from the comments.

    Trust me when I say this, I hate Atlanta. Been living here for about seven years and have hated every day of it. But let’s focus on the hockey, and I’m taking a lot of this comes from what Craig Custance talked about on a podcast years ago.

    The Flames failed in Atlanta because leading into the 80s there were heavy recession concerns that came to pass, and the owner of the Flames- who had a family real estate business- viewed owning a sports team as a luxury and saving their family business as a priority, so he sold the team which went to Calgary.

    The woes with the Thrashers should be well known. Bought by a group of shitty businessmen who had no interest in hockey whatsoever- only basketball- and then didn’t want to play nice with the league, share the arena, share the gate, any of it. So here we come Winnipeg.

    But consider this: Brian Burke was *this close* to being the GM of the Thrashers before going to Vancouver. What do you think the Thrashers would have looked like if he had swung the deal to get the Sedins, followed by the likes of Heatley, Kovalchuk, Enstrom, Little, and Bogosian.

    For those mentioning how far north this location is from downtown Atlanta: Again, Atlanta sucks. That’s why the Braves moved north. That’s where the money is, and that’s also where the ice rinks are. The adult leagues all play north of downtown, and are constantly expanding and adding players that scheduling is a shit show right now. But trust, there are a ton of folks who play hockey here.

    And I by no means want to crap on cities like Quebec or whatever else is being listed, but honestly, what industries are in Quebec City? What Fortune 500 companies are there? Because Atlanta has quite a few of those: Warner Bros., Home Depot, Coca-Cola, Delta Air Lines, Newell Brands, just to name a few. Money talks. Sponsorships talk.

    Saying all of this as someone who desperately needs some sort of positive to look forward to in this hell hole in the south, but also don’t lump the market as the equivalent as the NHL trying to put a team in the middle of nowhere multiple times.

  33. I know a lot of people hate this but I’m 3-4 hours from Raleigh and Atlanta. This is great.

  34. Nice, this means Canada should be getting another team when this franchise fails for the 3rd time within the next 10 years.

  35. Can we bring back the Nordiques and the Whale? Quebec and/or Ontario could easily support another team and New England needs someone besides the Bruins to root for again.

  39. Going back to the failed experiment eh. In a few years they’ll announce them moving to Québec city. LMAO.

  41. *Sigh*

    QUEBEC WON’T GET THE ATLANTA RELOCATION.

    Everyone should know by now that Atlanta teams move to the Canadian prairies.

    Saskatoon or Regina will likely get to loot this corpse.

  43. Please, please stop with the expansion, particularly to markets that have already failed miserably more than once.

  45. How can these billionaires keep getting away with this!

    The damn expansion rules for Vegas convinced a bunch of scumbags that they can be competitive day 1 and bring in business. You would have thought the Kraken cooled that off.

  47. It’s insane to me that a league that’s near MLS ratings is going to have THIRTY SIX TEAMS.

    The league is going to need a damn relegation system soon

  48. If it weren’t for the NBA, the NHL would be the dumbest pro sports league in the world.

  49. Talk about effing stupid. Atlanta has failed twice now for the NHL. There is virtually no interest in the NHL in the deep south. Just when it was starting to look like Bettman knew what he was doing

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