Golden Knights Will Have Sister Expansion Team in Division — New NHL Seattle Franchise Starts in 2021-22

By ALAN SNEL

LVSportsBiz.com

 

Starting in 2021-22, the Vegas Golden Knights will not be the newest team in the National Hockey League. The VGK will have a new Pacific Division foe that NHL season — the league’s 32nd franchise in Seattle.

 

The NHL officially declared Monday that an expansion franchise has been granted to Seattle after the league’s Board of Governors approved the expansion during a meeting in Sea Island, Ga. Seattle joins the Golden Knights’ Pacific Division and the Arizona Coyotes will move to the Western Conference’s Central Division in 2021-22.

 

Adding Seattle to the NHL is intriguing because it also triggers the thought of perhaps the NBA adding both Las Vegas and Seattle together down the road to round out that league’s roster of teams to 32 to match the number of clubs in the NHL. That’s something to look for.

 

The Seattle hockey ownership lead will be billionaire David Bonderman, while producer Jerry Bruckheimer is a major player in the franchise ownership group. It was hardly a surprise given that a season ticket drive generated a stunning 10,000 ticket commitments for the Seattle team in 12 minutes. The ownership group known as the Seattle Hockey Partners will have their team play at Seattle Center Arena, which is currently undergoing renovations.

 

While the VGK owner Bill Foley and others paid a $500 million expansion fee in 2017-18, the Seattle franchise owners will pay a $650 million expansion fee that will be carved up in equal shares to every current NHL team except the the one based in Las Vegas.

 

Here’s a press release statement from NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman: “Today is an exciting and historic day for our League as we expand to one of North America’s most innovative, beautiful and fastest-growing cities.  We are delighted to add David Bonderman, Tod Leiweke and the entire NHL Seattle group to the National Hockey League family. And we are thrilled that Seattle, a city with a proud hockey history that includes being the home for the first American team ever to win the Stanley Cup, is finally joining the NHL.”

 

 

LVSportsBiz.com chatted with Golden Knights Insider Gary Lawless, who provided an overview of the Seattle franchise approval.