Toronto NHL bid skates on thin ice
Lack of arena, escalating costs cited
TORONTO — When it comes to this coming round of NHL expansion, bringing a second NHL franchise to Toronto is a no go.
Less than a month after the league announced it was opening the door for interested parties looking to land a franchise, the Monday evening deadline for accepting applications came and went without a submission from GTA Sports & Entertainment, the organization that had hoped to build an arena in Markham for the past few years.
Those aspirations for a “Sheet of Dreams” north of the city fizzled in the end, much like the group’s intentions to officially file a bid this week.
“While we continue to focus on developing the GTA Centre, we were not able to complete the necessary work by the application deadline,” a spokesperson for GTA Sports & Entertainment said in an email to the Toronto Sun. “We hope that another such opportunity presents itself in the future.”
Applications were received from Quebecor for Quebec City and from entrepreneur Bill Foley for Las Vegas. But there reportedly was none forwarded from any of the three groups looking to land a team for Seattle, a coveted location that has been on the league’s radar.
When the league first revealed its plans back on June 24 to start a formal expansion process, GTA Sports & Entertainment CEO Graeme Roustan, who has been attempting to construct the 18,000-plus seat GTA Centre in the Kennedy Road-Highway 407 area, was quick to confirm that his organization definitely would pursue the opportunity.
“I’d say that in the coming days we intend to reach out to the league about bringing another NHL franchise to southern Ontario,” Roustan said at the time during a phone interview. “(Thel eague’s announcement) means different things to different people. We’re now seeing an opportunity for a process to apply for an NHL franchise which we’ve privately been hoping for.
“We’re going to proceed with the process. Hopefully, we’re successful with it.” So, what went wrong? The lack of a facility remains the No. 1 reason.
Plans for the proposed GTA Centre were hatched in the spring of 2012 with Roustan spearheading the project.
But after a series of meetings dominated by political haggling, Markham council voted to keep public money out of the equation and to use private backers only.
The issue has polarized Markham politicians and residents, with the anti-arena faction showing no fear in slagging Roustan and his plans. As recently as February, some of them referred to the project as “dead.”
Last month, once the NHL revealed it would consider expansion, Roustan would not identify Markham specifically as a potential site, saying only that “all opportunities around the GTA will be explored.
“At this time, there is no specific agreement (with any community),” Roustan said at the time. “We do plan on speaking with politicians in the province about moving this process forward.
“Being involved in any franchise in the NHL is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that drowns out any noise that comes from the cheap seats,” Roustan added, referring to critics of the proposed GTA Centre project.
Just two years ago, Roustan’s proposal to Markham for the GTA Centre included a cost for the facility of $325 million. Had the local city council backed the mayor’s urging to accept the project instead of shooting it down, the building could have very well been in its final stages of construction at this time.
But the free-falling Canadian dollar means the original estimated cost has now escalated by about $100 million.
Add that figure to an NHL expansion fee that is estimated to be in the neighbourhood of $775 million, and the total cost for the team and arena would be somewhere near $1.2 billion.
Moving forward, an NHL expansion franchise to be housed at the almost-completed Las Vegas Arena in time for the 2017-18 season, at the earliest, pretty much seems to be a done deal.
And the Quebec City bid continues to roar full speed ahead despite potential concerns identified by critics concerning the issue of Pierre Karl Peladeau, Quebecor’s former president and CEO and leader of the separatist Parti Quebecois.
Of course, the ideal setup, from a format perspective, would see Las Vegas and Seattle join the Western Conference.
Right now there are 16 teams in the East and 14 in the West.
But the lack of a building in Seattle continues to be a roadblock for expansion to that city.
Just like it is for GTA Sports & Entertainment.
“Being involved in any (NHL franchise) is a once-in-a-lifetime-opportunity.”
— Graeme Roustan