What Berklon says about the Arizona Coyotes and Carolina Hurricanes is true. This is being discussed in detail in a few threads on the HFboards. Several posters, including some from Raleigh and Phoenix, are providing updates on the proceedings on those prospective proceedings.
Carolina owner Pete Karmanos has been unable to find a potential buyer in North Carolina willing to pay the $400 + million he has demanded. He has been losing tens of millions in recent years with crowds averaging around 12,000 per game the past 3 seasons. If he cannot find a local buyer soon willing to meet his demands he might look towards another market that will.
Right now, the only city that appears to have both an NHL-arena ready and an ownership group probably willing to pay the $400 + million for the privilege of owning a team is Quebec. Portland has an arena but the owner is unlikely willing to pay the asking price, Seattle might have an interested ownership group lead by Hansen but are far from resolving the arena issue. A team could play at Key arena but due to the arena configuration (basketball arena like Barclays) it would have only 11,000 seats available for hockey. The team would bleed serious coin. Houston has had little interest in bringing hockey to their city as the owner of the Rockets, Alexander, has had little desire since the 90s when his bid was rejected...plus he has lost significant net worth, at least that is my understanding.
The only thing that may complicate matters with moving the Canes to Quebec City is the lease with their current arena. I believe there are 7 years remaining on it so breaking it would require a significant payout. Perhaps $25-$35 million. I guess that could be worked out though and with each year that passes, the lease will be cheaper to break.
The Coyotes are in even worse trouble as their pseudo-ownership group led by Anthony LeBlanc (or as he is affectionately known on the HfBoards, LeBluster) no longer receives a subsidy from the city of Glendale as of 2015 thanks to a technicality that allowed the city to break the lease. The team was already losing large amounts of money even with the subsidy so those losses have only grown in the past few years.
So far their search for a mostly (or completely?) subsidized new arena and new sucker..I mean city of the Greater Phoenix Area in which the team can relocate has come up empty as Arizona State university recently decided not to partner with them on a new arena in Tempe and the state has so far rejected their proposals for subsidies for the proposed new arena.
Bettman also released an official statement that the Coyotes are no longer viable in Glendale despite all attempts to make the team viable in that location .
That is pretty much the kiss of death right there. I'm pretty sure this proposed new bill with the state for new funding will not pass either as they have in all probability finally wisened up. Having seen the mess they have left in Glendale, leaving that city with a huge debt on a mere 13 year old arena which is more than capable of hosting an NHL team for the next 20 years, it is unlikely government officials will make the same mistake twice...or at least one can hope.
Given these two immediate critical situations in Raleigh and Phoenix, and an apparent lack of options, I would be surprised if the fallout doesn't result in one of these franchises relocating to QC. Remember folks, Quebecor is in good standing with Bettman and the BOG. There is a reason a member of the potential Quebec City ownership group was standing next to Bettman during the announcement of the Las Vegas expansion team last year folks. It's only a matter of time....
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