Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

No expansion bid expected from Kansas City

Los Angeles Kings v St. Louis Blues

Los Angeles Kings v St. Louis Blues

Getty Images

While groups from Seattle, Las Vegas, Toronto and Quebec City are expected to apply for NHL expansion teams, one from Kansas City is not.

From Sam Mellinger of the Kansas City Star:

The NHL has vaguely mentioned Kansas City as a possible expansion market, and the Sprint Center’s lack of an anchor tenant makes this a natural question. But, as best I can tell, no one from or representing Kansas City will be among those submitting bids for a team to play here.

Lamar Hunt Jr., who owns the ECHL’s Missouri Mavericks, a minor-league hockey team that plays in Independence, called the NHL’s $500 million price tag for an expansion franchise “a ridiculously big fee,” and said that he is not aware of anyone in Kansas City who will make a push for a team.

The Sprint Center opened in 2007 and seats around 17,500 for hockey. It currently has no full-time tenants, though the Pittsburgh Penguins flirted with the idea of moving in a few years ago.

Related: Got $500 million? NHL to begin ‘formal expansion review process’