NHL Expansion City: Vegas or Quebec City?

Looks like the NHL is now in the business of expanding to even more cities across North America.

According to the AP, Bill Foley is putting his money down on a chance to put an NHL team in Las Vegas, while Quebec City is seemingly in the hunt to get an NHL team to its market.

This move put the two cities closer to becoming a part of the NHL after the league itself announced Tuesday that is has received bids from prospective groups about NHL bids in their markets.

Bill Foley, a billionaire businessman who has explored the level of interest of having an NHL team in Vegas, has submitted the bid for an NHL team in the gambling mecca. And Canadian-based Quebecor, a media and telecommunications giant, has submitted the bid for Quebec City. Quebecor also has ties to the NHL for its network, TVA Sports, which broadcasts the French-language broadcasts of NHL games.

I won't go into the financial specifics of each deal and their markets, but the better question I have is: What city makes more sense for an NHL franchise? We've all heard about having a team in Las Vegas for so long, and the Kings and the Avs play a game at the MGM Grand Garden Arena every year. That game is called the Frozen Fury played in the preseason, generally the last game for these two teams before the regular season begins.

I'm not sure if Vegas makes the most sense. Some leagues have tried to get teams in there in the past, but have subsequently failed. If you don't remember, the Canadian Football League has tried to expand into the US in 1994 and did that with Vegas, but that team only lasted a year before it left. I did hear that a new arena was being built there, so maybe it helps the Vegas bid a little bit, but again it remains to be seen if the gambling mecca is ready to introduce a major North American sport into its city. The other positive for Vegas is that it would play in the Western Conference, which would be reasonable, because that conference is two teams smaller and would probably make more sense to expand in Western cities.

As for Quebec City, there is a lot of rich history there and it's Canada, so they love hockey like it's part of their blood. Heck, it is part of their blood. The Quebec Nordiques were placed there before it left for Denver to become the Colorado Avalanche, so there's some history there. The Quebec City bid makes a lot more sense because of that history, its location, and the fact that it's Canada, so they'll welcome it with open arms, like what Winnipeg did when the Jets came back. The only concern I have is more teams playing in the Eastern Conference. If the Quebec City does get a team and is put in the Eastern Conference, that would probably mean one or two teams from the current Eastern Conference would have to move West and it just wouldn't make much sense, since all of them in that conference do play in the Eastern Time Zone.

These two bids have potential positives and negatives that could impact the league and where they decide to expand to. The West would make a lot more sense because there would be business in Vegas, but if you're looking for history and a place where they would welcome it back, I would probably say Quebec City. We'll find out what the league decides, but they have a lot to weigh and a lot to figure out before they decide which bids they want to go forward with.