THN.com Blog: How Gary Bettman's expansion era worked

[Pheebs888]

Ryan Kennedy

The week in hockey has been marked by record-low attendance numbers in locales such as Columbus, Atlanta and Phoenix. The fact that two of those franchises are part of commissioner Gary Bettman’s Sunbelt initiative, while the third was created during the NHL’s last stage of a rapid decade of expansion, lends credence to those who regard Bettman as a Canada-hating villain or, as ESPN’s Bill Simmons famously wrote, a plant sent by NBA commissioner David Stern to keep basketball ahead of hockey in the sports landscape.

But here’s the catch nobody wants to admit: Bettman’s plan worked. Maybe not in terms of long-term attendance, but certainly in growing hockey as a sport.

http://www.thehockeynews.com/article...ra-worked.html

[MatsSundin13Rocks]

The comments posted by users are better than the article! I mean one of the kids from Phoenix has his dad being a Canadian from Vancouver who played hockey all his life and is friends with Keith Tkachuck. No way Phoenix should have a team!