The NHL will soon have 32 teams if Seattle is approved as expected next week. An even balance between conferences. A cross-border rival for the Vancouver Canucks in the Pacific Northwest.

Surely the league is done growing for a while?

Maybe not. Two and a half years after voting to add a team in Las Vegas in what has been a rousing success, the NHL has plenty of options when it comes to whatB次元官网网址檚 next. No North American professional sports league has stretched past the number of 32, but no one is ruling it out for the NHL to get there on this continent or beyond.

B次元官网网址淭he leagues adapt, they look around and they make judgments: Are there markets we would like to go into? Can they support the teams at the revenue levels that we need? If we expand too much too fast, do we dilute the talent such that the product suffers? And those are all judgment calls in the end,B次元官网网址� NHL PlayersB次元官网网址� Association executive director Don Fehr said. B次元官网网址淪ome leagues and owners are more cautious than others. But sooner or later I would like to believe that in the kind of economy we have, all potential avenues will be explored.B次元官网网址�

Considering the success of the expansion Vegas Golden Knights, Seattle has seemed a no-brainer from the beginning and no one expects anything but approval from the Board of Governors on Tuesday. Seattle would begin play in either 2020 or 2021.

B次元官网网址淗ockey needs to be and wants to be in those really fast-paced cities that are growing and setting the mark,B次元官网网址� Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan said. B次元官网网址淏ecause if we do well here, itB次元官网网址檒l raise all the boats for all the teams.B次元官网网址�

Vegas already raised the bar for Seattle, which will pay an expansion fee of $650 million B次元官网网址� a 30 per cent increase over the $500 million that cleared the way for Vegas to begin play last season and far beyond the $45 million the San Jose Sharks paid to enter the league in 1991 to begin a new era of expansion.

READ MORE:

READ MORE:

As soon as the NHL went to 31, getting to 32 was inevitable. As balanced as it might seem, itB次元官网网址檚 not the end.

B次元官网网址淣ot sure there is any magic about 32,B次元官网网址� deputy NHL Commissioner Bill Daly said. B次元官网网址淓xpansion is appropriate when a convincing case can be made that it will be beneficial and add value to the league as a whole.B次元官网网址�

While Daly was reluctant to address what might be next with the Seattle vote pending, Houston, Quebec City and Toronto have all been touted as possible new homes for an NHL team. Communications company Quebecor applied for an expansion team for Quebec City at the same time as Las Vegas. Billionaire businessman and new Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta has already met with Commissioner Gary Bettman.

B次元官网网址淗oustonB次元官网网址檚 a big city,B次元官网网址� Fehr said. B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 got a long history with professional sports in North America. You would like to think that sooner or later the NHL will have a team there. When and under what circumstances IB次元官网网址檓 not going to try and predict.B次元官网网址�

WATCH: Bettman says NHL open to Seattle expansion application (2017)

Andrew Zimbalist, a Smith College economic professor who has written extensively on sports and business, said professional leagues operate much differently from other entities when demand increases. Instead of making more of a product, like a sneaker or beer company might, leagues and teams raise ticket prices or seek new arenas.

Expansion, of course, is another way to feed the beast and Zimbalist said a league could get to 40 teams if it is popular enough and the revenue is spread around correctly.

Any dream of a 40-team NHL would almost certainly involve European expansion, which Bettman said no one has come up with a viable plan for yet. Amid speculation about basing a single NFL team in London, the NHL would likely need to put a full division in Europe to make any sense. And even that has its obstacles, with New Jersey Devils captain Andy Greene pointing to the drastic time changes and coach John Hynes unsure about the long-distance travel as part of an 82-game season.

B次元官网网址淲hen you look at the NHL schedule without going to Europe, itB次元官网网址檚 a monster,B次元官网网址� said Hynes, whose team ended training camp in Switzerland, played an exhibition game there and opened the season in Sweden. B次元官网网址淭hen you add in European travel and time changes and NHLPA days off for recovery time and it takes its toll.B次元官网网址�

For now, the NHL will continue to play games in Europe, explore China and increase its regular season to 1,312 games B次元官网网址� once Seattle joins the fray.

Stephen Whyno, The Associated Press

Like us on and follow us on .