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Sports This Week - The excitement of sport expansion

Few things in sport grab my attention more than talk of expansion, or of new pro leagues, and it is a stress diversion as we await the ultimate fate of the Toronto Raptors It is fascinating to me to see the continued interest out there to expand upon
Calvin

Few things in sport grab my attention more than talk of expansion, or of new pro leagues, and it is a stress diversion as we await the ultimate fate of the Toronto Raptors

It is fascinating to me to see the continued interest out there to expand upon the sporting options we fans can follow.

Expansion of course is rather straightforward to understand, and is talked about for two simple reasons.

On the one hand there are large, long-established leagues which look to expansion as a way to grow their market, and for existing owners to pocket some cash in the process. Nowhere is that better illustrated than with the National Hockey League.

Certainly the great experiment which was a move into Las Vegas has been a huge success, and it is likely Seattle – already a solid hockey town – will be as well, but the expansion fees are a nice bonus for NHL teams some of which are not likely generating much in the way of profits.

How many times can the NHL expand though?

It would not surprise this humble scribe if Houston and Kansas City are still in the mind of league Commissioner Gary Bettman for expansion, and if he wanted to look to Canada in a more reasonable way, a second team in Toronto would fly. I know too a team would work in Quebec City again, but as the NHL raises the expansion fees ever higher it may well be pricing QC out of the picture.

The other established leagues are talking expansion much more quietly. In Canada we live in hopes of the MLB back in Montreal and the NBA in Vancouver, but both are barely whispers.

The other side of expansion are new leagues emerging and trying to get to the point where they are seen as relevant.

It’s not exactly a science in terms of how many teams signal relevancy for a league, although in a market as large as North America 16 is a number I’ve adopted as foundational based on a few articles I have seen floating around the Internet.

That is certainly the number the National Lacrosse League is pushing hard to get too, with expansion for the 2019-20 season set to bring the league up to 13 teams. The league commissioner Nick Sakiewicz has also stated every effort is being made to hit 16 teams with three more seasons, and then the potential he talks about is 30, although I’m not sure if, or when that might be achieved.

Somewhere in the expansion of the NLL Edmonton is likely to be back in the league, with my guess by the time they grow to 18. A touch farther down the road expect a team in Quebec too, and maybe a second team in Ontario, all of which would be great for the sport in this country.

Major League Rugby is also in grwith mode. In its second season the league has nine teams, two new this year. In 2020, they will add three more, and I have heard at least one team official suggest the league has an eye on 26 teams one day.

With Toronto in the fold, and chasing a playoff spot in their first season, the league is going to be a boon for the 15s game in this country.

There will be a team in Vancouver one day, although maybe not until they are up to 16, or 18 teams. There is certainly talent in the west to feed a team in B.C., and as a huge rugby fan it cannot happen too soon.

Then there is the Canadian Elite Basketball League. Only weeks old the six-team, FIBA rules league with its focus on Canadian players, is already hinting at expansion. Saskatchewan Rattlers president Lee Genier suggested in a half-time segment that expansion for 2020 was going to happen, and that the CEBL is already looking ahead to 12 teams, a very reasonable number when confined to Canada.

It shouldn’t be too hard to see that growth with B.C. large enough to be home to more than one team, (Fraser Valley Bandits), and cities such as Calgary, Winnipeg, Ottawa, and Montreal without teams at present.

I also have to again put in a plug for the Rattlers, who are hughly entertaining, and can be seen free via CEBL TV