By Addison Burke, Staff Writer

Last week during a National Hockey League (NHL) press conference prior to the All-Star Game, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman (pictured right) expressed  interests in expanding the league. Some cities that have expressed interest in the possible expansion include Houston, Atlanta, Kansas City and Cincinnati.

“There seems to be an increasing and vibrant expression of interest in having an NHL team in places where there aren’t,” Bettman said.

“What’s happening is, people are expressing an interest. We have no formal expansion process set up. We’re not envisioning what we did in prior times … we’re listening to the expressions of interests,” he added.

Currently, Cincinnati’s interest in joining the league is “very preliminary,” according to Bettman. Outside of Cincinnati, it is very likely that hockey fans will see a new NHL team in Utah before a second team in Ohio. In the same press conference, Bettman said that Utah is very excited at the potential of getting an NHL team, and at the governmental level, there has been a high level of enthusiasm and expressed interest at the potential addition of a team.

Despite these talks of new teams, Bettman said that the NHL is not currently looking to expand or relocate teams.

If the expansion request was accepted for Cincinnati, this would bring a fourth professional sports team to the city alongside the Reds, Bengals and FC Cincinnati. One of the biggest inhibitors of this potential expansion into the Queen City would be the necessity of building a new arena that would house the team.

“The other thing I think is interesting is what about adding an NBA team, right? Because the closest NBA team in our state is Cleveland. It would be interesting to know the appetite of people in Cincinnati,”  Dr. Dominique Kropp, who serves as the program director for Graduate Sport Management & Marketing at Xavier. said.

The Cincinnati Cyclones, who are a part of the East Coast Hockey League as affiliates of the New York Rangers, play at the Heritage Bank Center downtown. While this arena would be big enough for an NHL team, Cincinnati’s tourism organization, Visit Cincy, has discussed the potential of a new arena instead of housing two hockey teams in one building.

Kristin Ropp, the general manager of the Cyclones, believes that this expansion could become a reality, but it can’t happen without a new arena.

“We love the idea of the NHL here. But we’re really putting the cart before the horse. Everything starts with the arena. You can talk about the NHL all you want. Nothing happens without a new arena,” Ropp said.

In the 1970s, Cincinnati had a major league hockey team, the Cincinnati Stingers, who played in the World Hockey Association (WHA). The WHA disbanded after financial difficulties in 1979 but made a deal with the NHL, and four of the six remaining teams moved leagues.

Since then, various minor league teams have been in Cincinnati. The Cyclones have been around since 1990 for all but two seasons. The Cyclones franchise relaunched in 2006 and has had increasing attendance every year. They average more than 6,000 fans per home game and have been financially stable. Because of these statistics Ropp believes Cincinnati could support an NHL team.

“I think with the growth of the Cyclones and the interest in hockey in general, I don’t see why not,” Ropp said.

As of now, there is no firm expansion into Cincinnati or any other city, but fans can continue to express their interest in the possibility of an NHL team coming to town to see how the conversation progresses.