After many months of debate between PHL president Alan Garcia, the PHL Expansion Committee, and the Profressional Hockey Players' Association, The PHL has officially accepted Seattle, WA, and Dallas, TX, as expansion franchises for the 1974-75 season. Seattle received the most votes from the expansion committee with six, Dallas finished tied with Edmonton for second. In the end, Alan Garcia decided to take a chance on Dallas. "We realize this could go either way." said Garcia. "This is not a market that is familiar with the game and we'll have a lot of work to do but I'm excited and we're all very excited about how far our league has come. There has been a lot of excitement these last few years in LA about the Wizards and I see no reason why that can't happen in Texas as well."
Seattle was a fairly obvious choice from the beginning. While the local PBL team threatened to block a team from playing in the Emerald Forum, potential owner John Dyson and Alan Garcia pushed hard for a lease agreement with the city-owned building, eventually getting approval. When the expansion committee overwhelmingly supported Seattle with their vote, Garcia knew the city would be a perfect fit. "We are also very happy to finally welcome Seattle aboard." Garcia said. "We know they have been trying to acquire a franchise for some time and their hard work has finally paid off."
In Edmonton, the reaction to the league's decision was not a popular one. Almost everywhere fans voiced their displeasure with the announcement. "Dallas? do they even know what ice or skates are in Dallas?" questioned one fan. Garcia calmed the uproar somewhat when he stated that Edmonton is a definite front-runner for expansion 1976, along with Washington DC and Long Island.
The expansion committee will re-convene in the summer of 1974 to vote on applications for the next two franchises, who will begin play in 1976.
No comments:
Post a Comment