NEW YORK -- The National Hockey League will expand into new markets before it relocates franchises from current cities, commissioner Gary Bettman said yesterday.
However, expansion of the league's 30 teams is not on the immediate horizon, Bettman told the Reuters Global Media Summit.
"Moving clubs from their current locations is not something we're planning on doing," Bettman said.
"However, I know there is substantial interest in a number of places in Canada and we are interested in that interest, be it from Winnipeg or Quebec City or even southern Ontario.
"The fact is we're not seeking to relocate any franchises and as a result expansion would be the way to satisfy that interest. But in this economic climate, I'm not exactly comfortable that this is the right time to be expanding."
Several NHL teams are facing financial issues, including Columbus, Tampa, Dallas and Phoenix, which filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this year and was purchased by the league.
Bettman denied there was a crisis.
"There are franchises in all sports in this environment that are losing money," Bettman said. "We're not the only league in that regard. But the tales of despair are greatly exaggerated.
"Yes, there are some clubs that need to be doing better but not one is in what I would call dire straits or anything close to it."
Bettman also said the NHL was still undecided whether or not to take part in the 2014 Sochi Olympics and that the league will not decide for several years if it will allow its players to participate in the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
At that time, the league and its players' union will decide whether playing on the "world's biggest sporting platform" outweighs the disruption of shutting the NHL season down for two weeks, Bettman said.
NHL players will participate in the Vancouver Games in February but the wavering about Sochi has angered some players who want to represent their native country.
"The Olympics is a great platform," Bettman said. "I take full credit and responsibility and blame for the fact that we go to the Olympics in the first place, because we have to do it in the middle of our season."
A Games-interrupted season "loses attention" at a time when it only has to compete with the NBA. Sochi's time zone, eight hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time, would also hurt its television exposure.
"When you're in Salt Lake City (for the 2002 Games) and you're in North American time zones, the media coverage works pretty good," he said. "It works in Vancouver, but when you're halfway around the world, you question how good the coverage is."
