It’s long been rumored that the NFL is planning on picking up one or two franchised and dropping them in the home of the Los Angeles Kings (is there other stuff there?).

The relocation fee an owner must pay for the right to move a franchise, which Rapoport reported is $550 million per team. – Kevin Patra, NFL.com

So let me get this straight. It costs $50 million more to move an existing franchise in the NFL than it does to be awarded a brand new franchise in the NHL?

GD. It almost makes that insanely high $500 million price tag they are rumored to be charging The Creator to bring hockey to the valley look like a steal.

Obviously the leagues are in no way comparable right now, but it does go to show the NHL how far it has to go if it ever wants to compete with the NFL. However, it also shows the earning potential professional sports have in this country.

One of the holdups in the expansion process is the financial decision of whether or not the $1 billion in cash for expanding to two cities is worth the addition of two teams to TV revenue sharing. It’s an important issue, but there’s a good chance the NHL’s Board of Governors is looking at it the wrong way. Why not have your cake and eat it too? Take the up front money and expand to a city that has the potential to grow the sport in a way not many others can.

Las Vegas is influential. When it snows here, news outlets race to the Vegas Sign to take the first picture. When the Cosmopolitan pool lights on fire, it’s headline news around the globe. And when some scum of the earth loser woman purposely drives on the sidewalk killing one and injuring 30+ others, CNN covers it for weeks.

Imagine being the first league to successfully plant itself in Las Vegas. I know people here will care, and I think The Creator has proven that as well. But what the league may be missing, is how much the rest of the world cares about our city. Expanding to Las Vegas won’t take the NHL and turn it into the juggernaut that the NFL has become, but I can assure you of this, it certainly won’t hurt.