Atlanta has lost two NHL teams. Former player Anson Carter leads one of two groups in search of a third

ATLANTA (AP) — After losing the Flames and Thrashers, Atlanta is making a third attempt to land an NHL team.

Former player Anson Carter announced Tuesday that he is leading a group that made a formal request to the league to begin the process of adding an expansion team in the metro Atlanta area.

Carter’s group is the second to express serious interest in bringing another team to Atlanta, which hosted the Flames from 1972 to 1980 and the Thrashers from 1999 to 2011.

Both teams moved to Canadian cities – the Flames to Calgary and the Thrashers to Winnipeg, where they are now known as the Jets – due to ownership issues and declining attendance.

Ryan Smith, owner of the NBA’s Utah Jazz, also made a bid for an NHL expansion team in Salt Lake City.

The league has said it is not ready to consider expanding its current 32-team roster, but has also made clear it is willing to discuss a new team with any group that reaches out. Expansion costs could amount to at least $1 billion.

The NHL is unlikely to continue its expansion until it resolves the situation with the Arizona Coyotes, who currently play in a 4,600-seat college rink.

“The league appreciates Anson’s passion for bringing NHL hockey back to the Atlanta area, and he has certainly kept the topic on our radar screen for several years in a row,” said Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly. “Although, as we have made clear, we currently have no expansion process in place, it is always good to know that there is genuine interest.”

Carter, who played with eight NHL teams from 1996 to 2007 and has lived in Atlanta for 15 years, runs Alpharetta Sports & Entertainment Group, based in the prosperous suburb about 30 miles north of downtown Atlanta .

The group is proposing a new Frank Gehry-designed arena that would be built during a redevelopment of the North Point Mall.

“I have no doubt that the best league in the world will thrive when it returns to metro Atlanta,” Carter said. “I have been in dialogue with Commissioner (Gary) Bettman since 2019 regarding the return of an expansion team to the metro Atlanta market, understanding that the NHL’s franchise decisions are exclusively taken by the NHL Board of Governors.

Suddenly, a city that hasn’t had a hockey team in more than a decade sees two groups vying for a franchise in a league that’s riding the wave of wildly successful expansion teams in Las Vegas and Seattle.

Atlanta businessman Vernon Krause has proposed an 18,000-seat arena as part of a massive mixed-use development in southern Forsyth County, less than 16 miles north of arena proposed by the Carter group.

Last week, Krause told WSB-TV that he and his wife recently traveled to New York and met with Bettman and Daly to discuss a possible expansion team.

Both arena proposals are located along Georgia Highway 400, which runs through Atlanta’s sprawling northern suburbs. Studies have shown that the neighborhood is home to a large number of potential NHL fans and would mark a striking change from the arenas where the city’s previous teams called home, both located downtown.

The Flames played at the Omni, while the Thrashers took the ice in what is now known as State Farm Arena – a 17,000-seat facility built on the site of the Omni after the demolition of the original arena.

State Farm Arena remains the home of the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks, but has undergone massive renovations that make sharing a hockey team more viable. Additionally, Daly said he believed a location north of the city would give a new Atlanta-area team a better chance of long-term success.

Carter, who now works as an analyst for TNT and Canadian channel Sportsnet, said his partners include Neil Leibman of Top Tier Sports, Peter Simon of Simon Sports and Aaron Zeigler of Zeigler Entertainment Group.

Carter said the proposed development at North Point Mall would also include a stadium that could be used for football and lacrosse, a performing arts venue, an esports center and training facilities, as well as elements of retail, restaurant, hotel and residential. Insurance giant New York Life would be a partner.

There were no details on how the project would be financed or how much public money might be needed, although Alpharetta Mayor Jim Gilvin and Fulton County Commission Chairman, Robb Pitts, have released statements through Carter’s group expressing their support.

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AP Hockey Writers Larry Lage in Detroit and Stephen Whyno in Washington contributed to this report.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Paul Newberry, Associated Press