New York May Get a New Pro Hockey Team, Could Upstate NY Be Its Home?

A new professional hockey league is being launched, and New York may end up being involved.

The league in-question is called Major League Hockey, and some of the specifics about the league are eye-popping. Per the league's newly-published website, each team will have a $30 million salary cap, and the winning team will receive a $100,000 cash prize.

Each game night will feature two 24-minute games, with a short intermission between them. The games will be played exclusively in the 3v3 format, the format used by the National Hockey League when games go to overtime.

The league's website boasts that games can be attended by paying fan-friendly admission prices, and that games will be held exclusively on Friday and Saturday nights.

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The website lists the following locations as "markets" for new teams: New York, California, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Quebec, Minnesota, Arizona, Missouri, Nebraska, New England, Oklahoma, Ontario, Texas and Florida.

So, let's get to the important question: is this league legitimate?

The short answer to this question is: I'm not sure.

To help answer this question, allow me to introduce you to one of my favorite sports personalities on the planet, Steve "Dangle" Glynn. Steve is a hockey YouTuber and podcaster, and is one of my favorite people to follow on social media for hockey-related content.

Weeks ago, Steve released a video on his channel announcing Major League Hockey, but one day later, chose to remove the video entirely. Here's why:

On Friday of this week, Steve tweeted the following:

Steve also addressed the situation on the May 13th episode of The Steve Dangle Podcast:

So, to this point, we know that the information posted is accurate when compared to previous rumors, but we still cannot confirm whether or not it's actually true.

The questions of legitimacy are centered around Max Chambers, who is the one reportedly providing the financial backing for the league. The Rink Live's Brad Elliott Schlossman wrote a tremendous feature on Chambers a few weeks ago, which I highly recommend that you read.

To summarize his findings on Chambers, it appears as though we may have another John Spano situation on our hands. Sorry, Islanders' fans.

So, in short, a new hockey league is in the works, but the project is still in its infancy, and many questions are still surrounding it. That said, if the project is legitimate, and this league does get launched, then I believe that the Capital Region and/or Upstate New York would be tremendous hosts for this team.

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In the Capital Region, the team could play at MVP Arena, Houston Field House, the Achilles Center, Cool Insuring Arena, or, could become a new tenant at the arena being built at Mohawk Harbor.

Elsewhere, the team could play at hockey venues in Syracuse, Buffalo, Utica and Rochester, just to name a few.

More to come on this story.