Atlanta has long been the favourite to land the NHL's 33rd team, and now we know the one big obstacle standing in their way to make that happen. The NHL has officially hit 32 teams after the introduction of the Seattle Kraken, but they appear set to add a 33rd team soon, which would make them the highest populated sport in North America, surpassing the NFL who also have 32 teams. While no specifics have yet been released on potential expansion, it's long been known that the cities of Atlanta, Houston and Quebec City have been in the running, with the league seemingly interested in a team in Atlanta for the third time. However, there's one major obstacle standing in their way, as the team have secured funding for a new arena, but only up to $225 million, with the money only becoming accessible once they've landed the rights to be team No. 33. That will be much easier said than done however, as the fee to become an NHL team is now expected to exceed $1 billion, and with the new arena project expected to come in around $3 billion, this could be one of the most expensive projects in recent memory. <div align='center'><blockquote class='twitter-tweet' data-lang='en'><a href='https://twitter.com/OvertimeScottB/status/1836051584368722141'> </a></blockquote></div> Ultimately, all signs right now point to Atlanta being the favourite to land the NHL's next franchise, and if they can lock down a new site for the arena, it makes perfect sense with major backing, but don't expect it to be cheap for the groups pushing hard to make all of this happen. Source: Hockey Patrol <a href='https://www.hockeypatrol.com/nhl/news/atlanta-favourite-to-make-nhl-return-critical-factor-emerges' class='lien_marqueur' target='_blank' rel='noopener'>Atlanta favourite to make NHL return: Critical factor emerges</a>