CBS' second go-around with the NHL came at just about the time when the NHL's Original Six franchises were to be joined by the league's first expansion class of . Although the San Francisco Bay Area was not considered a particularly good hockey market, the terms of a new television agreement with a U.S. network (ultimately CBS) called for two of the expansion teams to be located in California. Hence, the California Seals and Los Angeles Kings joined the National Hockey League in an attempt to get a better TV deal, given that two large West Coast television markets would have NHL clubs (the Seals were renamed the Oakland Seals during their first season and then were rechristened the California Golden Seals when purchased by Charlie O. Finley in ). CBS was hoping that they would grow with the NHL by persuading them to go coast-to-coast (Montreal to Los Angeles) in a similar fashion for which they had grown with the National Football League (beginning in 1956).