As the Carolina Hurricanes chase a second Stanley Cup in their 25th anniversary season in North Carolina, the NHL franchise and its home arena are looking to sign a long-term lease agreement.

The board of the Centennial Authority, which owns PNC Arena in Raleigh, approved the hiring of a lease negotiator Thursday to open talks with the Hurricanes on a long-term lease agreement. The authority approved $225,000 over the next six months to cover the contract with Dan Barrett of CAA ICON.

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And the Hurricanes on board with a long-term deal, seen as a key component to developing the area around the 23-year-old building. The team holds considerable power of any proposed development and could partner with the Centennial Authority on the projects.

"If you're going to develop property, you're probably looking at 50 to 75 years," Hurricanes general manager Don Waddell told WRAL. "If you're going to put a lot of money in real estate, hotels, make it a development, you need the arena to be successful also and the hockey team and NC State to be a part of it."

The building is home to NC State's men's basketball team and hosts concerts, events and other activities throughout the year. The Authority has 81 acres of property around the building, but could work with NC State, Raleigh, Wake County and the state of North Carolina to develop a larger tract.

Development around the arena has long been a priority, but current board chairman Philip Isley has promoted an aggressive timeline for making decisions and moving forward. The board approved the creation of a seven-member executive committee, aimed at speeding up its processes, during Thursday's meeting.

"We have everybody truly rowing in the same direction," Isley told the board. "The expectation of the community in 1997 was that this was going to be developed. ... That's what they expected in 1997. We're 25 years down the line here and finally things are beginning to coalesce to a point where all points are headed in the right direction."

Barrett, the president of CAA ICON, negotiated the last agreement on behalf of the board and will do the same. The Hurricanes signed a five-year lease extension in 2021, keeping them in the arena through Sept. 30, 2029.

With the Centennial Authority considering hundreds of millions of dollars worth of upgrades to the arena as well as development around it, Barrett said a long-term lease agreement is pivotal.

"As it relates specifically to the renovation, the Hurricanes' lease extension is critical here," Barrett said. "It's critical for the financing plan. It's critical for retaining the team long term. And while the scope and the scale of the program is going to be heavily influenced by the Hurricanes, NC State and other users are as important in the process."

Barrett has worked in the field for more than 30 years and has worked on 1,500 sports industry projects, according to his bio. Barrett spent nearly an hour showing the board what agreements will need to be worked through or modified in order to renovate the building and enhance the area around it. He also showed several venues across the country that have had success with development, including the new Atlanta Braves stadium in Cobb County, which, like PNC Arena, is located outside of a city center or urban core.

"Developers that are coming here are going to be focused on whether or not the Hurricanes are a tenant long term in this building and whether the building's going to be renovated," Barrett said. "It will make a difference to a developer who's coming on site if the Hurricanes are not part of the building, as the building is not utilized as much or is not as high profile as it might be with a major league tenant."

Under terms of their current lease, the Hurricanes do not pay rent and collect 100 percent of revenue from concessions, gameday advertising, television rights, parking and luxury and club suites. The Hurricanes receive $4.335 million from the authority to offset arena operating expenses.

If the Hurricanes were to relocate before the 2029-30 season, they would owe a termination fee to the arena. It begins at $31 million for the 2024-25 season and moves down to $3 million if the team moves for the 2028-29 season. The team would have to provide notice by Sept. 1 of the previous year.

"In the scheme of things, those fees are relatively low," Barrett told the board during Thursday's meeting.

The detailed report includes a section on NHL expansion and relocation, saying the league is "unlikely to expand further," but listing nine potential NHL relocation markets, including Hartford, Houston, Kansas City and Salt Lake City. Just one NHL team (Atlanta) has moved cities since the Hartford Whalers moved to North Carolina for the 1997-98 season.

The team is negotiating with PNC Arena to extend its naming rights agreement, which was set to expire in August. The sides have a 90-day agreement in place to complete negotiations. Waddell said those negotiations are progressing.

"It's going in the right direction," he said. "There's a lot of new assets that we're working through to try to put the finishing touches on it."