NHL Exploring Expansion in Texas with Houston, Austin - Page 2

NHL Exploring Expansion in Texas with Houston, Austin

HOUSTON — The NHL is exploring expansion once again – this time the league has its eyes set on the great state of Texas for its 33rd team.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman announced Tuesday that the league will begin a six-month process to evaluate the possibility of expanding to Houston or Austin, Texas.

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Bettman announced that the potential ownership group will be led by Dan Friedkin, the CEO of The Friedkin group.

The Friedkin family worked out an agreement with the NHL for an investment of around $3.5 billion. This investment would include the expansion fee and the cost of a new arena.

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This six-month evaluation process is set to determine if Houston or Austin is the best market for expansion. If the league does expand to 33 teams, the NHL will become the largest major North American pro sports league.

The possibility of the NHL expanding to Houston or Austin isn’t a recent development either; it’s been in the works for years, according to Bettman:

“We have been in discussions for the better part of two years with the Friedkin family, principally for the last two years about Houston as an expansion opportunity,” Bettman said.

Regardless of where the potential franchise could land, the NHL doesn’t believe either market has an arena to support the expansion, meaning ice most likely won’t return to Houston’s Toyota Center.

“But as we continued to focus with [Friedkin family], particularly on the need for a new arena in Houston, the discussions morphed into also a discussion about Austin, which would also need a new building,” Bettman said. “But we are going to work together under the terms, a term sheet that we were able to agree upon, in terms of a framework to consider what makes the most sense moving forward.”

The Friedkins

The NHL’s Board of Governors has yet to vote on expansion, but its committee has approved the framework of what it’d take for the Friedkin family to be granted a franchise.

familyFor the Friedkin, this wouldn’t be their “first rodeo” with owning a sports franchise. The Houston-based family owns a pair of soccer clubs; Italy’s AS Roma and Everton of the English Premier League.

Pursuit Sports, the family’s sports ownership and operations organization, released a statement on the family’s behalf about the expansion opportunity:

“We have wanted for some time to bring an NHL team to Texas, and we are excited that the process has now begun,” the Friedkin family said in a statement. “Selecting a new market for an NHL franchise is a special and important responsibility, and we are grateful to the League for their faith in us and their support. Working with Commissioner Bettman and the NHL, we will undertake a principled, disciplined, and methodical process to ensure we find the right long-term home for this new franchise.”

For Austin, the possibility of NHL expansion would give the city its second major-league pro sports franchise. Currently, the city is home to Austin FC of the MLS.

Pro Hockey in Houston

If the NHL expands to Houston, it will be the first major pro hockey team in the city since the original Houston Aeros of the World Hockey Association.

The Aeros of the WHA played at Sam Houston Coliseum and The Summit between 1972 and 1978. They won championships in 1974 and 1975, making them the only WHA franchise not to join the NHL when the leagues merged in 1979.

The Aeros name would return to Houston in 1994 as a minor-league team in the International Hockey League. They won the IHL’s championship in 1999 and the American Hockey League’s championship in 2003.

The Aeros became an affiliate for the NHL’s Minnesota Wild in 2001, and briefly for the Dallas Stars from 2004 to 2005.

After years of disputes with former Houston Rockets and Toyota Center owner Les Alexander, then-owner Chuck Watson decided to relocate the franchise to Iowa in 2013. The team is now known as the Iowa Wild.

If the NHL expands to Houston, it’d give the city a franchise in each of the major sporting leagues; the MLB, MLS, NBA, NFL, NHL and WNBA (Houston Comets set to begin play in 2027).