The NHL could be heading to Houston, with billionaire Dan Friedkin emerging as a serious contender to bring professional hockey to Texas’s largest city.
ESPN’s Emily Kaplan reports that Friedkin and his business group have met “several times” with NHL officials about a potential expansion team.
It’s not Friedkin’s first swing at major sports ownership. His group already owns two European soccer powerhouses – AS Roma in Italy and Everton FC in England. He also recently tried to buy the NBA’s Boston Celtics, which just sold for a whopping $6.1 billion.
The timing makes sense. The NHL’s recent forced sale of the Arizona Coyotes, which will become the Utah Hockey Club in 2024, has sparked fresh talk about the league’s future.
Hockey’s been on a growth spurt lately. The Vegas Golden Knights and Seattle Kraken joined the league as expansion teams, bringing in a combined $1.15 billion in fees. Vegas paid $500 million to join, while Seattle upped that to $650 million.
But Houston might not be alone in the expansion race.
Atlanta’s getting another look too. The city lost its previous team, the Thrashers, when they moved to Winnipeg in 2011. But it’s still considered a prime market for hockey’s return.
If both cities got teams, the NHL would grow to 34 teams – potentially forcing a rethink of its 16-team playoff format. League officials said last year they wouldn’t change the playoffs, but money has a way of changing minds.
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman’s playing it cool for now. He recently dismissed expansion talk as not being a “front-burner topic.”
But with deep-pocketed investors circling and major markets in play, the NHL’s map could look very different in the coming years.
