That NHL team we’re waiting for could take awhile to arrive.
NHL expansion to Texas might be inevitable, but that doesn’t mean it’s imminent.
Deputy commissioner Bill Daly pumped the brakes on the notion of rapid league expansion Wednesday at the NHL/NHLPA player media tour in Las Vegas — talk Daly fueled at the European stop on the media tour in Munich on Aug. 22. Though the league has engaged in significant discussions with Houston billionaire Dan Friedkin about bringing a 33rd franchise to Houston or Austin, there are still a few hurdles to clear.
The first comes Sept. 22, when the NHL board of governors will weigh in.
“I don’t want to get ahead of the board,” Daly said Wednesday. “I don’t want to treat it like a done deal, because it’s not. It’s not a done deal on the Friedkin side, and it’s not a done deal on our side. And that’s why it’s kind of a nonbinding term sheet (agreed to with the league). We’re both going to work hard to achieve that goal. But at the end of the day, it might not happen.”
Another hurdle is that either city would need to build a new arena to attract an NHL expansion franchise. Toyota Center, home of the NBA’s Houston Rockets, isn’t an option for the new team. Neither is Moody Center, Austin’s 4-year-old multipurpose arena on the University of Texas campus. Arenas take time to plan and build, meaning Daly’s previously stated target of a 2029-30 season debut might be overly optimistic.
But Daly expressed little concern about that Wednesday.
“I don’t think there’s any magic about the date of entry,” Daly said. “If it’s not ’29-’30, it’ll be ’30-’31. I don’t think that’s going to be a prime gating factor.”
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Between the two cities, Houston is the more likely landing spot for a new team. It’s the fourth-largest city in the United States, with a population of roughly 2.4 million. But the NHL has had success in mid-tier markets such as Raleigh, N.C., San Jose, Calif., Nashville, Tenn., and Las Vegas. Being the first major team to come to a city rather than entering a crowded market has its advantages. Austin would fall into that category.
“I’ve heard that, and I feel it, as well,” Daly said. “Austin, we’d be the first of the major four (leagues) to put a franchise there. And there’s some benefit to coming first. It’s an up-and-coming, growing city. Young, affluent — it has a lot going for it. But Houston is, like you said, enormous, and it is a major market that we’re not in. We don’t have the same footprint across the United States that the other major professional leagues do. So, to add a city of Houston’s size and demographics to our league, there would be certainly benefits associated with that.”
See here and here for some background. I’m not sure if the order of operations is “pick a city and then figure out where the arena will be built” or “pick a site where an arena will be built and that will determine the city”. Maybe we’ll know more after September 22. I’ll keep an eye on it.