The owner of the NBA’s Houston Rockets, Tilman Fertitta, is reportedly in talks with the NHL about bringing a team to Texas’ biggest city, Bloomberg reports (subscription required). The NHL is the last of the major male sports leagues to not have a team in Houston, with the NBA, NFL, MLB, and MLS all existing in the city since 2005. Fertitta told Bloomberg, “We are talking to the NHL, but it’s got to be good for both of us… We just know that when there’s a concert downtown, how it activates downtown, we know what the Astros do for downtown, we know what even soccer does for downtown.”
Fertitta mentions that he’s been discussing an NHL team with the league ever since his acquisition of the Rockets in 2017, but that talks have recently ramped up – even sharing that he’s received interest from Houston suburbs willing to host a team, though Fertitta would prefer to keep the arena downtown. Fertitta’s Rockets currently play out of the Toyota Center, which recently underwent renovations to make it suitable for a hockey team.
Houston has been named as one of six cities interested in potential NHL expansion, with Salt Lake City, Utah, requesting official initiation of an NHL expansion process. The request was made by the Smith Entertainment Group, which also owns the NBA’s Utah Jazz, as well as teams in both the MLS and NWSL. The NHL called Salt Lake a “promising market” and acknowledged the next steps they’re taking towards making Utah their newest host. Houston may soon enter a similar process, now expressing interest in a team a month after Salt Lake City’s request.
While both cities could make sense for an expansion team, the NHL could also eye them as potential landing spots for the Arizona Coyotes, if the team’s ownership can’t make progress on a new arena soon enough. The NHLPA recently shared that Arizona has missed two deadlines to find a new arena, adding significant pressure to the search. That pressure is no doubt added to now with two billionaire ownership groups with ties to the NBA and other professional sports leagues declaring their interest in an NHL club.
Houston Coyotes
Then renamed to the Houston Aeros
Coyotes will be right at home in Texas.
The NHL has been on the Utah bandwagon for a while now. Just couldn’t see them adding a team in the west and south given the current geography of the NHL. Unless they move Arizona.
If they don’t move Arizona, then I think it’s more likely they look at a Great Lakes region team (Milwaukee or Cleveland), Northeast (Hartford), or Canada (Quebec).
And if the NHL finally euthanizes this Coyote experiment, they better be smart where they relocate. Look at the issues with the MLB and the Oakland A’s wanting to move to Vegas. The reason the Golden Knights were received so well was because they were Vegas’s own team, not a team that relocated like the Raiders. The Jets was a happy accident where a hockey starved market got their team back.
Maybe Quebec or Hartford would take on a relocating team? But these new markets would want their own franchise. Plus the ownership group in Arizona has been at least incompetent and at worst predatory. If they move, it would probably require them selling the franchise to a new owner to usher in that relocating franchise.
All very good points
I wonder if the Predators would be open to moving into the Eastern Conference to make the geography work? They’d lose established rivalries, which might be unwise for a smaller market franchise. But a Houston team would need to be in the Central division anyway, and moving the Preds would ensure an even 17/17 split in conferences.
Obviously it’d just be easier if one of the new teams was in Quebec, Cleveland, Atlanta etc. like you said.
All good points except as a Canadian I still doubt Quebec City is high on any relocation or new franchise list, I would suggest a second Toronto-area franchise or nearly Hamilton is more likely.
Why Cleveland or Cincy? There is already a team in Columbus. And as far as Atlanta goes… they could name them the Commodores “they will be once, twice, three times a failure”. Move Arizona to Salt Lake, Give Houston and Quebec City expansion teams…..
Houston is a far better choice than Utah for many reasons, Salt Lake City was on the radar because nobody else was until now.
Moved to Arizona from Buffalo 30 years ago and really really really want the Coyotes to move, as they’re five years away from playing their first game in the new arena that will never be built.
Coyotes SOLD and transferred to Utah, $1B new franchise fee for Houston club, and $1B new franchise fee for Seattle or another failing in Atlanta. Dallas plays in front of a sold-out arena, and they are no more a hockey market than Houston, and Houston is double in size. Cincinnati and Omaha are crack dreams.
I think there’s a team in Seattle already.
Seattle….what league are you watching? …there IS a Seattle team!
if not for Gary Arizona is in Houston years ago. When they expand before Gary retires Atlanta has a team
Yeah no.
Texas already has one team that they shouldn’t have to begin with, they don’t need another.
Sincerely all of us hockey fans in The State of Hockey.
Oh and Norm Green still sucks.
Hockey fans would disagree, apparently you don’t recall the best ever hockey family (the Howes including Dad Gordie*, sons Marty and Mark) played in Houston and it was a big success for awhile. *Gordie lead the NHL in all-time scoring for decades until Gretzky, thought you should know because you seem like you are 15 years old and don’t know any NHL history.
If the money is right Gary is all-in for Houston.
I love that people assume with zero evidence that Houston is any better of a market for ice hockey than Phoenix or Miami.
Based on hope, I guess.
66TheNumberOfTheBest3 weeks ago
A few of these cities being floated are just there to try to squeeze a higher price from the real cities on the list.
Houston and Atlanta are what the league really wants. Two top ten US media markets. I’d have to check but they might be the only top ten or even 15 US markets the NHL doesn’t have. Huge populations. Large corporate base.
Quality take there.
But, not at all incompatible with the above statement.
As you can see from Atlanta’s inclusion whether a market wants hockey doesn’t matter to the NHL as much as whether they want the market.
What’s the relevance of Miami? The Panthers seem to be doing fine.
Wow, you’re off base. See my comments above about the Howes and the old Houston Aeros of the WHA (was a team in AHL that moved to Iowa mainly to be closer to parent Minnesota). Plus a good arena and an owner that wants the NHL is the biggest requirement. When your population and TV market is that big, its gonna work. Further NHL guys (both Canadians and Americans) like living in warm climates and Texas lack of income tax helps too. Is that enough evidence for you?
Guessing that less than 1% of the population cares about the Aeros in any meaningful way (maybe not even 0.1%) and the rest of Houston’s list of “pros” read the same as Phoenix. Warm and “too big to fail”.
Also, that the players pay less taxes is unlikely to draw fans, in and of itself.
That’s great that you spout made-up statistics but those mean nothing. The billionaires get to make the decisions (sorry it’s true() and given the many kid ans adult hockey leagues in Houston (look it up like I did) you seem way off base. So you must be an anti-hockey guy. So please see Babo1975 post ans then go to the NFL or MLB or NBA chat websites please!
Explain how Houston is a better market than Phoenix.
Attendance of southern teams:
Nashville Predators: 17,361 (101.5 percent)
Carolina Hurricanes: 19,526 (99.6 percent)
Dallas Stars: 18,371 (99.1 percent)
“The Dallas Stars returned to their pre-COVID attendance numbers where they have averaged over 18,000 fans since 2014-15.”
link to theathletic.com
Looks like HOF’er Gary Bettman was a prophet, eh?