The Austin, Texas market is among those interested in joining the next round of National Hockey League expansion, reports Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff.
The NHL recently began cautiously expanding beyond the 30-team norm it had maintained for most of the 2020s, following a 17-year hiatus since the introduction of the Blue Jackets and Wild into the league. Most anticipated that the recent additions of the Golden Knights (2017) and the Kraken (2021) would be enough to satiate new markets for a while.
Skyrocketing franchise valuations have more than tripled prospective expansion fees, to the point where the league has informed interested parties that they’re commanding a $2B payment for a 33rd franchise, per Seravalli. That’s four times more than the $500K Vegas paid for entry and a much more aggressive increase than the Kraken faced at a $650K expansion fee.
The league has already had early success venturing into a new market with the cobbled-together relocation and sale of the Arizona Coyotes, which has become the franchise now known as the Utah Mammoth. There has also been considerable public interest from an Atlanta-based group to become the NHL’s 33rd team, with the group requesting a formal expansion process last year. A second Atlanta-based group, led by Vernon Krause, is further ahead in the effort to bring the league back to Georgia and recently cleared a significant hurdle in building a new arena in Forsyth County.
An expansion into the Eastern Conference in Atlanta would presumably be coupled in near succession with a Western Conference market. That’s where Austin could come in, particularly if the Phoenix/Arizona market continues to struggle with constructing an NHL-ready arena to entice the league to return there. The league has remained adamant that it won’t actively solicit expansion bids or open a formal expansion process and is under no pressure to add teams. Still, it will consider compelling applications sent its way.
According to Seravalli, the league informed the Board of Governors this week that it has received legitimate expressions of interest from five markets: Atlanta, Austin, Houston, Indianapolis, and New Orleans. For Canadian fans hoping for an eighth NHL team north of the border, it still doesn’t appear that’s in the cards anytime soon.
Nah. We’re good on that.
Austin should absolutely get a pro franchise in the foreseeable future… but hockey?
No chance they give Austin a franchise and not Houston first.
Houston Aeros reborn.
We need another Canadian team, especially in Southern Ontario. The Leafs have a massive market all to themselves, you could add 4 more teams and they would still be making bank.
Anybody else read the headline as ‘Austin Matthews Interested in NHL Expansion Franchise’ ?? :-)
Austin wouldn’t get a franchise before Houston in Texas. Just don’t see that happening.
Look it’s great that cities want a NHL franchise as NHL popularity is growing immensely despite the poor Stanley Cup ratings this season (that’s another story).
League expanding to more teams is likely to happen but it shouldn’t occur until no earlier than 2030. Franchises are just starting to get themselves back on track for the most part after a couple of years of a dismal flat cap. Let these current franchises replenish themselves before depleting them again with expansions.
The ratings are not poor. They match those of 2023 that were also on TNT/TBS. But because in 2023 both teams were American and this year just one, they actually are better than in 2023.
Last year’s ratings are higher because the final was on ABC, and those broadly match 2022, also on ABC.
$2B must be a typo
Matthews would really need a BIG contract year to afford the bogus expansion fee. The fact that there are only a few days left to see the familiar citation of “Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff.”, would be more stunning if Frank hadn’t announced it early in May. This draft coverage should be transferred to Telegraph TV.
Houston for the money and Quebec City for the love of the game. After that, expansion talk needs to quiet down for a good decade.
The NHL should someday have a team in the San Antonio/Austin region of Texas. The Moody Center would need to be expanded and upgraded to accommodate both basketball and hockey. I say let Austin have the NHL, MLB, and MLS and San Antonio can have the NBA and the NFL