Dan Friedkin the man behind NHL to Houston

[LT]

Fertita won't be thrilled, but I think Houston can support two arenas.

I think Fertitta would work out a deal with another ownership group if the alternative is a new arena elsewhere in the city. He's not that stupid, he just doesn't want to pay the expansion fee.

 

[TheLegend]

Also because Sarver didn't want to go from 50% control/revenue of Footprint down to 50/50 with the NHL team on a new arena.
From what I have seen of Toyota Center, they have the square footage (though the playing surface is like Seattle where it's like 20 feet or something below the ground as Alexander didn't want the fans to walk up stairs to the arena like most other places. But, as long as you have the square footage, you should be able to renovate to accommodate the latest revenue trends/sources. Another factor is also transit/parking of the current facility to wherever other option you may have in mind.

if this Friedkin person is looking to build another arena in the same area with private money, it's probably going to be a new Entertainment District, like LA Kings arena was or what the GS Warriors did with Chase and redevelop the blocks around the arena.

I think you meant the Suns have full control of the arena. Which they do.

 

[StreetHawk]

I think you meant the Suns have full control of the arena. Which they do.

Sorry, that is what I meant. They had 100% control. So better to maintain that in a renovated arena than drop to 50% on a new one.

 

[eojsmada]

Something tells me he'll be too busy to care a whole lot sometime in the near future.

That would make sense as to why a 2nd owner conveniently comes on the scene

 

[dj4aces]

That would make sense as to why a 2nd owner conveniently comes on the scene

Friedman mentioned a second owner during one of the 32 Thoughts podcasts last year, while discussing Atlanta and Anson Carter's press release. At the time, he didn't seem to know who that second group was, just that one existed.

I think many believed Fertitta would be the end-all be-all to own any NHL franchise in Houston because he controls the only building in town. But if Friedkin is willing to pay what the league wants and build a new barn, he pretty much ticks all the boxes the league is looking for in an owner. I don't see how Fertitta can compete with that, even if he hadn't been nominated to be the next US ambassador to Italy.

 

[KevFu]

So Harris County isn't allowed to fund another arena but there is nothing that says someone can't build their own. Nor does it prohibit a suburban arena. Now I haven't been to Houston in 20 years so I can't say if there is a suburb that could support an arena.

Fertitta could come to a lease agreement to let the NHL team share the arena and they would do a joint venture on a new arena in 2033...

Houstonian here. There are many, many suburb cities that could be potential sites: Woodlands/Montgomery Co, Katy, Sugarland/Fort Bend Co. Granted it would be ideal to be in Houston proper (at least for me), but here are many options here that I think would be feasible options.

Yeah, but given the sheer enormousness of Harris County, is picking a suburb a good idea?

Like, if you pick Katy or Sugar Land or Woodlands... how many people from THE OTHER are going to go 50 miles (in some cases across Houston) to attend a game.


Given that Feritta has kicked the tires on an NHL team, but seemingly doesn't think the expansion fee aligns with what he's willing to pay, there's probably not that many hurdles to an agreement between the two billionaires.

Each of them have like 3 to 5 times the wealth that Alexander did, so the whole "fighting over every sports dollar" is far less likely than what we saw with Alexander and Watson.

Alexander threatened to leave Houston. Feritta is just all about Houston sports in a way that isn't very "make as much money possible" compared to "I want to see Houston teams win." Dude is invested in almost every sport in Houston in some way; and massively in U of H.

In fact, what could make the most sense is Friedkin and Feritta co-own an Arena Management Company, build a the next Rockets arena at UH for both the Rockets AND the Cougars (who are SRO in the 7000 seat Feritta Center). That helps the Cougars recruiting; and Fertitta doesn't "Leave" downtown because he's making half the money off the concerts and hockey at the downtown arena (which is like 2 miles away).

 

[Takuto Maruki]

In fact, what could make the most sense is Friedkin and Feritta co-own an Arena Management Company, build a the next Rockets arena at UH for both the Rockets AND the Cougars (who are SRO in the 7000 seat Feritta Center). That helps the Cougars recruiting; and Fertitta doesn't "Leave" downtown because he's making half the money off the concerts and hockey at the downtown arena (which is like 2 miles away).

In a way, that does seem like a win win for everyone. I guess the issue is, does Fertitta eventually stop with his hang up about the price of NHL expansion if that is the way that serves him the best - and more importantly, does the NHL ultimately accept that long term plan knowing the last plan that was pre-requisite of a university creating a new arena?

 

[Kolzilla]

Yeah, but given the sheer enormousness of Harris County, is picking a suburb a good idea?

Like, if you pick Katy or Sugar Land or Woodlands... how many people from THE OTHER are going to go 50 miles (in some cases across Houston) to attend a game.


Given that Feritta has kicked the tires on an NHL team, but seemingly doesn't think the expansion fee aligns with what he's willing to pay, there's probably not that many hurdles to an agreement between the two billionaires.

Each of them have like 3 to 5 times the wealth that Alexander did, so the whole "fighting over every sports dollar" is far less likely than what we saw with Alexander and Watson.

Alexander threatened to leave Houston. Feritta is just all about Houston sports in a way that isn't very "make as much money possible" compared to "I want to see Houston teams win." Dude is invested in almost every sport in Houston in some way; and massively in U of H.

In fact, what could make the most sense is Friedkin and Feritta co-own an Arena Management Company, build a the next Rockets arena at UH for both the Rockets AND the Cougars (who are SRO in the 7000 seat Feritta Center). That helps the Cougars recruiting; and Fertitta doesn't "Leave" downtown because he's making half the money off the concerts and hockey at the downtown arena (which is like 2 miles away).

Totally agree that the ideal situation is to build/have the arena in Harris County so that it's pretty much equidistant for the majority of the metro area.

However, if Fertitta won't agree to host an NHL team in Toyota center/Harris county, we do have plenty of backup options. Probably the best option is a long I-10 just west of Harris County. I say this because that's where the population center of the Houston Metro area has shifted over the last 15 years. This is exactly why so many large Hospital systems have built large stand alone hospitals closer to Katy on this stretch of I-10 (I work in the Medical field and was privy to this strategic growth strategy for my employer). Now, this may not be an ideal spot for ppl that live in the woodlands or the NASA area, but we're still talking only about 50-60 min drive for most. For me, this would be a 25 min drive and I live 10 mins from Toyota Center