SI/Weekes: Houston, Atlanta leading NHL expansion list

[StreetHawk]

If he doesn’t, they won’t be getting a team.

Correct. And that means no Houston as an nhl market even if it’s one that the nhl desires to have a team.

 

[dj4aces]

A Houston team should be called the Aeros but the NHL likely wouldn’t allow it due to it’s association with the WHA. But Aeros has a clearly defined connection to Houston and even had Gordie freaking Howe win a couple of championships for them. If the NHL was smart they would honour this when they eventually go to Houston.

If the Aeros name is desired, I'm pretty sure the league itself wouldn't care. The Wild would have to relinquish the name though, as they currently hold the trademark.

 

[GreenHornet]

If the Aeros name is desired, I'm pretty sure the league itself wouldn't care. The Wild would have to relinquish the name though, as they currently hold the trademark.

That answers my question from above. Makes sense, given that Iowa is Minnesota's AHL affiliate.

 

[Big Z Man 1990]

A Dallas-Houston rivalry would be good for the NHL.

The only league where Dallas and Houston don't share a division is the NFL. For TV reasons, the NFL can't do a purely geographical alignment like the NBA and NHL. That's why there's the AFC (in which Houston plays) and the NFC (in which Dallas plays). As such, only 2 Cowboys-Texans regular season games are guaranteed to occur in an 8-year period, in which they always meet in years divisible evenly by 2 but not by 4. They could meet in years divisible by 4 if they finish in the same position within their divisions the year before (as they did in 2024).

There has never been a Dallas-Houston rivalry in top-level professional hockey. WHA only ever had Houston, and the NHL has only ever had Dallas.

Dallas and Houston (and for that matter, Fort Worth) did co-exist in the first version of the Central Hockey League, starting in 1967-68 and ending in 1968-69, and again starting in 1979-80 and ending in 1981-82.

 

[voyageur]

I say take the money and run if you can, and don't expand again for another 10 years. I'm in favour of expansion if it changes the divisional format to something like the NFL, with smaller rivalry divisions, and greater wild card battles. It's logical that the NHL is looking at top 10 metropolises with a significant corporate investment potential to expand to.

Both markets started professional hockey in 1972. I still find it interesting that the NHL wouldn't let Houston's WHA ownership buy the Cleveland Barons at a time when the NHL was struggling in the U.S to succeed professionally, and at the risk of folding a franchise. Only a few years later Atlanta moved to Calgary, as Canada added 4 teams to the NHL in 3 years over the dead body of Harold Ballard.

Since then the landscape has changed. The growth of hockey hinges on the Southern markets.

 

[TheLegend]

Clickbait. Any one of us could have written that article. We all know the NHL isn't going to budge on its price and we know Fertitta has a number in mind that he won't go above. If he had been willing to pay $1.2 billion he would have gotten the Coyotes (it would have been smoother than Utah since the arena is pretty much ready).

Ironically I saw a Facebook post about Fertitta recently looking to building a hotel/casino on the Vegas Strip, and that the project was dead.

But Facebook's fact checking was bad enough before they dumped that department so I did a quick Google and discovered his Feritta Entertainment group took over the Golden Nugget not long ago and is currently remodeling...... and upped his stake in Wynn Resorts to almost 10% last fall.

This strip project as far as I can see is still moving forward. Hopefully not at Fontainebleau pace for his sake, but it's looking more and more (to me) like he could pull the trigger on an NHL expansion at anytime if he wanted.

It's all about the price.

 

[BasementDweller]

The main issue isn't so much the expansion fee itself - it's more what the teams value will be in 10-20 years after a prospective owner buys an expansion team. If teams are worth 10B in 10 years then a 2B price tag is worth paying.

 

[dj4aces]

The main issue isn't so much the expansion fee itself - it's more what the teams value will be in 10-20 years after a prospective owner buys an expansion team. If teams are worth 10B in 10 years then a 2B price tag is worth paying.

Seattle is worth over $1.4bn presently, and the expansion fee was $650m. Vegas is worth over $1.7bn, and their fee was $500m.

Hard to argue against sucking it up and buying in as franchise values are growing in this way.

 

[KevFu]

Seattle is worth over $1.4bn presently, and the expansion fee was $650m. Vegas is worth over $1.7bn, and their fee was $500m.

Hard to argue against sucking it up and buying in as franchise values are growing in this way.

Especially when the hardest part to getting an expansion team is the arena deal.... and HE HAS ONE!

And if he needs a new arena, then he's got double the leverage!

 

[aqib]

A Dallas-Houston rivalry would be good for the NHL.

The only league where Dallas and Houston don't share a division is the NFL. For TV reasons, the NFL can't do a purely geographical alignment like the NBA and NHL. That's why there's the AFC (in which Houston plays) and the NFC (in which Dallas plays). As such, only 2 Cowboys-Texans regular season games are guaranteed to occur in an 8-year period, in which they always meet in years divisible evenly by 2 but not by 4. They could meet in years divisible by 4 if they finish in the same position within their divisions the year before (as they did in 2024).

There has never been a Dallas-Houston rivalry in top-level professional hockey. WHA only ever had Houston, and the NHL has only ever had Dallas.

Dallas and Houston (and for that matter, Fort Worth) did co-exist in the first version of the Central Hockey League, starting in 1967-68 and ending in 1968-69, and again starting in 1979-80 and ending in 1981-82.

Its really only LA and NY where teams have to be in different conferences. I remember Paul Tagliabue in a radio interview in NY saying thats why the Jets and Giants would have to be in different conferences. There was also talk if the Raiders and Chargers were allowed to move to LA that the Chargers would get bumped to the NFC for that same reason. But Houston and Dallas wouldn't be much different than Buffalo and New York, San Francisco and LA, or LA and San Diego.

 

[Big Z Man 1990]

Its really only LA and NY where teams have to be in different conferences. I remember Paul Tagliabue in a radio interview in NY saying thats why the Jets and Giants would have to be in different conferences. There was also talk if the Raiders and Chargers were allowed to move to LA that the Chargers would get bumped to the NFC for that same reason. But Houston and Dallas wouldn't be much different than Buffalo and New York, San Francisco and LA, or LA and San Diego.

But also the NFL wants to maintain longtime rivalries.

 

[StreetHawk]

But also the NFL wants to maintain longtime rivalries.

Well, I would imagine if the Chargers got moved to the NFC West, then Seattle would have returned to the AFC West. Assuming that the Rams remained in STL.
Rams, 49ers, Cardinals, Chargers
Seahawks, Raiders, Chiefs, Broncos.

Plus kind of odd that divisional rivals play out of the same Stadium.

 

[aqib]

Well, I would imagine if the Chargers got moved to the NFC West, then Seattle would have returned to the AFC West. Assuming that the Rams remained in STL.
Rams, 49ers, Cardinals, Chargers
Seahawks, Raiders, Chiefs, Broncos.

Plus kind of odd that divisional rivals play out of the same Stadium.

Well if the Chargers and Raiders got LA and the Rams were forced to stay in St Louis (which I think they should have been) then it would have made sense for the Rams to go to the AFC since a KC-St Louis rivalry would have made sense. Also the Rams in their move to St Louis waived the right to object to realignment. I am not sure if that was still in effect in 2015 since the league realigned in 2002. But I'll stop since this is getting off topic.

 

[aqib]

Ironically I saw a Facebook post about Fertitta recently looking to building a hotel/casino on the Vegas Strip, and that the project was dead.

But Facebook's fact checking was bad enough before they dumped that department so I did a quick Google and discovered his Feritta Entertainment group took over the Golden Nugget not long ago and is currently remodeling...... and upped his stake in Wynn Resorts to almost 10% last fall.

This strip project as far as I can see is still moving forward. Hopefully not at Fontainebleau pace for his sake, but it's looking more and more (to me) like he could pull the trigger on an NHL expansion at anytime if he wanted.

It's all about the price.

I don't doubt that he COULD. He bid for the Washington Commanders. However, he doesn't seem to be interested in paying the asking price for the NHL. We know the price keeps going up but he says: "NHL would be great in Houston. They are looking to expand. We're hoping that no team right now meets the price they want for an expansion team, and we're hoping that we somehow can get the team by being one of the best cities in America, and also paying the right price for an NHL team."

 

[StreetHawk]

I don't doubt that he COULD. He bid for the Washington Commanders. However, he doesn't seem to be interested in paying the asking price for the NHL. We know the price keeps going up but he says: "NHL would be great in Houston. They are looking to expand. We're hoping that no team right now meets the price they want for an expansion team, and we're hoping that we somehow can get the team by being one of the best cities in America, and also paying the right price for an NHL team."

That's been his stance the whole time. So, people reporting Houston seem to ignore that Tilman controls the Toyota Center. NHL teams are not viable as pure tenants in an nba controlled arena. Nashville, the gov or something owns Bridgestone, so the Preds get a good lease.

He wants an NHL at a certain price.

 

[TheLegend]

I don't doubt that he COULD. He bid for the Washington Commanders. However, he doesn't seem to be interested in paying the asking price for the NHL. We know the price keeps going up but he says: "NHL would be great in Houston. They are looking to expand. We're hoping that no team right now meets the price they want for an expansion team, and we're hoping that we somehow can get the team by being one of the best cities in America, and also paying the right price for an NHL team."

That's been his stance the whole time. So, people reporting Houston seem to ignore that Tilman controls the Toyota Center. NHL teams are not viable as pure tenants in an nba controlled arena. Nashville, the gov or something owns Bridgestone, so the Preds get a good lease.

He wants an NHL at a certain price.

Kinda like people saying I'm wrong that Matt Ishiba isn't going to bring an NHL expansion franchise back to Arizona because he won't pay that price either.

Doesn't mean he won't. The situation could change over the course of the next 3-4 years, or when the lease on Footprint gets near the end (but that isn't 'til 2037).

 

[FlyguyOX]

Forsyth county and Kraus group deciding on the practice facility. Both would be 15ish minutes from the arena.

If the practice facility were at the polo fields I would be mere minutes from it LFG!!!

 

[EvilDecoy]

I still get this feeling Fertitta is going to pass on expansion. So it could be Atlanta & ?????.