LAS VEGAS — NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly laid out the case for both Houston and Austin on Wednesday, as the league and the family of Houston billionaire Dan Friedkin weigh where to place a 33rd franchise. Daly spoke at the NHL/NHLPA player media tour in Las Vegas, in an availability reported by The Athletic and Daily Faceoff’s Matt Larkin.
The Athletic reported that Houston is the more likely of the two cities. Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, with a population of roughly 2.4 million. Daly said Austin is young, affluent, and growing.
“Austin, we’d be the first of the major four to put a franchise there,” Daly said. “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 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,” Daly continued. “So, to add a city of Houston’s size and demographics to our league, there would be certainly benefits associated with that.”
An NHL team in Houston would join the Houston Texans of the NFL, the Houston Astros of MLB, and the Houston Rockets of the NBA. Austin’s top-division professional team is Austin FC of MLS. Houston ranks sixth among U.S. television markets, according to the Houston Chronicle. Austin ranks 32nd.
Dan Friedkin’s Pursuit Sports In Austin And Houston
Friedkin is the CEO of The Friedkin Group. His family’s sports platform, Pursuit Sports, holds exclusive rights under its agreement with the NHL to bring an expansion team to Texas. Commissioner Gary Bettman said on June 23 that both markets would need a new arena.
Pursuit Sports signed an office lease in Austin, Justin Sayers of the Austin Business Journal reported in August, as cited by Chron. Pursuit Sports CEO David Beeston is expected to spend significant time in the city as negotiations continue, according to the same report.
The NHL was the first of the major leagues to put a team in Las Vegas, where the Vegas Golden Knights began play in 2017-18. Daly said last month that the league probably got lucky along the way there, and that the city has fallen for the franchise, according to the Deseret News.
“I view Austin to be similar to our decision to move into Las Vegas at a time where the other leagues weren’t considering it in part because of the size of the market and midsize nature of it,” Daly explained.
Hockey History In Houston And Austin
Neither city has had an NHL team. The Houston Aeros played in the World Hockey Association from 1972 to 1978. The Aeros won the Avco World Trophy twice in that run, according to the Deseret News, and a later version of the team played in Houston until 2013.
The Austin Ice Bats played in Austin from 1996 to 2008, according to the Houston Chronicle. The Texas Stars, the American Hockey League affiliate of the Dallas Stars, have played in the Austin suburb of Cedar Park since 2009.
