{"id":347742,"date":"2026-06-23T23:46:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T23:46:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/347742\/"},"modified":"2026-06-23T23:46:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T23:46:15","slug":"austin-embraced-mls-is-nhl-expansion-next","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/347742\/","title":{"rendered":"Austin Embraced MLS. Is NHL Expansion Next?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThe NHL<\/a> is discussing expansion once again, with Houston and Austin as the frontrunners for the league\u2019s 33rd team, commissioner Gary Bettman<\/a> told reporters after the Board of Governors meeting on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\n\tA new franchise would likely go to prominent Texas-based businessman Dan Friedkin, who also owns European soccer clubs AS Roma in Serie A and Everton in the Premier League and is worth<\/a> an estimated $11.5 billion, according to Forbes. Friedkin has been discussing the opportunity with the NHL for about two years, Bettman said, and signed a term sheet for $3.5 billion, including the construction of a new arena in either city. The league has six months to decide whether to move forward with the process.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe average NHL team is worth<\/a> $2.1 billion, according to Sportico\u2019s most recent valuations. Only the Toronto Maple Leafs (No. 1, $4.25 billion) and the New York Rangers (No. 2, $3.65 billion) are worth more than the combined value of the proposed expansion franchise and arena construction costs. Bettman declined to comment on the breakdown of the expansion fee, but Sportico previously reported that a new team would fetch<\/a> at least $2 billion with another $1 billion allocated to building a home venue.<\/p>\n

\n\tIf Texas is granted a second NHL franchise, joining the Dallas Stars in the Lone Star State, it would do so in one of two very different sports markets. Houston has long been a haven for professional teams, with the Astros in MLB, the Texans in the NFL after the Oilers moved out of town, the Rockets in the NBA, the Dynamo in MLS<\/a> and the Dash in the NWSL.<\/p>\n

\n\tTilman Fertitta<\/a>, the billionaire owner of the Rockets who has been floated as a potential owner in NHL expansion, recently bought<\/a> the WNBA\u2019s Connecticut Sun to relocate the franchise to Houston.<\/p>\n

\n\tMeanwhile, Austin just got its first major professional sports franchise seven years ago, when MLS arrived, and the success of Austin FC<\/a> has more than shown that Texas\u2019 capital city has room for more. (The University of Texas is also based there.)<\/p>\n

\n\tAustin FC has built a robust fanbase since debuting in 2019, and it has sold out 95 consecutive matches at its home venue, Q2 Stadium. That, and a rich base of corporate sponsors, has helped the club become one of the best revenue generators in the league, ranking as high as fourth and no lower than seventh over the past five seasons. It earned $96 million in 2025, according to Sportico data. Austin FC is the seventh-most valuable<\/a> club in MLS, at $910 million, despite playing in the country\u2019s 34th-ranked media market.<\/p>\n

\n\tOutside of sports, the city is expanding rapidly. Its population has grown<\/a> by roughly 40% in the last 25 years, and it crossed 1 million residents in 2025, making it<\/a> the 12th-most populous city in America, according to U.S. Census data. Austin\u2019s reputation as a hub for technology and innovation has drawn the attention of many major tech companies, including Tesla, which moved its headquarters there in 2021.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe NHL had 30 teams until 2017, adding the Vegas Golden Knights that year after Bill Foley\u2019s group agreed to shell out<\/a> $500 million for what would become the first major pro sports franchise in Las Vegas. The league\u2019s most recent expansion franchise, the Seattle Kraken, debuted during the 2021-22 season and cost its ownership group, led by David Bonderman and Jerry Bruckheimer, $650 million. Both fees were agreed upon years in advance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The NHL is discussing expansion once again, with Houston and Austin as the frontrunners for the league\u2019s 33rd…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":347743,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,135,134,133,21699,136,2484,19169],"class_list":["post-347742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-fc","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news","tag-gary-bettman","tag-mls","tag-nhl","tag-tilman-fertitta"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=347742"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347742\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/347743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=347742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=347742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=347742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}