{"id":349321,"date":"2026-06-25T02:00:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T02:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/349321\/"},"modified":"2026-06-25T02:00:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T02:00:11","slug":"texas-could-add-a-second-nhl-team-under-new-proposal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/349321\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas could add a second NHL team under new proposal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Big news in the world of sports could be coming to Central Texas. No, the National Football League\u00a0is not calling yet<\/a>, but the National Hockey League (NHL)\u00a0is officially considering two Texas cities for a possible expansion franchise.<\/p>\n

That’s right, after the hype of TV shows like Heated Rivalry and Off Campus, the U.S. women’s Olympic gold<\/a> medal victory and the drama surrounding the U.S. men’s gold medal celebration, hockey could be expanding in Texas. The NHL has been in Texas for more than 30 years \u2014 the Dallas Stars moved to Texas in 1993 \u2014 but Central Texans fans have had to drive to Cedar Park to watch the minor league Texas Stars to get their hockey fix. That all could soon change as the NHL considers Austin and Houston for the second Texas squad.<\/p>\n

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman shared the news after a board of governors meeting on Tuesday, June 23. The Friedkin Family and CEO Dan Friedkin now have six months to investigate whether a team is possible for either of the Texas cities,\u00a0ESPN reports<\/a>. If it’s possible, the Friedkins plan to invest $3.5 billion in the new franchise, which would go toward a new arena.<\/p>\n

“As we’ve talked about all along, expansion depends on ownership, market, arena and what does it do to make the league stronger,” Bettman said. “If the first three boxes are checked, you’ll then say to yourself, ‘What does it do to make the league stronger?’ Houston, South Texas, is a major market nationally.”<\/p>\n

Austin is maybe the most intriguing expansion in the country.<\/p>\n

Metro is over 2.5M and still booming<\/p>\n

\u2022 Young, affluent, corporate base (Tesla, Apple, Dell, Oracle) Those companies buy luxury suites, sponsorships, and season tickets. Basically the lifeblood of pro sports\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2014 redandyellowcame2be (@redandyellowca1) June 23, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

If Austin were to get an NHL franchise, it would be the city’s first “Big Four” sports team from the NHL, MLB, NBA\u00a0or NFL. Austin does have\u00a0an MLS presence with\u00a0Austin FC<\/a> and a pro volleyball presence\u00a0with LOVB Austin<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately for Austin hockey fans, the Friedkins are based in Houston, so there might be an unspoken bias. However, ESPN reports that Austin offers “optionality and leverage.”<\/p>\n

“Each city brings unique attributes that would make a new team a huge success – both have the infrastructure, passionate fan bases, and economic strength needed to support a championship-caliber franchise for years to come,” the Friedkin family said in a statement to ESPN. “We have wanted for some time to bring an NHL team to Texas, and we are excited that the process has now begun. Selecting a new market for an NHL franchise is a special and important responsibility, and we are grateful to the league for their faith in us and their support.”<\/p>\n

So, hockey fans in Central Texas will have to wait and see where the NHL decides to expand. Maybe a hockey-style Christmas present will arrive in the next six months.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Big news in the world of sports could be coming to Central Texas. No, the National Football League\u00a0is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":349322,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133,2108,87602,820],"class_list":["post-349321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news","tag-mysaaustin","tag-mysasports","tag-mysastaff"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349321","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=349321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349321\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/349322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=349321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=349321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=349321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}