{"id":444630,"date":"2026-09-23T01:34:08","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T01:34:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/444630\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T01:34:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T01:34:08","slug":"no-decision-made-on-possible-nhl-expansion-to-houston-or-austin-texas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/444630\/","title":{"rendered":"No decision made on possible NHL expansion to Houston or Austin, Texas"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK — Meeting for the first time since the NHL began<\/a> exploring expansion to Houston or Austin, Texas<\/a> in June, the league’s Board of Governors discussed the topic on Tuesday but did not make any decisions, according to Commissioner Gary Bettman.<\/p>\n

Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly spoke to billionaire Dan Friedkin’s group<\/a> last week and got a full report, and representatives from the 32 current teams were briefed on the situation with no timetable to consider a possible vote on adding a 33rd.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think everybody\u2019s taking a wait-and-see attitude to see what\u2019s being presented and what the pros and cons are,\u201d Bettman said. \u201cExpansion is a multibillion-dollar transaction, which has an impact on all the other clubs in the league. A lot of i\u2019s have to be dotted and t\u2019s have to be crossed. And if there\u2019s going to be expansion, three-quarters of the governors are going to have to be comfortable that this makes sense to them. And that\u2019s not something you do overnight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Expansion, if it happens, would involve a $3.5 billion investment between the fee paid to owners and the cost to build a new arena. Daly said Friedkin’s Pursuit Sports had looked at sites to build in Houston and Austin, with a lot left to figure out, including deciding between one of the biggest U.S. media markets and a place that does not have a team in any of the major four North American men’s professional sports leagues.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would expect that we\u2019ll know by the end of the year which market they would prefer,” Bettman said. “But we still and they still have a lot of work to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

The next board meeting is scheduled for December. The term sheet between the NHL and Friedkin’s family is for a six-month exploration, but that does not guarantee it will be wrapped up by the end of the year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think we\u2019re putting time limits on things,” Daly said. “Originally we contemplated at least knowing where we are in December. I expect we will certainly know a lot more than we do now, come December, but I don\u2019t think there\u2019s any magic date by which something has to get done or not get done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Daly said earlier this month in Las Vegas that part of this meeting was getting direction from the board. If the league knows how members are leaning, officials are not saying.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there are probably some owners who think expansion is the greatest thing ever, and I think there are some people who say, \u2018Why do we need to expand?\u2019\u201d Bettman said. “I can\u2019t tell you the numbers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bettman and Daly said there also continue to be expressions of interest from ownership options in Atlanta and the Phoenix area. A feasibility study could be the next step, but those processes are not as far along as Texas.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s always markets that are approaching the NHL, looking for expansion opportunities,\u201d Calgary Flames owner Murray Edwards said after he was voted vice chairman and Washington’s Ted Leonsis chairman of the board. \u201cWe talk about it, but there\u2019s no sort of fast process or slow process. We\u2019re just looking at options.\u201d<\/p>\n

As sports leagues and teams look to artificial intelligence and how it can benefit them, consultant Shelly Palmer of the Palmer Group made a presentation to the board. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn addition to how we operate at the business level, we think it\u2019s very important to make sure that we and the clubs understand how to use AI to connect with our fans even better, to create an even more robust and unique experience,\u201d Bettman said. \u201cThat involves lots of different things, including how we gather data and how we interact with our fans.\u201d<\/p>\n

After saying at the Stanley Cup Final<\/a> on his 74th birthday that his retirement was not imminent and nothing had been determined on a succession plan, Bettman reiterated that he was not stepping down any time soon from the job he has held since 1993.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to be 75 years old,\u201d Bettman said. \u201cAt some point, I’ve got to stop, OK? But I love what I do. I\u2019m energized. I have nothing to complain about in life. I love coming to work every day. I love being part of this game.”<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

See AP\u2019s full NHL coverage here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK — Meeting for the first time since the NHL began exploring expansion to Houston or Austin,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":444631,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133,910,3251,154,3621],"class_list":["post-444630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news","tag-business","tag-nhl-hockey","tag-sports","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444630","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=444630"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444630\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/444631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=444630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=444630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=444630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}