Since June 23, the debate about where an NHL expansion team should go in Texas has been focused on two cities: Houston and Austin.
Although Houston remains the largest metropolitan area in the nation without an NHL franchise, Austin has thrived as one of the fastest-growing markets for more than 15 years.
This all started when NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said the league is exploring placing a second team in Texas with Austin and Houston as potential targets. Bettman said the NHL entered into an agreement with the Friedkin family, which had around six months to explore placing a team in either city. The family agreed to an investment of $3.5 billion that includes an expansion fee and building costs for an NHL arena.
Adding another team in Texas, where the Dallas Stars have played since 1993, would mark the third time since 2017 that the NHL has expanded its footprint. The NHL added its 31st franchise in 2017 with the Vegas Golden Knights and grew to its current 32-team dynamic in 2021 when it added the Seattle Kraken.
Now it appears that a 33rd franchise could be on the way. As are the many questions that come with a major development for the NHL at a time in which its revenue from last season was between $7.5 billion to $8 billion.
ESPN NHL reporters Ryan S. Clark, Kristen Shilton and Greg Wyshynski are here to answer those questions about Austin, Houston and what it could all mean going forward.
How did Austin get on the NHL's expansion radar?
Sometimes, the NHL expansion process is fairly straightforward. When Las Vegas was looking to land a team, it was an effort driven by billionaire Bill Foley with no other owner or ownership group seeking to buy the franchise or build an arena for one.
In other cases, there are multiple groups seeking to land a franchise. Seattle had several possibilities for both ownership and arena sites before Seattle Hockey Partners secured the Kraken and refurbished Climate Pledge Arena. In Atlanta, where the NHL is expected to expand for a third time after the Flames and Thrashers relocated to Canada, there are three different ownership groups vying to own a team as an anchor for real estate projects.
Competition can be a good thing in negotiations. The NHL's potential second franchise in Texas didn't really have any: It was the Friedkin family as the owners, and Houston was the destination. So Austin entered the picture as another option for the Friedkins.
But rather than just being a stalking horse in the expansion race, Austin started to garner more attention from the Friedkin family as a possible home for its expansion team. The demographics were hockey-friendly. There was a ton of tech money to be had. An NHL franchise in Houston would be another pro team in a crowded sports market, much like the Kraken were in Seattle -- a market that is even more competitive when the NBA is in season. An NHL team in Austin would be more like the Golden Knights were in Vegas: the first ones through the door among the "big four" sports, immediately creating a bond with local fans.
At some point in the process, Austin's momentum was such that it became the group's preferred destination. But that doesn't necessarily mean the NHL is destined for the land of hipsters. Just because an owner has the financial means to run a team doesn't mean that the league and its 32 members are going to approve where that group wants to place a franchise. -- Wyshynski
What is the pro sports footprint for Austin and Houston, and has it ever included any form of hockey?
Austin has a unique sports landscape. The University of Texas isn't a professional team, but its programs such as football, men's and women's basketball, baseball, softball, men's and women's swimming and diving along with men's and women's track and field have strong followings.
The market's first and lone professional team among the major men's leagues is Austin FC in Major League Soccer. Until Austin FC began MLS play five years ago, the city was the largest market in the nation without a pro team. Austin also has the Circuit of the Americas, a track that has hosted Formula 1 for the annual United States Grand Prix since 2012 and the Texas Grand Prix as part of the NASCAR Cup Series since 2021.
Austin has also been home to minor league teams. The Austin Spurs, the G League affiliate of the San Antonio Spurs, play in the Cedar Park suburb. The suburb of Round Rock is home to Round Rock Express, the Triple-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers. Then there are the Texas Stars, who also play in Cedar Park and are the AHL affiliate to the NHL's Dallas Stars. Austin has had the Stars since the team relocated from Iowa in 2009.
Houston has a more established professional sports scene, with six teams across the major men's and women's leagues starting in 2027. The oldest team is the Houston Astros; the two-time World Series champions have played in the city since 1962. The Houston Rockets have been around since 1967, winning two NBA championships in the 1990s. Houston initially lost its NFL team to Nashville but gained another with the Houston Texans, founded in 1999 with their first season in 2002.
The city expanded into soccer in 2006 with the Houston Dynamo joining MLS and winning consecutive titles in 2006 and 2007; the Houston Dash joined the National Women's Soccer League in 2014. Houston was also home to the Houston Comets of the WNBA until the franchise folded in 2008. The Fertitta family, which owns the Rockets, reached an agreement in March to purchase the Connecticut Sun, relocate the team to Houston and rename it the Houston Comets.
Houston has a bit of a hockey history. Minor league hockey came to the city for a few years in the late 1940s. It returned in 1972 when the WHA encountered setbacks in its attempt to have a team in Dayton, Ohio. That led to the team moving to Houston, where it became the Aeros. Led by Gordie Howe and his sons Mark and Marty, the franchise won two league titles. The Aeros' final season was in 1979, before the WHL disbanded.
The second version of the Aeros played in Houston for 19 seasons. They were initially part of the defunct IHL before joining the AHL back in 2001. The Aeros were the affiliate for the Minnesota Wild -- and the Stars for one season -- before relocating to Iowa in 2013. -- Clark
What is the Friedkin family's background?
This would be the family's first venture into owning a North American professional sports team, but it has experience as an owner in European soccer.
Dan Friedkin, who has a master's degree from Rice University in Houston, is the owner and president of AS Roma in the Italian Serie A and the owner and chairman of Everton FC in the English Premier League. He also owns AS Cannes of Ligue 3, the French third division.
Friedkin took control of Roma in August 2020, and the club has finished in the top seven of Serie A every season since. The Giallorossi captured the UEFA Conference League, the third tier of European club competition, in 2022. In 2023, they finished second in the Europa League, the second-tier European club competition. Roma finished third in Serie A in 2025-26 and are competing in the premier European club competition -- the UEFA Champions League -- this season.
He took over Everton in December 2024, and the club finished with consecutive 13th-place finishes in the 20-team Premier League. Last season, the club left its famed Goodison Park venue and moved into Hill Dickinson Stadium, the eighth-largest soccer venue in England. -- Clark
Expansion teams usually struggle to start. Is there a reason to think this one could be good right away?
Absolutely, thanks to the lessons it will have learned from the Vegas and Seattle expansion drafts. (Though the Utah Mammoth are technically an expansion team, their players were ported over from the Arizona Coyotes when that franchise ended its existence.)
It's expected that any new expansion team will have the same rules as the Golden Knights and Kraken did during their respective drafts:
NHL teams can protect either eight skaters and a goaltender or seven forwards, three defensemen and a goaltender.
Teams must expose at least two forwards and one defenseman who are under contract for the inaugural season of the expansion team. Teams must also expose one goalie who is under contract for that season or a restricted free agent.
Teams are required, with some exceptions, to protect any player with a no-movement clause.
Famously, the Golden Knights leveraged those rules into a series of significant trades with jittery teams that had a little over a year to prepare for the expansion draft. That netted Vegas players such as Shea Theodore, Alex Tuch and Reilly Smith, along with several high draft picks.
Infamously, Seattle didn't have the same opportunity, as teams better understood the rules, were more prepared and didn't flinch from expansion draft pressure points. Vegas made the Stanley Cup Final in its inaugural season and won in 2023. Seattle finished with the league's third-worst record in its first season and has yet to find its footing as a franchise: making the playoffs once in five years and failing to leverage its expansion draft class into roster upgrades.
A new Texas franchise will have the same fundamental advantages that this draft format offers. Building around the fourth-best defensemen from other teams' rosters is a good starting point. Populating the forward group with veteran depth players can build a solid foundation. The same can be said about the veteran backup goalies the draft offers up.
But immediate success for a team in Houston or Austin will come down to three factors:
1. Goaltending. Simply put, Vegas had it in Year 1 with Marc-Andre Fleury and Seattle did not have it with Philipp Grubauer and Chris Driedger, who combined to give the Kraken the worst save percentage in the NHL that season.
2. Coaching. The Golden Knights had a strong starting point with their roster, but it wasn't an All-Star team. Coach Gerard Gallant maximized the players' abilities with his system, earning instant success. Seattle's Dave Hakstol was unable to give the Kraken a discernible personality during his three years as head coach despite overseeing their only playoff appearance and series win. The right coach can get instant results.
3. Leveraging location. Austin and Houston have quality-of-life advantages that could be desirable to NHL players. But Texas as a whole has one edge that has led to on-ice success in several markets, including Dallas: no state income tax. Whether tax relief is the reason the Stars, Panthers, Lightning and Golden Knights have found tremendous success in the past decade, it'll be an advantage as well for the new Texas team. -- Wyshynski
How would a 33-team NHL compare with other major pro leagues in North America? And if the NHL wants an even number, what other markets will it consider?
If the NHL does add a 33rd team, it stands to be the largest major professional sports league by club count (the NFL has 32 teams, while the NBA, MLB and MLS clock in with 30). There have been ongoing talks in other leagues -- namely MLB and the NBA -- about potential expansion in the near future as well. But those leagues, like the NHL, want to be prudent about creating another mouth to feed. Diluting an already good, established product is of paramount concern with any expansion proposition. How many star players are available who could make a new franchise instantly exciting?
Granted, there's a considerable pipeline of players in the current landscape -- from the junior ranks through college and European clubs -- so adding another 20 or more to a new franchise isn't necessarily a huge lift. It's just about finding the right ones, which is the goal of any team.
When it comes to having an odd number of NHL teams, commissioner Gary Bettman has said in the past that he's not concerned about the divisions being somewhat off-kilter.
"Symmetry, I don't think, should necessarily govern expansion," Bettman said in June. "You expand if you think it makes sense and enhances what the league has."
So it's not imperative that the NHL have a second potential landing spot in mind. However, Atlanta and Phoenix will likely continue to be discussed as possible destinations for a future franchise. Among the main factors in those discussions is existing infrastructure: What sort of arena space is already there, or how long would it take to have an NHL-standard rink up and running?
Those are the types of concerns that would dictate whether a 34th team is a viable idea and where it could go (assuming, of course, the NHL finds its 33rd in the Lone Star State). -- Shilton
What might the divisions look like if the league adds a 33rd team?
The NHL could look at different scenarios with an odd number of teams.
If there is truly no concern over symmetry, the simplest path forward is slotting the new franchise into an existing division (likely the Central if it's another club in Texas). So the Western Conference would run with 17 teams to the Eastern Conference's 16.
In that case, would there have to be some sort of alteration to the playoff proceedings? And would an uneven number of contenders alter how the NHL puts together its scheduling? Those questions would have to be considered.
That's where another possibility could come into play: restructuring the league into as many as six divisions and spreading out the teams (with four, five or six in each) for balance.
This could leave room for future franchises to join and open the door for the NHL to put in place an entirely fresh playoff realignment, too. But that's a lot of alteration if the NHL intends to add a 34th team in the immediate future. The idea makes sense in the long term regardless of whether Bettman acknowledges the general need for a balance of conferences.
To make a 33-team league work, simply having 17 clubs in the West and 16 in the East is the most sensible path from a practical standpoint. The best suggestion to avoid a sweeping overhaul would be that the NHL at least has a plan in place to go from 33 to 34 franchises in fairly quick succession, however. If the potential to get back to an even number isn't something the league can achieve in a reasonable window, then a broader shakeup -- with realignment and more divisions -- will have to be in play. -- Shilton
What does the NHL board of governors think about expansion in Texas?
We are likely to find out more about the state of NHL expansion at the board of governors meeting in New York on Tuesday.
Deputy commissioner Bill Daly told ESPN last week that he would reach out to the Friedkins for an update, including a temperature check on Austin and Houston as their current focus for NHL expansion. The potential owners informed the league that they'd give both sites a fair shot in their assessment.
What city the Friedkin family chooses has significant ramifications for the board of governors. According to sources, there's a split among the owners on where to expand in Texas. Some of the NHL's most influential owners apparently prefer Houston, especially for its television market. Some of the newer owners are said to prefer Austin.
Whichever group holds the most sway, the ultimate decision comes down to where the NHL's leaders want to go. Bettman and Daly will push for their desired result. It's hard to imagine a scenario in which the board doesn't bend to Bettman's preference.
There's another aspect to the decision worth mentioning: Some owners don't want to expand at all. There are concerns about the player pool being further diluted as well as how expansion would impact the chances of making the cut for a playoff tournament that remains at 16 entrants, sources told ESPN.
Will those concerns manifest as a "no" vote on expansion? Probably not if Bettman is pushing to expand. But they're something to remember if the board is on the fence about a debatable location. -- Wyshynski
What could a TV broadcast deal look like for another Texas-based team?
The NHL will want to be strategic in terms of media potential anywhere it expands. Daly has noted that other possible landing spots Atlanta and Phoenix are the seventh- and 12th-largest TV markets, respectively, in the U.S. Houston is the sixth-largest, while Austin is 34th. When it comes strictly to investigating the options in Texas, it's a serious plus for Houston to hold that sort of reach with the potential for local and national backers to get in on a new franchise.
Looking at a nearby comparable in Dallas shows that the fourth-largest market in the U.S. is home to an exclusive streaming partnership with Amazon Prime for viewers in the region starting in the 2026-27 season. Whether another franchise goes that route or not, it's something to take into account.
There are regional networks and local broadcasts stations in Houston that support the four major pro sports teams already established there. The same sort of attention could be given to an NHL franchise, and hockey could draw a fresh fanbase that opens up a wider range of possible advertisers.
It's hard to say exactly how a TV deal would play out Houston or Austin, but there are multiple options. There isn't a significant precedent for major league sports broadcasting contracts in Austin, though. The only major pro team in the city is Austin FC, whose games are streamed through Apple TV as part of MLS' rights agreement with the platform. The games are then rebroadcast on local television.
The media landscape at large is in flux, especially when it comes to regional broadcasters, so expect the NHL to consider where it can maximize local viewership when it comes to selecting the next expansion spot. -- Shilton
