Bill Daly: NHL expansion to Houston or Austin ‘not a done deal’
LAS VEGAS – Wednesday, in the home city of the Vegas Golden Knights, the most successful expansion franchise in major North American pro sports history, NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly fielded questions about the league’s next potential franchise.
The enthusiasm for a second foray into Texas is warranted, given the NHL signed a term sheet earlier this summer for a six-month review into the possibility of expanding to Houston or Austin, but it sounds like there’s a long way to go before the dream is realized.
Before throwing cold water on the idea: the interest from the NHL in working with the Friedkin family, who would be committing upwards of $3.5 billion toward launching the league’s 33rd franchise, is very real. And Houston and Austin both have appeal as markets for different reasons.
“Austin, we’d be the first of the major four to put a franchise there. 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,” Daly told a small group of reporters at the NHL Player Media Tour. “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. So to add a city of Houston’s size and demographics to our league, there would certainly be benefits associated with that.”
“Being in Dallas, our thing is ‘Texas Hockey,’ so it would be a little different having to share it,” said Dallas Stars center Wyatt Johnston on Wednesday. “I think it’s great, though. Just getting more eyes and getting different markets into the game is great for the game. Selfishly, you want to keep all of Texas for yourself, meaning the Stars, but I think it would obviously create a pretty cool rivalry.”
Daly did reiterate that either market would need a state-of-the-art new arena, which would comprise a large chunk of the $3.5 billion investment from the Friedkins – something they’ve been aware of “from day one.” It wouldn’t scare off a deep-pocketed ownership group that already has the soccer clubs AC Roma (Serie A) and Everton (English Premier League) under its umbrella.
However, setting aside the hurdle of constructing a brand-new barn for either city: Daly made it clear Tuesday that we shouldn’t accept the Texas expansion as automatic, from the NHL Board of Governors’ side or even the Friedkins’ side.
“I don’t want to get ahead of the board. I don’t want to treat it like a done deal, because it’s not,” Daly said. “It’s not a done deal on the Friedkin side, and it’s not a done deal on our side. And that’s why it’s kind of a nonbinding term sheet. We’re both going to work hard to achieve that goal. But, at the end of the day, it might not happen.”
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What could hold back the process? Don’t sleep on the effect expansion could have on the league makeup. Expanding to 33 and eventually 34 or 36 teams would, in theory, dilute the overall NHL talent pool just when the on-ice product is the best it’s ever been. It also would make the math of winning more daunting and perhaps discouraging for certain fan bases. Do you want to tell supporters of the Buffalo Sabres, Vancouver Canucks and Toronto Maple Leafs, who’ve waited more than half a century each for a Stanley Cup, that their odds will soon be as low as 1 in 36?
Daly indicated Wednesday that talent dilution and the crowded Stanley Cup fields were under consideration as part of the expansion decision.
“Both are relevant factors, right? I would tell you that when I joined the league and we were in the midst of the late ’90s expansion wave, there was a concern that was probably legitimate about whether there was enough talent to support, at the time, 30 franchises,” Daly told Daily Faceoff. “I think the world has changed dramatically since the late ’90s in terms of elite hockey development from around the world, really. Obviously, we’ve increased the number of U.S.-born players and U.S.-born and -trained players in the league pretty dramatically since the late ’90s. And while the European increase hasn’t been as dramatic, it’s been strong. Hockey development is in a really good place right now, and I think we have more than enough players to stock at least two teams moving forward.
“In terms of the mathematical probability of winning Stanley Cups based on the number of teams in your league, I think [the concern is] fair. And I think some of our clubs may be concerned about that. We don’t have clear direction yet from our board that everybody wants to expand. We’re certainly going to have that conversation with them at our upcoming meeting, get direction from them as to where they are on the subject. It’s been my impression over the last two years that if we found the right place and the right owners and it would add to the league, that there would be support – board support – for expansion. But we’ll make sure of that before we expand, for sure.”
And just in case it wasn’t spelled out explicitly enough: there has indeed been some dissent from the Board of Governors on the expansion topic.
“In recent weeks and as recently as the June board meeting, we actually did have some clubs that expressed some concern,” Daly said.
As DFO and other reporters polled a handful of NHL athletes over the course of the Player Media Tour this week, however, the feelings toward adding more franchises were overwhelmingly positive – and not only from someone close to the prospective markets like Johnston.
As you can imagine, the players are largely in favor of more teams because of job creation and increased exposure for the sport.
“Yeah, 100 percent, whenever you can grow a game to another city and it creates another 20 jobs for guys in the NHL,” said Florida Panthers left winger Brady Tkachuk. “So I think it’s great and, of course, I don’t know all the information of the valuation of it and how that works. But to keep growing the game to cities – it’s all about the fan base and the next generation of kids. Say it is Houston and all the kids are so excited that there’s a team in Houston that they just want to play hockey. And then all of a sudden you have the next stars coming out of Houston, which I think is very important and awesome for the game.”
“I always think more teams are better,” said Tampa Bay Lightning left winger Jake Guentzel. “It’s just growing the game more in different areas that might not be accustomed to hockey. We’ve heard obviously Texas or Atlanta, whatever, I think those would be good spots, but wherever it is, I think it’s always good to try to grow the game as much as we can.”
As Philadelphia Flyers center Trevor Zegras added, the Stanley Cup odds calculation don’t really come to mind – perhaps, as Tkachuk suggested, because it’s so hard to win with 32 teams that a few more won’t change much.
“Of course there’s going to be a fine line of the number of teams, whether that’s 34, 36, that’s obviously not up to us,” Tkachuk said. “But I think it’s great whenever you have more job openings. You go into every game now with 32 teams, it’s not a guarantee you’re going to win that game. There are amazing hockey players, and it’s shown at the Olympics that, again, there is no easy game at the Olympics, and that’s all players from different parts of the world, and how incredible [the talents are] that those countries’ federations [are producing]. I don’t think there’s going to be any issue with diluting the league or each team, because on any given night, that’s what’s so special about our sport, that anybody can win.”
There’s clear excitement around the possibility of expansion – enough that prospective hockey fans in Houston and Austin can dare to dream, sooner than Atlanta citizens can. But Daly’s updates are a reminder that the BOG and Friedkins are still very early in the process.
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