Houston’s mayor says city is ready for an NHL expansion team

The city of Houston is ready for an NHL franchise, according to Mayor John Whitmire.

In an exclusive interview with The Sporting News, Whitmire revealed that his office has engaged with relevant parties amid the expansion process in Texas.

“We’re ready. In fact, we’re talking to multiple parties that are interested,” he said. “So when we get a proposal, if the city can do something to a system, we’ll be there. We’ll definitely be a better location than Austin.”

Houston has six professional franchises across multiple sports, including the NFL’s Houston Texans, Major League Baseball’s Houston Astros and the NBA’s Houston Rockets.

“We’ve got successful sports teams and venues right here,” said Whitmire. “We love Austin, but they’re not Houston.”

The Houston Aeros were a successful franchise in the defunct World Hockey Association between 1972 and 1978, winning the league’s Avco World Trophy in 1974 and 1975.

Another professional franchise named the Houston Aeros played in the International Hockey League and American Hockey League between 1994 and 2013, before moving to Des Moines to become the Iowa Wild.

“I think (the NHL) would never regret it if they gave a franchise to Houston. They’d never regret it,” Whitmire said.

Last month while in Germany, NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly addressed possible expansion, confirming that Houston-based billionaire Dan Friedkin had already agreed to pay a $2-billion expansion fee to bring a franchise to Texas.

“We’re moving forward in Texas,” Daly said. “I expect ultimately we’ll be in a position to bring something to the board to get their view on it. So, that’s proceeding at a pace. We’ll probably get together with the group again in September and kind of see where they are in the process and what they want us to do to help, to the extent they need anything.

“If we finalize that and the board approves it, then (at the) end of this calendar year, we’ll have an announcement that we’re expanding to either Houston or Austin,” he added.

If all goes according to plan, Daly expects the Texas-based NHL team to be ready to play for the 2029-30 season.

With files from Daily Faceoff’s Tyler Kuehl