NHL Could Award Team No. 33 to Houston or Austin by End of 2026, With TV Money Driving the Timeline

The NHL is closing in on its 33rd franchise, and the decision looks like it's about television money as much as hockey.

Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly told The Athletic's Chris Johnston that the league could award an expansion team to either Houston or Austin by the end of 2026. That follows a June 23 Board of Governors meeting where Commissioner Gary Bettman announced a six-month review process to evaluate the two Texas cities, according to Sporting News, republished by Yahoo Sports.

The financial framework is already in place. Daniel Friedkin's Pursuit Sports group has agreed to a $2 billion expansion fee, roughly three times what the Seattle Kraken paid ($650 million) when it joined the league for the 2021-22 season, according to Forbes. Sporting News reported the total investment, including the fee and a new arena, could run close to $3.5 billion.

Bettman has confirmed the talks stretch back roughly two years. "We have been in discussions for the better part of two years with the Friedkin family, principally for the last two years about Houston as an expansion opportunity," Bettman said in the NHL's media release, cited by Sporting News. "But as we continued to focus with them, particularly on the need for a new arena in Houston, the discussions morphed into also a discussion about Austin, which would also need a new building."

Why Houston Has the Edge

Houston ranks as the No. 6 U.S. television market. Austin does not crack the same tier. Sporting News reported that media-market data favors Houston if the league's priority is maximizing reach ahead of its next TV rights negotiation.

That negotiation matters. The NHL's current U.S. media deals with ESPN and Turner Sports run through the 2027-28 season. Insider Elliotte Friedman said on the 32 Thoughts podcast, as reported by Last Word on Sports, that the league wants expansion finalized before that contract comes up again, arguing that adding Houston, and potentially Atlanta, would make the NHL a more attractive TV property.

Forbes' 2025 team valuations show why $2 billion doesn't look outlandish anymore. More than half the league's 32 franchises are worth at least that much. The Toronto Maple Leafs top the list at $4.4 billion. The Dallas Stars, the new team's would-be in-state rival, are valued at $2.3 billion.

Atlanta's Path Is Messier

While Texas leads the 33rd-team race, Atlanta is angling for No. 34. The city lost NHL franchises twice before, but two competing development groups are now building the infrastructure case.

The Alpharetta, Georgia, City Council voted 4-3 early Tuesday to approve rezoning North Point Mall for a mixed-use development that would include an NHL arena, according to The Hockey Writers, which had a reporter at the six-and-a-half-hour meeting. An NHL team has until August 2031 to commit to the site or the project falls through.

Alpharetta councilman John Hipes, who voted yes, said he's confident the league is coming. "I absolutely believe the NHL is coming to Atlanta," Hipes said, according to The Hockey Writers. "We're the seventh-largest TV market in the country. Houston's the sixth largest. They've signaled that they're going to expand."

Not everyone on the council bought the optimism. Councilman Douglas DeRito, who voted no, pointed to the Seattle Kraken's expansion timeline as a cautionary comparison. "It's going to take time," DeRito said, according to The Hockey Writers. "We could be looking at six to 10 years down the road before we can put a shovel in the ground."

Complicating things further, a rival Atlanta-area site, The Gathering at South Forsyth, developed by Krause Sports and Entertainment under auto dealer Vernon Krause, already has an approved local plan, according to Front Office Sports. Two competing, council-approved sites now exist in the same metro market, and no NHL team has committed to either.

The Broader Math

The NHL has added four franchises since 2000, according to Forbes, more aggressive expansion than the NFL, NBA, or MLB have pursued in the same stretch. Front Office Sports notes there's no rule requiring the league to expand in even pairs. Vegas joined in 2017 as team No. 31; Seattle didn't follow until 2021, a four-year gap.

Sun Belt momentum backs the strategy. Teams from that region have won the last four Stanley Cups, and six of the last seven, including the Carolina Hurricanes this past season, according to Front Office Sports.

The Nashville Predators announced Wednesday a multi-year deal with ViewLift to launch a team-owned direct-to-consumer streaming app for the 2026-27 season, alongside a broadcast partnership with Scripps Sports, according to a PR Newswire release carried by Morningstar. ViewLift, recently acquired by DAZN, now covers 18 U.S. pro sports teams and six regional sports networks. It shows the same underlying pressure: leagues and teams racing to lock in media infrastructure before the next round of national TV negotiations.

None of this is finalized. Daly's year-end timeline for Texas is a target, not a signed deal, and Last Word on Sports reported the new team likely wouldn't start play until the 2029-30 season even if approved. Atlanta's path runs through two competing zoning approvals and no committed franchise. The open question is whether the NHL locks in Houston, Austin, or both before its media rights conversation begins, and whether Atlanta's five-year construction clock in Alpharetta even survives that long without a team attached to it.