NHL meets with group interested in bringing expansion team to Houston

The NHL has met with a group led by billionaire Dan Friedkin to discuss its interest in bringing an expansion team to Houston, deputy commissioner Bill Daly confirmed Thursday night in an email to The Associated Press.

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Friedkin, who has a net worth of $6.4 billion, according to Forbes, recently bought 98.8% interest in English Premier League club Everton. With his son Ryan, the Houston-based Friedkin Group has investments in the automotive industry, entertainment, hospitality and sports.

A message sent to the Friedkin Group seeking comment was not immediately returned. ESPN reported that Friedkin had become a leading candidate for a franchise if the league decides to expand beyond 32 teams.

Commissioner Gary Bettman has repeatedly said the league is not in a formal expansion process. Multiple groups in Atlanta also expressed interest in giving hockey in Georgia’s capital a third try.

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Bettman told the AP in September the NHL would seek a targeted process, if expanding at all.

“If somebody checks all the boxes and wants to move forward, then I’ll take it first to the executive committee and see if there’s an interest,” Bettman said at the time. “What we’re not going to do is what we did in prior times and say ‘(There is) a lot of interest. If you want to file an application, do it by this date and we’ll consider all the applications together.’ This is going to be a one-off, if we do it at all.”

Expansion did not come up during Bettman’s Wednesday news conference wrapping up the annual general managers spring meeting in Florida.

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Ryan Smith’s group a little over a year ago announced its interest in an expansion team in Utah. A few months later, the Smith Entertainment Group bought the Arizona Coyotes from previous owner Alex Meruelo and relocated them to Salt Lake City where they are known as the Utah Hockey Club this season.

The NHL’s most recent forays into Vegas and Seattle, with increasing expansion fees that could next time be close to $1 billion, have been so successful as to spur talk of going to 33 and then at some point 34 teams. Before the Golden Knights in 2017, the league had not expanded since 2000 when the Columbus Blue Jackets and Minnesota Wild entered the league.

Friedkin, who made his fortune distributing Toyotas in Texas, was reportedly also considering a bid for the NBA’s Boston Celtics before they were sold on Thursday.

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