The league is in serious talks to add a team in Texas and is looking at the Atlanta and the Phoenix markets.
There are three groups in the Atlanta market that want a National Hockey League expansion franchise. Vernon Krause wants a team for his proposed arena in South Forsyth, Georgia while someone in Alpharetta wants to land a franchise for a planned arena in that municipality. NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said former NHL player Anton Carter is heading up a group that wants an expansion team in the market. “Anson still has an interest in having a franchise in Atlanta. He’s kind of broken with the Alpharetta group, which he was championing before. He has indicated he has adequate financing, which he showed some evidence of, but he hasn’t chosen a location.”
The NHL has not committed to expanding but there is interest in Atlanta. “A full market analysis in the Atlanta region is going to be important. Certainly, it would be important for our ownership to understand why it would be different this time than it has been in the past,” Daly said. “I would argue that Atlanta has changed dramatically and significantly over time. I think building location is going to be very, very important.” The NHL is working with Dan Friedkin in Texas to see if there will be an expansion to either Austin or Houston, but there is no guarantee that either market will house an NHL franchise. Meanwhile there seems to be some movement in the Phoenix market in terms of returning a franchise to the market as two groups have expressed interest in owning a Phoenix franchise. “I don’t think we ever soured on Phoenix as a market. I think our issue in Phoenix was the location of the building. It’s always the location of the building,” Daly said. “I think with the right location, we collectively believe that Phoenix would be a great market.”
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