Friedkin needs to build an arena in Houston or Austin.
Dan Friedkin is on the clock. The Commissioner of the National Hockey League, Gary Bettman, has given Friedkin six months to get a state-of-the-art arena commitment from either Houston or Austin. Both Texas cities have arenas but neither are good for a Friedkin expansion bid. The Houston arena, which is nearly 23-years old, is undergoing significant renovations designed to increase revenue for the ownership of the National Basketball Association Houston Rockets franchise. There is an arena in Austin but it cannot house an NHL franchise. The four-year-old venue has hosted NBA games featuring the San Antonio Spurs.
“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. “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. But we are going to work together under the terms, a term sheet that we were able to agree upon, in terms of a framework to consider what makes the most sense moving forward. There was an update on Atlanta, there was an update on Arizona and there was an update on South Texas. But neither Arizona nor Atlanta are quite as far along in the process as the Friedkin opportunities.” It appears Friedkin would have to spend $2 billion for a franchise and then find about $1.5 billion to construct a venue. Houston is the sixth biggest TV market in the United States. The city has allocated money for an arena upgrade and is negotiating with the National Football League’s Houston Texans franchise ownership to renovate the city’s football venue. Austin has spent money on a Major League Soccer stadium. Money talks in sports.
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Dan Friedkin
