NHL rumors: New major American city enters race for NHL expansion team as franchise fees hit $2 billion

The NHL currently has just 32 teams, but more are almost certainly coming. The league has been eyeing expansion for some time now, with four major markets jockeying for leverage in the negotiations. A fifth has now entered the fray: Austin, Texas, as per Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff on Friday.

The league has informed potential expansion cities that the fee is $2 billion. Atlanta, Houston, Indianapolis and New Orleans were the original expansion candidates, with Austin joining and more possible. The league has said it'll continue fielding pitches from cities.

Austin seems to have a leg up on those other cities. While they are big cities with devoted sports communities, they have teams to compete with. Austin does not. The NHL could be the first sports franchise in the city.

Of course, Dallas and Arlington are in the same state, as is Houston, which has other teams, so Texas is certainly not wanting for sports franchises.

Commissioner Gary Bettman said on Wednesday via Daily Faceoff:

“We have no pending applications and we’re not seeking to initiate a formal process at this point."

Bettman said any expansion team must check four boxes: having a "cohesive and well-heeled" ownership group, an NHL-ready arena, a growing market and a way to make the league better than it was.

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25 years after one NHL expansion, another looms

It has been 25 years since the NHL expanded. Another is not imminent, as the league is still exploring all options, but there will certainly be another expansion at some point.

The Blue Jackets were an expansion team (Imagn)

The Columbus Blue Jackets and Minnesota Wild were the teams added to the league in 2000. This came shortly after the Nashville Predators and Atlanta franchise joined the league in 1999 and 1998.

Doug MacLean, the Blue Jackets general manager at the time, said via NHL:

“It’s pretty bizarre when you think about it because obviously Nashville and Atlanta come in before us two separate years, and then we come in with Minnesota, which really changed the whole dynamic because things had been picked pretty clean by two previous expansions in back-to-back years."

Since then, the league has mainly remained stagnant, although the Arizona Coyotes folded and were replaced with the Utah Hockey Club, which is now named the Mammoth. The Seattle Kraken and Vegas Golden Knights are also newer franchises.