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U.S. billionaire Dan Friedkin eyeing Houston NHL expansion team
There is a strong candidate to bring an NHL expansion team to Houston.
There is a strong candidate to bring an NHL expansion team to Houston.
AS Roma Italian soccer club owner Dan Friedkin, an American billionaire, has emerged as a possibility to buy a team for the Texas city, Sportsnet can confirm.
ESPN was first to report the news on Thursday.
Friedkin is CEO of the Houston-based The Friedkin Group. The company bought AS Roma in 2020 and became the majority owner of English Premier League club Everton last year.
Sportico reported The Friedkin group was a bidder for the Boston Celtics, who reached an agreement Thursday to be sold to private equity mogul William Chisholm for a North American record $6.1 billion.
The NHL has not announced a timeline for expansion. The league grew to 32 teams with the addition of the Seattle Kraken in 2021.
Houston is the sixth-biggest television market in the United States.
The city had a World Hockey Association team from 1972-78 and then IHL and AHL minor-pro teams from 1994-2013.
Houston has teams in the four other biggest North American pro leagues — the NBA’s Rockets, NFL’s Texans, MLB’s Astros and MLS’s Dynamo.
