HOUSTON – (By Ivy McLemore for Realty News Report) – Since 1972, Atlanta has had two NHL expansion teams and lost them both. The Flames (1972-80) moved to Calgary and the Thrashers (1999-2011) moved to Winnipeg, making Atlanta the first city to lose two teams in the NHL’s modern era.
Why the NHL is Willing to Give Atlanta a Third Chance
Why, then, is Atlanta speculated to be the next city to receive an NHL expansion franchise after Houston becomes the league’s 33rd team?
Two things – money and demographics, with a strong emphasis on the former.
The NHL is riding a crest of popularity in the U.S. in terms of TV ratings and attendance. Networks crave sporting events because they’ve become a unique form of live entertainment with a strong 18-45 viewership demographic. Just ask the NFL.
A major factor in the NHL’s expansion love affair with Houston is the fact its metro area is the fifth largest in the country. Atlanta’s is sixth. Phoenix, next in line for the 35th franchise, is 10th. Get the idea?
The NHL’s next U.S. national media rights contracts are estimated to reach between $1.1 billion and $1.4 billion annually, a 75% to 125% increase over the current $625 million annual average value (AAV) shared by ESPN and TNT Sports. The higher the ratings, the more each franchise is worth. And at $2 billion, each of the 32 NHL owners gets a $62.5 billion slice of the expansion pie – a quantum leap from the $500 million the Vegas Knights paid in 2017 and the $650 million the Seattle Kraken paid in 2021.
Dan Friedkin and his Pursuit Sports company also have been in talks with NHL officials for years about bringing a team to Houston.
The Former AstroWorld Site Identified as Possible Hockey Arena Location for Houston’s New Team
On the one hand, they bring everything to the table in terms of what the NHL seeks from a successful expansion candidate: ownership strength, arena certainty (although the site and renderings have not yet been made public), market quality, media value, sponsorship depth, and the ability to increase league-wide enterprise value.
On the other hand, two competing Atlanta groups fall short in the first two.
The Gathering at South Forsythe is a group led Vernon Krause, the CEO of Krause Sports and Entertainment and owner of Krause Auto Group. It plans a $3 billion mixed-use development anchored by an 18,000-seat arena in unincorporated Forsyth County, approximately 30 miles north of downtown Atlanta. Local county and school boards finalized agreements for the 100-acre site in mid-2025.
The rival Alpharetta Sports Group includes former NHL player and current TNT analyst Anson Carter and proposes a 20,000-seat arena as part of a major redevelopment of the North Point Mall site in Alpharetta. The Alpharetta City Council approved zoning changes and plans for the project in August 2026, which also features a practice rink and housing.
Alpharetta imposed a strict condition that the NHL must award an expansion franchise by August 24, 2031, or the mall’s zoning reverts back. Residents cannot occupy planned apartments until a team is secured.
Atlanta is somewhat of an anomaly. Unlike Houston, which has a much wider population footprint, much of Atlanta’s populace with high disposable income is concentrated in Alpharetta, Milton, and Johns Creek. The Alpharetta Sports Group’s planned arena is centrally located among the three. The Forsythe Group’s is farther north.
Neither group has agreed to meet the NHL’s price tags of a $2 billion expansion fee and a $1.5 billion commitment to a new arena.
If Houston secures an expansion franchise in December, as expected, it could feasibly play as early as the 2028-29 season if it used the Toyota Center on a temporary basis. Otherwise, the team’s inaugural season would be 2029-30.
The earliest an expansion team in Atlanta could begin play would be the 2031-32 season, giving the two competing groups ample time to flex ownership strength and prove arena certainty, the last two NHL hurdles needed to clear.
The best things Atlanta has going for it, at this time, is the size of its metro area for TV ratings purposes and the fact the NHL would prefer 34 or even 36 teams for scheduling purposes.
A 36-team NHL would produce a minimum of $8 billion in expansion fees in the coming years and result in a $250 million windfall for each team owner, if split 32 ways.
$250 million is more than several NHL franchises were valued at a decade ago.
Ivy McLemore covered the WHA Houston Aeros for The AP 1976-78. He has been a reporter, editor, and investment management communications executive and is author of Finding Satoshi: The Real Story Behind Mysterious Bitcoin Creator Satoshi Nakamoto.
Sept. 2, 2026, Realty News Report Copyright 2026
Mall/NHL Arena Rendering: Courtesy New York Life, owner of the North Point Mall in Alpharetta, Ga.
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File: Will Atlanta Follow Houston into NHL Hockey?