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The owner of the NBA’s Houston Rockets told Bloomberg News that downtown would be an ideal spot for an NHL franchise while noting that his discussions with the hockey league have recently turned more serious.
The owner of the NBA’s Houston Rockets is reportedly in discussions with the NHL about bringing a professional hockey team to town.
Tilman Fertitta, the Galveston native and hospitality industry magnate who also owns Landry’s Inc. as well as the Golden Nugget casinos, told Bloomberg News he has been in talks with the NHL and that those discussions have recently turned more serious. Fertitta’s vision is to have an NHL team play downtown, where the home venues for the Rockets and MLB’s Houston Astros are located.
“We are talking to the NHL, but it’s got to be good for both of us,” Fertitta said, according to a Wednesday report by Bloomberg News. “We just know that when there’s a concert downtown, how it activates downtown, we know what the Astros do for downtown, we know what even soccer does for downtown.”
Spokespeople for Fertitta and his companies did not immediately respond to a Wednesday afternoon email seeking comment. Neither did the NHL nor the office of Houston Mayor John Whitmire.
Whitmire’s predecessor, Sylvester Turner, said through a spokesperson last spring that he would support an NHL team coming to Houston, calling it a “sports town” while adding that professional sports franchises “add a lot to our city in terms of pride and enthusiasm.”
Houston has never been home to an NHL franchise but previously had two pro hockey teams that both were called the Aeros. The first team competed in the former World Hockey Association from 1972-78 and was led by hockey legend Gordie Howe, winning two league championships. The second rendition of the Aeros was a minor league team that played in the International Hockey League and American Hockey League from 1994-2013.
Fertitta told Bloomberg News he has been exploring the possibility of bringing an NHL team to Houston since he bought the Rockets seven years ago, adding that he would be open to either an expansion franchise or acquiring an existing team and moving it to Houston.
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