Haven’t seen this pop up in awhile.
Fans purchased more than 17,000 tickets to watch the Aeros split the first two games of the American Hockey League’s Calder Cup finals against Binghamton at Toyota Center on Friday and Saturday.
The minor league team is seemingly thriving here, on and off the ice. But because this is considered a major league city, some wonder what might be.
“We love having the Aeros,” Janis Schmees said. “They’re a great team. But if we’re able to bring in a NHL team, we’re going to jump at that opportunity.”
Schmees is the executive director of the Harris County Houston Sports Authority. That organization would be one of the driving forces behind any such venture. At the moment, she said there is no such movement afoot.
However, if the NHL were to settle in Houston with the Toyota Center as its home base, Schmees said Rockets owner Les Alexander would own the team — specific language was written in the Toyota Center lease saying as much. If another individual or group expressed a desire, another venue would have to be located or built.
Alexander, who has flirted with the possibility of NHL ownership on at least two occasions during the past decade, declined to comment.
The talk has been around for longer than that. Have we forgotten the Les Alexander–Chuck Watson feuds already? Part of what made the Toyota Center saga so dramatic was the argument over who would be able to bring a major league hockey franchise to the new venue. The NHL did a lot of expansion and a few franchise moves in the 90s, which helped fuel that speculation, though things had been largely stable since then. With the Atlanta team moving to Winnipeg, I guess that’s all starting up again. I confess, I haven’t paid any attention to the Aeros lately, but it seems to me that the case against an NHL team, which is mostly that the game experience would be a lot more expensive than it is now, hasn’t changed. I doubt the likelihood of Houston emerging with an NHL franchise has changed much either, but I guess you never know.