As revenues grow for the NHL and the league gains more of a foothold on the North American ticket-buying and television-watching public, the league is considering expanding once again.

The NHL added the Vegas Golden Knights and the Seattle Kraken in the most recent round of expansion. The Golden Knights ownership group paid the NHL an expansion fee of $500 million for joining the league in the 2017-18 season. The Kraken paid a $650 million expansion fee when the Kraken started competing in the 2021-22 season.

As the price of franchises in all sports have been skyrocketing — the NBA's Boston Celtics were sold for $6.1 billion last week — the NHL's expansion fees are likely to go way up as well.

NHL insider Elliotte Friedman provided details on the NHL's desires to go from 32 to 34 teams on his “32 Thoughts” podcast Friday. He explained that the NHL may want as much as $2 billion from perspective ownership groups, basically four times as much as the Vegas ownership group paid and three times as much as Seattle's fee.

Podcast co-host Kyle Bukauskas appeared to be shocked by the $2 billion figure that Friedman reported. He said he knew that the NHL wanted more than either the Vegas or Seattle groups paid, but he figured the fee would be around $1 billion — not $2 billion.

Houston appears to be the primary expansion city for commissioner Gary Bettman

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman speaks during media availabilities before the Los Angeles Kings play against the Utah Hockey Club at Crypto.com Arena.
Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

The NHL would like to put a team in Houston because it is the fourth-most populous city in the United States and it would make sense to put a second team in Texas.

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A team in Houston would have a natural rival in the Dallas Stars, and Houston has a fairly strong hockey history. In addition to supporting minor league hockey, Houston was home to the Aeros in the World Hockey Association. That team featured all-time great Gordie Howe and also included his two sons, Mark and Marty Howe.

Tillman Fertitta is the owner of the NBA's Houston Rockets, and he is said to have an interest in bringing an NHL team to Houston, but he apparently is not interested in paying the high fees that the NHL may be expecting. However, Friedman reported that billionaire Dan Friedkin is more willing to come close to the expansion fee the league is apparently looking to receive.

The NHL may also be interested in going to Atlanta, a city that has twice received expansion teams that failed.

If and when the NHL expands, it could bring in one team in a particular season and then wait one or two years to bring in the second team. Both expansion teams would need to build new arenas and that would clearly take time. The other factor is that the amount of talented players in the NHL is not great enough to support two new teams coming into the league at the same time.