Is NHL Hockey Finally Coming To Houston?

Another one of the things people don't know about me besides Renee Martin is that I am a serious hockey fan.   I learned how to ice skate before I attempted to learn how to roller skate. 

My teen self not only witnessed the first game of the Houston Aeros in the Sam Houston Coliseum as they beat the Chicago Cougars, I was a passionate fan of the team   The two time World Hockey Association Avco Cup champions had Gordie Howe and his sons Mark and Marty Howe on the squad. 

Unfortunately, financial instability helped kill this team.  They went through three ownership groups despite being a successful team on the ice.  The Aeros were not admitted into the NHL, and were disbanded when the two leagues merged in 1978 and the Winnipeg Jets, Quebec Nordiques, the New England Whalers and the Edmonton Oilers were absorbed.

The Aeros 2.0 started playing as an International Hockey League expansion team at Compaq Center in 1994 and when the IHL folded in 2001, joined the American Hockey League.  That same year they also became affiliated of the NHL's Minnesota Wild and moved to Toyota Center to play their games in 2003. . 

Despite being ranked in the top 5 in AHL attendance and winning titles in both the IHL and AHL, the Minnesota Wild, who owned the team, decided to move them to Des Moines, Iowa in 2013..

Because Houston is the third largest city in the country and the largest TV market without an NHL franchise, we have repeatedly been teased and tortured with the NHL either considering expanding here or NHL teams having problems in other markets considering relocation to H-town, only to go somewhere else.

The Dallas Stars would also like that to happen so that we can start an instate NHL rivalry .

While the WHA Aeros were collapsing due to fiscal issues, the original NHL Colorado Rockies were considering moving to Houston.  They eventually became the New Jersey Devils in 1982.

The other NHL team that considered relocating to Houston but eventually set up somewhere else includes the Edmonton Oilers.  Back in the mid 1990's, then Oilers owner Peter Pocklington was battling with the city of Edmonton to get a better deal, and threatened to sell the team to then Rockets owner Les Alexander and move the Oilers to Houston.  That drama was happening about the same time that Bud Adams was threatening to move the NFL Oilers to Nashville.

That sale of the NHL Oilers didn't happen, and it probably led to why Les messed with Houston's chances to get an NHL team in the 1997 round of NHL expansion that eventually went to Nashville.   
And now, Seattle is getting the NHL's 32nd franchise to start play in 2020 once the renovations to bring Key Arena to NHL standards are completed.

With getting a team through NHL expansion being dashed once again, it appears that if Houston is going to get an NHL team. it's going to be through relocation.   We have an NHL ready arena in the Toyota Center and a diverse hockey loving fanbase ready to embrace our own NHL team instead of flying or driving to Dallas to see NHL hockey.

We have rumors that the Arizona Coyotes and possibly the Calgary Flames may be eyeballing a possible move to Houston. 

Both teams have arena issues, and more fuel was added to the rumors when the NHL Board of Governors voted to move the Arizona Coyotes into the NHL's Central Division, the same one that the Dallas Stars (and Calgary Flames) happen to play in. 

As to whether it will happen, not getting excited about until the announcement is made an NHL team is moving here and will playing its games in downtown Houston..

But I do have a suggestion if it happens for the team's nickname if it does. .   

NFL Meeting In H-town To Decide Who Goes To LA

It has been 21 years since the NFL has had teams in Los Angeles, the second largest TV market in the United States and the largest metropolitan area without an NFL franchise.

The Rams and Raiders moved to St. Louis and Oakland in 1995, and the city's bid to get an NFL expansion franchise back in 1999 was thwarted by lack of a stadium plan and Bob McNair outworking them to secure the expansion franchise that became the Houston Texans and the league's 32nd team.

That two decade NFL drought may be about to come to an end, because three NFL franchises with a history in LA, the San Diego Chargers, the Oakland Raiders and the St. Louis Rams have put in bids to move, and two of them may be playing in Los Angeles in time for the 2016 NFL season.

The Chargers played one season in Los Angeles when the AFL kicked off in 1960 before they headed south to San Diego.  The Rams moved to LA from Cleveland in 1945 for fiscal reasons after winning the NFL title and because the Cleveland Browns were scheduled to begin play in the All-American Football Conference,  They played at the LA Coliseum and in Anaheim before bouncing to St Louis.

The Raiders moved to Los Angeles from Oakland in 1982 and headed back in 1995 after failure to get improvements made to the LA Coliseum and a proposed stadium deal in Irwindale collapsed.

And yep, out of the three teams in contention to move, the Raiders are a distant third for the affections of LA football fans and sports media pundits..

The NFL special owners meeting will be taking place here in Houston today and tomorrow, and we'll know by the end of it which two teams will be kicking off in LA this fall.

Unlike 1999, the LA area stadium proposals runneth over this time..

Rams owner Stan Kroenke has already broken ground on a new 80,000 seat transparent roofed stadium in Inglewood, near the old LA Forum arena with a construction completion date of 2019.  If it stays on that timetable and he is successful in relocating the Rams back to LA, it would make that new stadium eligible to host a Super Bowl starting in 2020.

Chargers owner Dean Spanos and Raiders Mark Davis are pushing a joint stadium project in Carson, but the city referendum hasn't happened yet, and it looks like consensus is building for a deal that would call for the Chargers and Rams to share the new Inglewood stadium that is already under construction.

The entertainment company AEG until March 2015 pitched a downtown stadium project near Staples Center, and the City of Industry has another proposed project not attached to any team.

There's support by various influential NFL owners like Bob McNair, Jim Irsay and Jerry Richardson for the Chargers to be one of the teams that moves, while Jerry Jones is part of the 'anybody move to LA' group of owners, especially in light of the fact it's almost time to renegotiate the NFL broadcasting rights contract and teams in LA would enhance the NFL's bargaining position.

Another issue that will be discussed at the meeting here in Houston is whether to move two teams to LA immediately, or stagger their entry into LA, with one team moving now and the other team moving in 2017.  As far as realignment goes, wouldn't be necessary because the Rams are already in the NFC West Division, and the Chargers and Raiders both play in the AFC West Division

The word right now is the Chargers are gone (and I feel your pain San Diego), with the Rams probably being the other team that will be allowed to move.  The Raiders look like they will be the odd team out, but if Davis does decide to move the team, their destination could be San Antonio unless Oakland or the league comes up with a plan that will keep the Raiders in northern California..

Davis held a meeting with San Antonio city officials in 2014 about moving the Raiders there and if they did so, would play in the Alamodome until a new stadium gets built.  

It will take securing 24 votes for the successful teams to get approval to move, and until the new NFL playpens are completed, the relocated NFL teams would play either in the Coliseum or the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.

We'll find out how this all turns out soon.