Three NHL teams are being linked to relocation, but expansion changes everything

The National Hockey League, Gary Bettman and the Friedkin family are chasing Houston or Austin.

Moving an existing team was never the cheaper option.

On June 23, 2026, Bettman announced a term sheet with the Friedkin family worth roughly $3.5 billion, covering an expansion fee and a new arena. The fee portion alone has been placed near $2 billion.

Split evenly, that is roughly $50 million for each of the 32 existing clubs. Expansion fees are not counted as hockey-related revenue, so owners keep every dollar without splitting it with players.

A viral post frames this as expansion versus moving Columbus, Ottawa or Winnipeg.

Relocation does not produce that cheque. A transfer under By-Law 36 sends a fee to the league, not a windfall to all 32 members.

Expansion and relocation clear the same bar, three quarters of the Board of Governors. That means 24 votes, and the Columbus Blue Jackets, Ottawa Senators and Winnipeg Jets each hold one of them.

Asking owners to move a team into Houston instead of selling Houston is asking them to delete roughly $1.6 billion of their own money. Nobody votes for that.

Columbus did not cut its radio broadcast out of weakness. The Blue Jackets moved to a simulcast for 2026-27, the fifth NHL club to do it, joining Buffalo, Carolina, Dallas and St. Louis after the collapse of FanDuel Sports Networks left seven teams hunting for television homes.

Ottawa signed an agreement of purchase and sale with the National Capital Commission for about 11 acres at LeBreton Flats.

Owners do not buy downtown land in cities they plan to leave.

Winnipeg's Mark Chipman has said True North Sports and Entertainment has never lost money across its NHL years.

Profits have gone back into Canada Life Centre.

Three markets, three ballots, and one expansion cheque none of them will vote against.

Also read on House Of Hockey :
Red Wings narrow down Dylan Larkin trade talks to four teams