‘We’ll Definitely Be A Better Location’: Houston Mayor Throws Shade At Austin In Battle For NHL Expansion Franchise

We got ourselves a good ol’ fashioned Texas throwdown!

Over the past decade, the NHL has given us a wave of expansion teams such as the Seattle Kraken, Utah Mammoth and Vegas Golden Knights, and now it’s looking to add another.

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The National Hockey League wants two more expansion clubs, with one of them being based in Texas. As far as where, however, is the billion-dollar question: Houston or Austin? (RELATED: Rams Owner Stan Kroenke To Purchase Angels For Record-Breaking $4 Billion Valuation: REPORT)

John Whitmire, the mayor of the former, knows where: H-Town, of course.

“We’re ready. In fact, we’re talking to multiple parties that are interested,” said Whitmire while speaking with The Sporting News in an interview. “So when we get a proposal, if the city can do something to a system, we’ll be there. We’ll definitely be a better location than Austin.

“Austin is a great city, but it’s not Houston.”

Austin is a cool town and full of great breakfast tacos — try them if you ever go — but when it comes to dropping an NHL franchise into the Lone Star State, Houston is both the better option and the only one that makes real business sense.

Houston sits as the fourth-largest metropolitan area and already has an NHL-ready barn in the Toyota Center, which is the home of the NBA’s Rockets.

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A sports franchise thrives on selling luxury suites, multi-year club seats and massive local corporate sponsorships, right?

Houston’s Fortune 500 footprint blows Austin’s tech-heavy corporate base out of the water, easily.

And ladies and gentlemen, let’s not forget the I-45 rivalry between Houston and Dallas. It writes itself.

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Seems like a pretty clear choice to me … Space City, baby.