Sources: U.S. billionaire eyes Houston NHL team
American billionaire Dan Friedkin has emerged as a strong ownership option to bring the NHL to Houston, sources told ESPN.
Attempts to reach The Friedkin Group for comment were unsuccessful, but NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly confirmed in an email that the league has met with the group “on a number of occasions about potential interest in a Houston expansion franchise.”
Friedkin is CEO of The Freidkin Group, which is based in Houston, and has begun his foray into professional sports ownership over the past several years. In 2020, the company bought the Italian Serie A club AS Roma. In 2024, TFG became majority owners of the English Premier League club Everton. Earlier this month, TFG helped secure £350 million in funding for a new stadium for Everton.
According to reports, the TFG was also considering a bid for the Boston Celtics of the NBA, which sold on Thursday for a record $6.1 billion.
Friedkin is chairman and CEO of Gulf States Toyota.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has tried to cool off expansion rumors recently, telling reporters in October that the topic never came up at this fall’s board of governors meeting and that expansion was not a “front-burner topic.”
Leading Bettman’s agenda right now is a new collective bargaining agreement with the players. The NHL and NHLPA are expected to begin formal CBA discussions on April 1. The NHL also needs to negotiate a new Canadian TV deal.
Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta previously had conversations with the NHL about the possibility of owning a hockey team, however it appears Friedkin’s group emerged as a more viable option.
The NHL went from 30 to 32 clubs when it added Vegas (began play in 2017-18) and Seattle (debuted in 2021-22). The expansion fee for Vegas was $500 million and for Seattle was $650 million.
If the NHL decided to expands again, they could look to add two clubs — but stagger their start dates.
Atlanta is believed to be another strong candidate for potential expansion. The NHL has twice left Atlanta, most recently in 2011 when the Thrashers relocated to Winnipeg. However, progress was made on a possible return to Atlanta over the past several months.
This week, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry posted to social media that he had an “extremely productive call” with the NHL about the prospects of a team in New Orleans.
NHL leaders have re-iterated over the last several years that they have fielded calls from across North America. At the 2024 NHL All Star weekend, Bettman rattled off a list of cities the NHL had heard from expressing interest, including Omaha, Kansas City, Cincinnati, Atlanta, Houston and Salt Lake City. The NHL ended up putting a team in Salt Lake City, relocating the team from Arizona to Utah ahead of this season.
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Jesse Rogers
Free agent pitcher Julio Urias, who hasn’t played in the big leagues since 2023, was suspended through this year’s All-Star break for violating Major League Baseball’s joint domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse policy, commissioner Rob Manfred announced in a Friday news release.
It’s Urias’ second suspension for violating the policy. He was suspended for 20 games in 2019 after being arrested on suspicion of domestic battery.
He’ll be reinstated on July 17, 2025, and then free to sign with any team.
Urias, 28, spent eight seasons with the Dodgers before being placed on administrative leave after his latest arrest in September 2023. He remained there until becoming a free agent at the end of that season. He did not sign with a team last year while under investigation.
Urias’ latest arrest occurred outside a soccer match in Los Angeles after the pitcher got into an altercation with his wife. In 2024, he plead no contest to the battery charges stemming from that arrest and entered a treatment program.
Since Urias isn’t employed by a team the league could not assign him a number of games for the suspension, instead choosing a date that corresponds with the end of the All-Star break.
Urias was signed out of Mexico as a 16-year-old, making his debut for the Dodgers just three years later. He was an important contributor on L.A’s playoff teams during that era, recording the final out of the 2020 World Series, winning 20 games in 2021 and finishing third in National League Cy Young Award voting in 2022.
Urias was widely projected to sign a $200 million-plus contract before being arrested.
PEORIA, Ariz. — San Diego Padres right-hander Yu Darvish will start the season on the injured list because of inflammation in his right elbow, manager Mike Shildt said Friday.
Shildt said there is no timetable for Darvish’s return but the team is confident he will be back in the rotation following rest and a ramp-up period.
Darvish made a pair of spring training starts but was shut down after the second, a four-inning, 54-pitch outing against Kansas City on March 13. The Padres decided to have him back off his throwing program after he played catch a couple times.
Kyle Hart, Stephen Kolek and Randy Vasquez are candidates to fill Darvish’s spot in the rotation behind Michael King, Dylan Cease and Nick Pivetta.
Darvish is 110-88 with a 3.58 ERA in 12 major league seasons after pitching for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters in Japan’s Pacific League from 2005-11. The 38-year-old had Tommy John surgery on March 17, 2015, and returned to a major league mound on May 28, 2016.
He had back, neck and elbow problems last season and was on the restricted list for personal reasons from early July to late August. He won three of four starts in September and was 1-1 with a 1.98 ERA in two starts against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL Division Series
Darvish came to the major leagues in 2012 after agreeing to a $56 million, six-year contract with the Texas Rangers. He was traded to the Dodgers in July 2017, became a free agent after the World Series and signed a $126 million, six-year deal with the Chicago Cubs. Darvish was dealt to San Diego after the 2020 season and in February 2023 agreed to a contract with the Padres that added an additional $90 million in guaranteed money for a total of $108 million over six year.
His 2023 season ended in late August because of a bone spur in his right elbow.
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