No decision made on possible NHL expansion to Houston or Austin, Texas, after board discusses it

Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly spoke to billionaire Dan Friedkin's group last week and got a full report, and representatives from the 32 current teams were briefed on the situation with no timetable to consider a possible vote on adding a 33rd.

"I think everybody's taking a wait-and-see attitude to see what's being presented and what the pros and cons are," Bettman said. "Expansion is a multibillion-dollar transaction, which has an impact on all the other clubs in the league. A lot of i's have to be dotted and t's have to be crossed. And if there's going to be expansion, three-quarters of the governors are going to have to be comfortable that this makes sense to them. And that's not something you do overnight."

Expansion, if it happens, would involve a $3.5 billion investment between the fee paid to owners and the cost to build a new arena. Daly said Friedkin's Pursuit Sports had looked at sites to build in Houston and Austin, with a lot left to figure out, including deciding between one of the biggest U.S. media markets and a place that does not have a team in any of the major four North American men's professional sports leagues.