North Atlanta’s NHL Bids Fall Behind as Texas Gets a Formal Expansion Track
North Atlanta's NHL expansion efforts trail behind Texas, where a formal process and ownership group are in place. South Forsyth leads locally, while Alpharetta is still seeking approvals. Atlanta remains in the conversation but has yet to enter a formal league evaluation.
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South Forsyth and Alpharetta have spent the past two years making the case for North Atlanta as the NHL’s next home. This week, however, the league made clear that Texas is currently further along.
The NHL has opened a six-month process with Houston billionaire Dan Friedkin and his family to examine bringing an expansion team to either Houston or Austin. The arrangement gives the Friedkin group exclusive rights to pursue a new NHL franchise in Texas and outlines an estimated $3.5 billion investment covering both the expansion fee and construction of a new arena.
Atlanta was discussed during the league’s Board of Governors meeting in New York. It was not dismissed, but it was not advanced into the same formal process.
Commissioner Gary Bettman said the Atlanta and Arizona efforts remain on a “slightly different track” and are not as far along as the Texas opportunity. That leaves the two North Atlanta groups active, but clearly behind.
Texas Has Moved From Interest to Process
Houston and Austin have not been awarded a team, and the league’s owners have not taken a final vote. The NHL and the Friedkin family will spend the next several months evaluating which Texas city presents the stronger arena, market and business plan.
Still, Texas now has a term sheet, a timeline, an identified principal owner and a financial framework. Neither Alpharetta nor South Forsyth has been given an equivalent path.
The new arena requirement also changes how the latest decision should be understood. Neither Houston nor Austin has the modern building the NHL wants, meaning North Atlanta did not fall behind simply because its arenas remain on paper. The league appears willing to move forward without an existing arena when it has enough confidence in the ownership, financing and development structure surrounding it.
Friedkin brings a clearly identified ownership organization with experience in major international sports. His family’s holdings include the European soccer clubs AS Roma and Everton, along with extensive automotive, hospitality and entertainment interests.
The Atlanta groups have land plans, development partners and substantial local support. What they do not yet have is the same level of league-approved structure.
South Forsyth Is Locally Ready but Still Waiting on the League
Of the two North Atlanta proposals, The Gathering at South Forsyth has traveled furthest through the local government process.
The planned development near GA-400 and McGinnis Ferry Road covers approximately 100 acres and calls for a mixed-use district centered around an NHL-capable arena. Forsyth County and its development authority approved the project’s definitive agreements in June 2025, clearing major zoning, financing and governmental hurdles.
County leaders have pointed to $225 million committed through a tax allocation district, regional road improvements and planned access to the GA-400 express lanes as evidence that the location is ready to move forward. The full development has been valued at more than $3 billion.
Yet this week’s announcement demonstrates that “shovel-ready” land is not necessarily the same as a league-ready franchise.
The NHL has not publicly identified the precise deficiencies in the Forsyth proposal. It has not said whether the remaining questions involve ownership capitalization, payment of the expansion fee, arena guarantees, financial risk or some combination of those issues.
The clearest conclusion is that Forsyth County’s progress at the local level has not yet developed into a transaction the NHL is prepared to formally evaluate.
That does not erase the work already completed. The Gathering remains a real proposal with approved agreements and public financing mechanisms rather than a conceptual rendering alone. It does mean that the development team led by Vernon Krause must still persuade the league that every element of the ownership, arena and market package can be delivered.
Alpharetta Still Has Local Approvals Ahead
The Alpharetta proposal is centered on a sweeping redevelopment of North Point Mall led by Jamestown Properties and New York Life, working alongside the expansion effort associated with former NHL player Anson Carter.
Plans submitted to the city in March call for replacing much of the aging mall with a sports-anchored district featuring a 20,000-seat arena, a smaller community hockey rink, a performing arts venue, hotels, offices, restaurants, stores, public spaces and 1,385 apartments.
The development group has assembled a prominent team. Jamestown is known locally for Ponce City Market, while HKS Architects, Kimley-Horn and arena adviser Machete Group are also attached to the proposal.
Unlike The Gathering, however, North Point remains in the rezoning and public-review process. The application is tentatively scheduled to reach the Alpharetta Planning Commission on July 9 and the City Council on July 20.
That puts Alpharetta behind South Forsyth in local approvals and behind Texas in the NHL process. Its potential advantages include a central North Fulton location, an established commercial district and proximity to Alpharetta, Roswell and Johns Creek, but those strengths have not yet produced a formal league framework.
Atlanta Has Not Been Eliminated
The encouraging part for local hockey supporters is that the NHL is now actively considering expansion rather than simply listening to interested cities.
The league could add a 33rd team without immediately adding a 34th. Bettman said an odd number of teams would not be an obstacle, noting that the NHL operated with 31 teams after Las Vegas joined in 2017 and before Seattle began playing in 2021.
A Texas franchise could eventually create interest in adding another Eastern team, but the league has made no such commitment. Conference balance alone will not earn Atlanta a franchise. The ownership, financing, arena and market plan must be convincing on its own.
The Texas process could also fail. Houston and Austin must determine where an arena can be built, how it will be financed and which market provides the stronger long-term home. A final franchise award would still require approval from the NHL’s Board of Governors.
Atlanta therefore remains in the conversation, but there is no announced timetable for either local bid to advance.
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