NHL closer to coming to Houston? Tilman Fertitta meets with league exec

HOUSTON – Is Houston any closer to getting a National Hockey League team?

Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta reportedly met with an NHL executive recently about the possibility of bringing an NHL team to the Bayou City.

Fertitta Thursday released a statement to KPRC2 that read:

"As I've mentioned before, I'm very interested in the possibility of bringing the NHL to Houston, but it will have to be a deal that makes sense for my organization, the City, fans of the NHL throughout the region, and the NHL Board of Governors. We are in the very early stage of evaluating what opportunities may exist but there is nothing definitive at this point in time. We are simply asking questions and exploring our options."

When Fertitta was announced as the Rockets owner in October, here's what he said at that time:

"I would put an NHL team here tomorrow, but this one has got to work. Would I love to have the other dates in the building? Do I want to see Toyota Center filled up 300 nights a year? Definitely. So we'll do whatever we can do, but whatever we do is going to make sense. Will we be aggressive? Yes. That's my nature.

"Unlike basketball, we need to make sure that hockey fans live in Houston, Texas, and Houstonians will come out and support an NHL team. If we have an NHL team, we need to put 16,000 people in that stadium every night; 17,000, 18,000 -- that's what we hold here. So if I go out and get an NHL team, I'm going to ask the citizens of Houston to make sure they're going to commit to help me do it. Once again, none of this is successful without the fans out there, and I know that."

Rockets CEO Tad Brown said last month that Fertitta was already introduced to Larry Tanenbaum, who owns the Toronto Raptors of the NBA and is chairman of the NBA's Board of Governors, and is also co-owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs of the NHL.

"(Tanenbaum) and I sit next to each other. He's excited to meet Tilman. I'm sure that Tilman and I will be up in Toronto at some point to meet with Larry and talk about the NHL's position, their interests and things that could possibly happen. Everything is open. We'll be getting him and Larry together soon," Brown said.

Houston has a long history of hockey. The Houston Aeros played in the American Hockey League, basically the farm system of the NHL, from 1994 until 2013, when the team moved to Iowa.

Before that, the Aeros played in the Western Hockey Association from 1972-1978. Many of the WHA teams eventually merged into the NHL. 

So what do you think? Do you want to see hockey return to Houston? What should the team name be? Leave your comments below.