leek said:
The Oilers didn't move there If I remember correctly Houston has never applied for an expansion franchise. A quick search found no evidence of an application.
Actually there were three separate Houston bids in '97 for the Atlanta/Columbus/Minnesota/Nashville expansion - unfortunately none of them had any plans for an arena. Les Alexander was not involved with any of the bids - he was still in negotiations with the city on building a new arena for his NBA Rockets and was not interested at that time in sharing the still-in-the-planning-stages Toyota Center. OKC was the other finalist bid in '97.
The Toyota Center was rejected in a referenedum in '97, then approved in a second vote in '99, construction started in '01, and it opened in Sept '03.
edit: Two of the Houston bids in '97 were from Bob McNair (owner of the NFL Texans) and the Maloof brothers (former owners of the NBA Houston Rockets and current owners of the Sacramento Kings).
http://www.houstonhistory.com/citizens/whoswho/business/history30hof.htm
In the first part of 1997, football was on the back burner of Bob McNair's mind, as he attempted to bring a National Hockey League team to Houston. In June 1997, the NHL owners turned down his efforts to bring an expansion hockey team to Houston, stating, among other reasons, that the Compaq Center was not an adequate facility for an expansion hockey team.
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/1997/jul/18/maloofs-nhl-deal-not-on-lightning-quick-pace/
Many times this decade the Maloofs have attempted to purchase another major sports franchise. A deal to re-acquire the Rockets in 1992 fell through, and their $120 million offer last summer to buy the San Antonio Spurs was rejected. Their bid last winter to place an NHL expansion team in Houston failed.
A quick google did not turn up info on the third Houston bid.
edit 2: The final Houston bid was from Chuck Watson, owner of the (then IHL) Houston Aeros.
And a correction - it appears Les Alexander was one of the bidders and McNair was part of Watson's group.
Also, McNair and Watson pursued the Oilers as well as Alexander, and were willing to extend credit to the local group so scuttle any sale to Alexander.
http://www.nytimes.com/1997/01/14/sports/cities-line-up-to-join-the-nhl.html
Houston has three groups competing for a franchise. One by one, behind closed doors, each made a 90-minute presentation yesterday. Houston's case is blemished. The Oilers are absconding to Tennessee in 1998 for a more modern, comfortable and profitable football home than the Astrodome. Two of Houston's bidders for a hockey franchise are embroiled in a lawsuit over the arena now used for hockey and basketball.
''The commissioner told us the three big factors for an expansion team were ownership, market and arena,'' said Tony Guanci of Sports Facilities, a development consultant working with the Maloof family, one of Houston's three bidders.
Houston has the market. Its city-owned arena, the Summit, is 20 years old and healthy, but with only a few luxury boxes. Local officials plan to build a $175 million to $200 million downtown arena. Financing is not set, but that does not appear to be a hurdle.
However, the league is watching the infighting between Leslie Alexander and Chuck Watson, two of Houston's three bidders. Alexander owns the Houston Rockets. Watson owns the Houston Aeros of the independent International Hockey League.
Watson owns the master lease to operate the Summit, where the Rockets play. The Rockets are in court trying to break their lease, which runs to 2003, so they can move into a new arena when it is ready.
After their presentations, each Houston group made a case for itself and against the opposition.
Watson: ''We have an arena and new financing. In the last three years, our group has spent $30 million creating the demand for N.H.L. hockey.''
Alexander: ''I have the Rockets, a women's basketball team and an Arena football team. I think you need a major sports background, not just a hockey background. I don't think running a minor league franchise does that for you.''
Gavin Maloof: ''We once owned the Rockets. We have no lease-franchise conflict now. We're not entangled in suits. We can focus 100 percent on the N.H.L.''
http://hockey.ballparks.com/NHL/EdmontonOilers/articles.htm
Meanwhile two groups snubbed by the NHL for expansion, the Gaylord family (newspapers, Opryland) in Oklahoma City and Chuck Watson and Bob McNair (oil and gas) in Houston, are hungrily eyeing the only existing team currently up for sale, the Edmonton Oilers.
Chuck Watson, who with Bob McNair lost the expansion bid for an NHL team in Houston because they don't have a new arena in place, said something that had an ominous tone for those who hope a way can be found to keep the Oilers in Edmonton.
"Mr. Bettman told me Bob and I should continue our efforts to bring the NHL to Houston," said Watson, "and we intend to do that. We have an indication from the NHL that the league ... will be supportive in our attempts to pursue other options."
For the first time in weeks, Nichols had the luxury of spending the day not rushing from meeting to meeting or drafting paperwork for Alberta Treasury Branches, which effectively seized the Oil last fall after ex-owner Peter Pocklington rung up at least $100 million in debts.
ATB's first serious suitor for the hockey squad, Les Alexander, had promised to skate the Oilers down to Texas if locals couldn't thwart his bid with a $100-million deal before midnight Friday the 13th.
Provided ATB accepts the local offer early next week, investors still need NHL approval by April 27 and all $100 million in to the bank's coffers by no later than May 5.
Robert McNair, an arch-rival of Alexander with similar NHL aspirations for Houston, was glad Nichols and company had managed to quash his offer.
"I think it's in the best interest of hockey that it worked out the way it did. I really do," said McNair, whose business partner Chuck Watson had offered locals a $50-million lifeline if bank financing had fallen apart.
edit 3: Alexander, Watson, McNair, and the Maloofs were among the US groups interested in the Sens in '99.
http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/article/20482
In Ottawa, Allen Panzeri writes today that if the Senators are sold to a U.S. group, "they'll likely end up in Houston." Among interested parties listed: Rockets Owner Les Alexander, IHL Aeros Owner Chuck Watson, Houston NFL expansion team Owner Bob McNair, Seahawks/Blazers Owner Paul Allen and NBA Kings Owners Joe and Gavin Maloof (OTTAWA CITIZEN, 10/27).