A third group near Atlanta has reportedly thrown its hat into the rink, vying to bring top tier professional hockey back to the region.
NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly told ESPN this week that Anson Carter, a former league star, TNT analyst and metro Atlanta resident, is spearheading a new franchise expansion bid separate from efforts in Alpharetta and Forsyth County, respectively. Carter had previously advocated for North Point Mall, but Daly said he’s “broken with the Alpharetta group.”
“He has indicated he has adequate financing, which he showed some evidence of, but he hasn’t chosen a location,” Daly told ESPN at a Las Vegas media event.
Carter did not immediately respond to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s requests for comment.
The North Point Mall team did not specifically address Carter. But the group told the AJC on Friday that its team “is focused on finding the best possible ownership group for an NHL expansion team,” adding that the “process is underway and, for the time being, confidential.”
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
A spokesperson for the other effort called The Gathering at South Forsyth similarly said its team “remains confident in their progress and continues forging ahead.”
Daly told ESPN the new effort involving Carter is looking at locations north of Atlanta.
“(Carter) is committed it’s going to be a better location than either Alpharetta or The Gathering,” Daly said.
Credit: Matthias Balk/DPA via AP
Credit: Matthias Balk/DPA via AP
Carter’s newfound bid is the latest development in a dash to convince NHL brass that the Atlanta region is ripe for a third attempt at a franchise after the Flames and Thrashers came and went. It coincides with the NHL entering expansion mode, showing interest in a new Texas franchise while weighing options in Arizona.
A good site and adequate funds are the two primary hurdles to clear, experts say. The NHL is requiring a $2 billion expansion fee to be considered, and it’ll cost nearly as much to build a professional hockey arena and establish a team’s back office.
“The price tag is high, and that’s really going to be the key for a successful Georgia project,” Bob Boland, a sports law professor at Seton Hall Law School in New Jersey, recently told the AJC. “Who with money attaches to which project?”
Avoid repeating history
Aside from Houston, Atlanta is the largest metro area in the U.S. without an NHL franchise.
The city’s first team, the Atlanta Flames, left for Calgary in 1980 after eight seasons. The second attempt with the Thrashers didn’t last much longer with the team relocating to Winnipeg in 2011.
Credit: BILL KOSTROUN
Credit: BILL KOSTROUN
Both teams were based in downtown Atlanta, ran into ownership troubles and never garnered a fanbase large enough to overcome those financial challenges. Daly said any new franchise needs to show things will be different this time.
“A full market analysis in the Atlanta region is going to be important. Certainly, it would be important for our ownership to understand why it would be different this time than it has been in the past,” Daly told ESPN. “I would argue that Atlanta has changed dramatically and significantly over time. I think building location is going to be very, very important.”
After the Atlanta Braves left the city for Cobb County, attention turned to the city’s affluent northern suburbs.
“The success of the Battery (at Truist Park) as a destination inspires a lot of developers,” Boland said of the Braves’ new mixed-use home. “If they can do this, I can do this.”
Competing visions
Forsyth County was the first to hit the ice.
First revealed in 2022, car dealership owner Vernon Krause laid out a vision of a hockey-centered entertainment district off Ga. 400 roughly 30 miles north of downtown Atlanta. The $3 billion project received the endorsement of Forsyth County leaders only if the NHL committed to award it a team.
Credit: Courtesy of The Gathering at South Forsyth
Credit: Courtesy of The Gathering at South Forsyth
Last week, a social media post claimed The Gathering team had submitted a final packet for approval by the NHL, which league leadership denied. Krause’s team later released a statement clarifying that information shared during a community update “was premature and incomplete, leading to inaccurate statements on social media.”
“They claimed that people associated with their efforts and initiative got over their skis a little bit,” Daly told ESPN. “They received an angry call from me when it was all coming down and I didn’t know anything about it.”
The Gathering team said grading and predevelopment work on the 84-acre site along Union Hill Road will soon kick into gear, but it’s unclear when vertical construction could begin.
About 7 miles south of The Gathering site, the owner of North Point Mall in Alpharetta is also weighing a pro hockey future.
Insurance giant New York Life, the mall’s owner, selected developer Jamestown in February to helm the effort to transform the property into an entertainment and sports district. Alpharetta leaders voted 4-3 last month to allow the development to progress if the NHL awards it a franchise within five years, or else the mall’s zoning reverts.
Credit: Courtesy of Jamestown
Credit: Courtesy of Jamestown
Carter started an organization Alpharetta Sports and Entertainment Group in 2024, advocating for North Point Mall as a viable pro hockey location. But he’s been mum on the effort since then before reportedly abandoning it in favor of a separate venture.
Where do things stand?
Both The Gathering and North Point have site plans and zoning to move forward with arena development if they land an expansion team, but it’s unclear if either have an ownership group to compete.
Krause in Forsyth has said he’s lobbied the league over the past two years, and the Alpharetta team hasn’t publicly discussed its ownership collective.
Daly indicated that Carter’s ownership team may be further along in obtaining the needed financial heft, but his effort is behind on identifying and preparing an arena site. He does have back-office hockey experience, as part owner of the Atlanta Gladiators minor league team that plays at Gas South Arena in Gwinnett County.
In June, the NHL entered into an agreement with Texas billionaire Dan Friedkin to pursue the league’s 33rd team in either Austin or Houston. The agreement includes a $3.5 billion investment, encompassing the expansion fee and arena development cost. The Texas team reportedly aims to have a team ready by the 2029-30 NHL season.
Phoenix, which deactivated its team the Coyotes in 2024 after an ill-fated move to suburban Glendale, also reportedly has two potential ownership groups vying for the NHL’s attention.
While a 34th team doesn’t have to be ready at the same time as a 33rd in Texas, experts say it would be strange for the NHL to plan on having an odd-numbered team roster for long.
And Daly urges hockey-starved fans to temper their expectations, saying expansion isn’t a done deal in Texas or a foregone conclusion elsewhere.
“It’s not a done deal on the Friedkin side, and it’s not a done deal on our side,” he told ESPN. “We’re both going to work hard to achieve that goal. But at the end of the day, it might not happen.”
About the Author
Keep Reading
The Latest
Featured
