As THN.com has covered for months now, the prospect of NHL expansion is a very real thing. Whether we’re talking about a new team in Atlanta, Arizona, Quebec City, Houston or Hamilton, Ont., many interested parties want to bring NHL hockey to their city. And on Wednesday, a surprise possibility arose with a report on ‘X’ that the league has met in New York City with a group that wants a team in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Certainly, this is a development few observers predicted. At first glance, New Orleans seems far behind the cities we’ve mentioned above. But let’s take a look at the relevant statistics about New Orleans, and see how it measures up to the rest of the field.
NEW ORLEANS
Population, New Orleans Proper: 383,997 (as of 2020 Census)
Population, Greater New Orleans Area: 1,271,845
New Orleans is the United States’ 54th-most-populous city, and it is home to the NFL’s New Orleans Saints and the NBA’s New Orleans Pelicans. New Orleans has also hosted 11 Super Bowls, including the most recent Super Bowl in February. New Orleans hasn’t been home to an MLB team, but several iterations of minor-league baseball teams have had a home in New Orleans.
TV Market Ranking: 672,320 51st overall in U.S.
Certainly, the New Orleans TV market is significantly smaller than scores of others, including Phoenix, Ariz., Charlotte, N.C., Portland, Ore., Indianapolis, Ind., Baltimore, Md., San Antonio, Texas., Hartford, Conn. and Kansas City, Mo. There are likely no sports broadcasting elements that would air an NHL team’s games over the two existing pro sports teams, making the promotion of the sport a significant challenge.
Arena: The Smoothie King Center has been primarily used for the NBA’s Pelicans, but it has a 16,900 capacity for hockey. Opened in 1999 as the New Orleans Arena, it has staged numerous WWE wrestling events, college basketball and volleyball games, arena football games, as well as professional bullriding events, mixed martial arts and professional boxing cards.
Hockey History: In 1999, the New Orleans Arena’s first tenant was the ECHL’s New Orleans Brass team. The Brass operated from 1997 to 2002 when they folded after the NBA’s New Orleans Hornets convinced the state of Louisiana to order the Brass to pay for the cost of converting the arena between basketball and hockey configurations. That marked the end of hockey in New Orleans proper to this day.
The Monroe Moccasins, a team in Monroe, La., were home to a pro team in the Western Professional Hockey League from 1997 to 2001. The team was resurrected for the 2024-25 season as a member of the Federal Prospects Hockey League, playing at the Monroe Civic Center.
While it is unclear which potential ownership group has met with the NHL, it’s clear New Orleans is a massive longshot to land an expansion team ahead of favorites such as Houston, Phoenix and Atlanta. But what the latest news does indicate is that the NHL isn’t turning away potential expansion owners.
To the contrary – hockey’s top league is expected by many observers to be setting the stage to add what would be its 33rd and 34th teams. It’s not something that will happen immediately, but at a time when business has never been better for the NHL, the prospect of billions of dollars in expansion team fees is too lucrative for the league to turn down. And New Orleans’ interest in acquiring a team is another indication that cities across North America want to get in on the financial windfalls.
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