New NHL BOG Chairman Ted Leonsis in Favor of NHL Expansion

The NHL's Sept. 22 Board of Governors meeting marked Ted Leonsis taking over as Chairman — with it since coming to light that he's in favor of expansion.

Washington Capitals owner Ted Leonsis, NHL Board of Governors Chairman Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports | USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect

Ted Leonsis is now the new Chairman for the NHL's Board of Governors.

He was unanimously voted to replace Jeremy Jacobs — who retired from the post after 19 years but will remain on the BOG with the Boston Bruins. This development came about at the Sept. 23 BOG meeting, taking place in New York.

Leonsis will hold his new title while also being the Washington Capitals owner. His purchasing of the Washington franchise came in 1999 which was the year after the Detroit Red Wings swept the Capitals 4-0 to claim their second straight Stanley Cup.

A key item discussed at the Sept. BOG meeting was expansion; the NHL is in the midst of a six-month exploratory period with The Friedkin Group as they consider a Texas expansion team in either Houston or Austin.

Jacobs was previously known as a big advocate for a potential expansion into Houston and carried a close working-relationship to NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman (which is still expected to remain consistent).

However, a recent report from Alex Silverman indicates that Leonsis himself is in favor of the League potentially expanding to 33 teams.

“All 32 owners have to vote on whether they want to welcome it, but I have a personal positive view in that nothing but positive things happened in the NHL when we went from 30 teams to 32 teams,” Leonsis said per Sports Business Journal.

Capitals owner Ted Leonsis, the new chair of the NHL Board of Governors, tells @SBJ that he personally supports expansion beyond 32 teams.

“Nothing but positive things happened in the NHL when we went from 30 teams to 32 teams.”https://t.co/akjkNBaDK6

— Alex M. Silverman🏒⚽️ (@AlexMSilverman) September 23, 2026

The Friedkin Group — which has a a professional sports subsidiary of Pursuit Sports — has agreed to pay the NHL an approximate $3.5 billion investment. This is reported to include both the expansion fee that goes to the League in addition to the cost covering the building of the new state-of-the-art arena.

The end of the previously mentioned exploratory phase (which will be focused on analyzing both the markets of Houston and Austin) is slated for December; which is when Bettman, Leonsis and the rest of the BOG will next meet.

That meeting in particular is usually held in Palm Beach, Florida.

Dan Friedkin is then expected to give his expansion presentation to the League, Leonsis and the rest of the current NHL team governors.

A vote on expansion could take place at that time, but it could also occur at a later date.

When the League most recently expanded to Seattle, it required support from 3/4 of the board of governors.

What Would Expansion Do to NHL Schedules?

The Red Wings 2026-27 regular season is an 84-game slate that includes 28 games against Atlantic Division rivals, three games against the eight teams in the Eastern Conference’s Metropolitan Division (24 games) and two games against all 16 Western Conference opponents (32 games).

This 84-game slate is a result of the NHL moving away from 82 due to the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).

Should the NHL add a 33rd team, schedules across the NHL — certainly including Detroit — would almost definitely have to be reworked substantially — but the formula in which it would be changed is not yet known.