NHL Team in Austin and Las Vegas called the West Coast Cattle Drive.

Would putting a NHL franchise in Austin be ignoring Houston?  No great loss.  They could easily host exhibitions.  Maybe the ice melts faster in Houston than in Texas Hill Country.

Perhaps the factor of market saturation puts the puck more in Austin's court, the capital of Texas.

I'm not alone in thinking that the south, and anything with proximity to Arizona, needs to prove itself to the NHL.  The highest level of minor league hockey in the south is housed in the middle of the country.  It's Oklahoma City, San Antonio and Austin.  The Texas teams are pretty close to each other.

Las Vegas has a hockey team a league below the AHL that the above named are a part of in Oklahoma and Texas.

I say, market two birds with one stone.  Don't become another Atlanta (NHL failure).  So, that's another reason to snub Houston.  But consider new big leagues cities a turn in both Austin and Las Vegas.

What better name for a western team that is essentially a travel team or camp team, than the "Cattle Drive"?
Better than the Tumbleweeds?  Wolf Pack?  Wagon Trains?

wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Stars
wikipedia.org/wiki/Las_Vegas_Wranglers

Cats          'Drivers'    ???    What to call them???

Time and affiliation could be had in Oklahoma City or the likes of Salt Lake City and Boise.

I'm well aware that perhaps singularly, Seattle and Portland deserve a NHL team and perhaps deserve the West Coast moniker if anybody does.  I'm not alone in thinking Arizona doesn't deserve it yet, especially when compared to some northern cities, not mentioning  those hockey fans more enthused in Milwaukee and Cleveland that aren't snowbirds.

View TV Metrics (NHL):  West Coast Whales NHL Team in Seattle, Portland and Las Vegas

Showgirls can wear cowboy hats, also, right?  www.las-vegas-shows-reviews.com

Austin:

State named teams. A Wider Geographic Home for the Big Leagues

NBA MidAmerican Express Travel Team (for Louisville, El Paso & Austin...and maybe St. Louis?) 

MLS, Will the Major Leagues land in Austin for the first time, or will San Antonio get that Soccer team before their capital city???

Further articles of shared Travel (region) teams in all of the sports, particularly a "West Coast" brand in every sports league, always touting Las Vegas, check out my table of contents or index to the right.

See more expansion, co-location and relocation talk for football, baseball, basketball, hockey and soccer on my blog http://prosportsexpansion.blogspot.com/