Enter Houston.

Eric Francis' recent article on the Flames' potential flight to Houston is a study in leverage seeking. It presents the relocation threat as not merely credible but inevitable and throws in a variety of common rhetorical flourishes for good measure.

Selling and moving the Flames would be far from easy. Calgary is a top-10 NHL market, with a long history of grassroots support, a high concentration of corporate offices, and a large GDP. The Flames have made it past the second round twice in the last two decades but currently sit eighth in average NHL attendance this year. It would require a vote from the NHL Board of Governors to move a team out of one of the strongest markets in the league in favour of somewhere relatively unknown (and instead of one of the many other franchises that are currently struggling).

-Kent Wilson of The Athletic, read more (paid subscription).

thanks to a KK member for the pointer