The North American 3 Hockey League (NA3HL) has announced that it has approved the membership of the Austin Ice Bats. The Austin Ice Bats are located in Austin, Texas and will begin play in the NA3HL's South Division beginning in the 2021-22 season. The team will play out of Chaparral Ice at The Crossover in Cedar Park, which is north of downtown Austin.

The Austin Ice Bats were previously a professional minor league hockey team that skated for twelve seasons in Texas's capital city. The Ice Bats derived their name from the famed colony of 3.5 million of free-tailed bats that live under Austin's Congress Avenue bridge. The club was one of six original franchises in the Western Professional Hockey League (WPHL) in 1996. They would later play in the Central Hockey League (CHL) after it merged and absorbed the WPHL in 2001.

Chaparral Ice is the rink of choice for a variety of athletic groups, including the Ice Bats, and has been a fixture in the Austin community for over 20 years. The most high-profile local teams are the professional American Hockey League's Texas Stars and the ACHA Division II University of Texas Longhorns, both of whom practice at the facility. Chaparral Ice also hosts a variety of amateur teams including the Austin Metro Hockey Association and Chaparral Ice adult recreational leagues.