Foley conducted research on the viability of an National Hockey League team in Las Vegas and took 13,500 season-ticket deposits.
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Of course, the NHL isn’t the only major league that may soon come to Las Vegas. The AP is reporting that the NHL has made a decision to expand and has settled on Vegas as the city that will host an expansion team-as long as organizers of that team can come up with a $500 million fee to get into the league.
In the meantime, the NHL Board of Governors will meet next Wednesday night in Las Vegas just before the annual awards ceremony where a decision on expansion is expected to be ratified.
Concerns over the strength of the Canadian dollar at the current time was a reported reason for putting the Quebec expansion on hold. Officials with the league were unavailable for comment.
The NHL, which has 30 franchises, last expanded in 2000. The Las Vegas team would begin play in 2017-18 at T-Mobile Arena. In late May, at a Las Vegas viewing party for a playoff game, Foley said the project already had 13,200 season-ticket deposits.
Las Vegas can now boast that it’s a big league town – nearly.
Adam Hill is a sports reporter for Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Pro sports leagues have also softened their stance towards gambling, in part due to the prevalence of daily fantasy sports, she wrote. He also believes that an National Football League team would be a better fit with only 10 dates to fill, despite having to sell 35,000-40,000 extra tickets to fill an National Football League sized stadium compared to the 20,000 seat T-Mobile Arena.
Looking to plan a weekend in Vegas?
Owner Mark Davis’ apparent desire to move the Oakland Raiders to Las Vegas has led to hockey’s potential expansion there falling to the background a bit.
In a press conference via telephone Wednesday, American Gaming Association President and CEO Geoff Freeman discussed the ramifications of the upcoming move, welcoming the new franchise as an opportunity for the continued growth of modern legalized and regulated sports betting.
Billionaire Bill Foley is the man behind bringing professional hockey to Sin City. The arena’s first sporting event was Saul Alvarez vs. Amir Khan for the WBC middleweight championship on May 7.
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The NHL has debated expansion for a few years, with Seattle and the Toronto suburbs also generating interest for another team. The Arizona Coyotes went bankrupt in 2009 and the league assumed control of the franchise until a new owner was found in 2013. He said the fans of teams that are playing in Las Vegas will come here to watch. Foley also graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, aka the Army Black Knights.
