A league Board of Governors meeting is set for June 22, around which point some sort of official announcement should come.
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The billionaire businessman stands a better chance at landing an National Hockey League expansion team to play in the new T-Mobile Arena than casino owner Sheldon Adelson has of relocating the NFL Oakland Raiders to an unfunded $1.4 billion stadium at UNLV.
The AP, basing its report on an unnamed league source, said the expansion fee would be $500 million and that the team, expected to be named the Black Knights, would not begin play until the 2017-18 season.
The NHL had also considered a bid from Quebec City, which lost its Nordiques some two decades ago.
Sources close to the vote told the Associated Press that the committee backed an expansion franchise for Las Vegas but not one for Quebec City. Quebec City will not see a new team within the next two seasons, though that doesn’t mean they’re completely out of sight and out of mind.
The NHL is reportedly ready to bet on an expansion franchise in Las Vegas, a move that would make the league the first to put a major professional sports team in the resort city known primarily for gambling.
Will the presence of an NHL team in Las Vegas have an impact on efforts to lands a second franchise from another league?
Billionaire businessman Bill Foley would be the Las Vegas team owner.
“They’ll have no trouble selling tickets in Las Vegas”, Foley said.
Are the Oakland Raiders really going to end up playing in Las Vegas sometime in the near future?
The NHL hasn’t expanded since 2000.
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The expansion fee is supposed to be in the $500-million range and the arena will seat, about 10-percent less, for hockey. But the will to move a team to Las Vegas has to be still fresh in his mind. Because you know, no better place to play hockey other than the Mojave Desert.
