“In the fall of 2017, when we celebrate the 100th birthday of the National Hockey League, we will do so as a league of 31 teams”, Bettman said at a news conference in Las Vegas. The Las Vegas bid was approved unanimously by the league’s board of governors Wednesday morning.
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The NHL has officially announced that the league will expand to Las Vegas starting the 2017-18 season, after the NHL Board of Governors voted in approval earlier.
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman called the application by the Canadian telecom and media conglomerate “first rate” as it included a brand new arena along with strong ownership credentials with an eagerness to own a team.
The NHL made it official on Wednesday afternoon: the league will be expanding to Las Vegas for the start of the 2017-18 season.
The new franchise will be stocked by an expansion draft that will be more favorable than previous drafts, theoretically allowing the Vegas franchise to become competitive more quickly.
Bettman said the weakness of the Canadian dollar, which would make it hard for a new Canadian franchise to succeed, was a major reason for deferring action on the Quebec application. He cited the recent devaluation of the Canadian dollar, the league’s geographic imbalance and the thought it would be best to bring only one team in right now as reasons for putting the decision on hold. “It’s obviously good for the league, good for the players – more jobs”.
In 2012 deposition testimony in the New Jersey sports gambling case, Selig emphatically rejected the possibility of a team in Las Vegas. The second option is for teams who want to protect more than three defensemen.
While Quebec City has been an NHL market in the past and is rich with hockey fans, Las Vegas represents yet another chance to grow the sport in a non-traditional and untapped hockey market.
Canada’s seven NHL teams earn ticket and concession revenue in Canadian dollars while salaries, which account for half of the league’s hockey-related revenue, are paid in USA dollars. Players with two years or less of professional hockey experience will be exempt. For the 2017 expansion draft, those numbers will be reduced to seven forwards, three defensemen, and a goalie – or eight total skaters and one goalie.
Now that Las Vegas is finally getting its team – and the National Hockey League has beaten the NFL in breaking ground in the desert – the fun begins.
“There is no doubt as to the passion for NHL hockey in Quebec City, there is no doubt as to the suitability of the Videotron Centre as a home arena for a team, and there is no doubt to the ownership credentials … of Quebecor, which has been an outstanding partner”, Bettman said. More than 14,000 season tickets were reserved in the drive. “It’s like 120 degrees here, I think”.
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“It could affect who we sign or who we don’t sign”, Poile said of the ripple effect that expansion could have on his roster construction plans. They can select as high as No. 1 and as low as No. 6 in the 2017 NHL Draft.
