Confirmation of the new franchise comes after an unnamed source said earlier this month that a move into Vegas was a “done deal”, provided team investors could stump up the US$500 million expansion fee.
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The NHL expansion is the first since 1997, when the league phased in Nashville, Atlanta, Columbus and Minnesota over a three-year span.
“In the fall of 2017, when we celebrate the 100th birthday of the NHL, we will do so as a League of 31 teams”, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said. How will the rules and regulations of the draft affect the new Las Vegas team?
“There is no doubt as to the passion for hockey in Quebec City”, Bettman said. Bettman cited a week Canadian dollar as part of the reasons for the deferment. Plus, geography worked against Quebec. The NHL aims to make that team competitive more quickly than any expansion team before it.
In the 2017 National Hockey League draft lottery, the Las Vegas team will have the same odds as the team finishing with the third-lowest point total in 2016-17 and will be guaranteed to pick no lower than sixth in the first round.
Executives in all sports seem less concerned now, and Vegas is also courting the National Football League’s Oakland Raiders. The city attracts visitors from all over the world.
The long term viability of a major sports team in Southern Nevada has always been a topic of debate with casinos along the Las Vegas Strip offering stiff competition with entertainment acts ranging from Britney Spears to David Copperfield. Foley is joined by minority partners Joe and Gavin Maloof, the former owners of the NBAs Sacramento Kings.Foleys also bid had the enormous advantage of an NHL-ready arena built with private funding and eager for a flagship tenant. The Sharks and the other Pacific teams will play six teams in the division four times and one team in the division five times. Youth hockey has grown 37% there in the last decade.
It is certainly not a traditional hockey market.
In other words, this is not Quebec City, which will have to wait until something opens up. It was understood that at some point Winnipeg was going to get a franchise. Putting a franchise in a Canadian locale is always a safe bet.
“We don’t worry about the integrity of our game”.
The league trusts Foley, who has a military approach to the way he does business.
Foley hasn’t said what he will call his new team, but the bid is run by a company named Black Knight Sports and Entertainment, the same name as his financial services company. “This historic news would not have been possible without the overwhelming support of the Las Vegas community, our season ticket holders and public officials at the state and local levels”. But the team will work with the league to consider several ideas for names, he said.
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As expected, the team will play in the Western Conference. As Bettman noted in remarking on the 115-degree temperature, “the prospects of Las Vegas hosting an outdoor game aren’t too favorable at the moment”.
