It took two years of lobbying and a $500 million expansion fee for billionaire businessman Bill Foley, the chairman of Fidelity National Financial, to get a team approved for Las Vegas.
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“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 said it secured more than 14,000 season-ticket deposits for the new team, which will play in T-Mobile Arena, the sparkling new multipurpose building on the south end of the Las Vegas Strip.
The expansion is the first for the NHL since 2000, when the Columbus Blue Jackets and Minnesota Wild entered the league.
Ownership of the Las Vegas franchise will principally reside with Bill Foley. The statement by the league called the location a “prime opportunity for future expansion”, but decided the a lack of geographical balance and the weak Canadian dollar were too big of hindrances at this time.
The league has considered the prospect of expansion for several years, with Quebec City, Toronto and Seattle among the other cities to have shown interest in hosting a team.
“I’m kind of curious how it goes”, Capitals General Manager Brian MacLellan said on Tuesday afternoon.
Earlier this month, the NHL’s executive committee gave its approval to Foley’s bid, leaving only a vote from the NHL’s full board of governors to approve the expansion plans, which took place Wednesday.
Players with potentially career-ending injuries or who missed more than 60 consecutive games for their clubs can not be used by teams to satisfy the quota of exposed players. Foley is said to be fond of “Black Knights”, but there’s a problem there, as every Monty Python fan knows.
Reactions from public officials and reactions on social media to announcement about hockey team in Las Vegas.
For teams already in the league, they will have to submit a protected players list that Las Vegas won’t be able to draft from.
Las Vegas will play in the Pacific Division with the Coyotes, bringing that division’s total to eight teams, just like both Eastern Conference teams.
“We want everyone to be a fan”, said Foley, who fell in love with pond hockey while growing up in Canada.
“Las Vegas seems to have a lot of things going for (it), from the brand new arena to not having any major league sports there to an appetite to strongly acquire a major league sport….”
Unfortunately the state and volatility of the Canadian dollar undermined the achievement of that objective relative to the Quebec City.
Located in the Mojave Desert, Las Vegas has has grown as a hockey town.
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“Let’s say the number for defensemen was three”, said Poile, who presided over an expansion draft in 1998. Along with a top-six pick in next years draft, the Vegas franchise will be stocked by a June 2017 expansion draft that will be more favorable than previous drafts, theoretically allowing Foleys team to become competitive more quickly. That company, which established its offices in Las Vegas, has not yet made any acquisitions.
