A formal vote is set to be held during the league’s board of governors meeting on June 22 in Las Vegas but it requires two-thirds approval to pass, according to ESPN.
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If the vote passes, the NHL would be the first sports league to have a major professional team in Las Vegas.
A second person who had been briefed on the decision said Las Vegas was a “done deal” following the recommendation of the NHL’s executive committee. The earliest the new Vegas team can join is for the 2017-18 season, and the team is expected to begin play then.
But will the league’s 31st team be a success, meaning will it fill the T-Mobile Arena and become a top choice of locals and tourists looking for a pastime beyond casino floors?
It might be bad news for Quebec hockey fans, but it’s nothing but great news for those thousands of Winnipeggers who migrate to Las Vegas – often on multiple occasions – during the winter.
This has been in the works for a while now, though no one could actually believe that the National Hockey League would go ahead with adding just a single team (resulting in continued unbalanced divisions), and that it would be in Las Vegas, of all places. The fact that Vegas has a brand new arena – right out the sports book door at the Monte Carlo Casino – and an enthusiastic owner has placed Vegas at the front of the expansion line.
But Foley and the NHL have been working much longer to bring hockey to the city – with the enormous advantage of an NHL-ready building freshly opened in town.
The NHL has debated expansion for a few years, with Seattle and the Toronto suburbs also generating interest for another team.
Gary Bettman has spent his entire career as NHL commissioner devoted to the idea that he can increase the value of the league by expanding to areas where people traditionally don’t like hockey, and despite all signs that this was a awful idea, he’s doubling down on it with this move.
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The man behind the Vegas bid is businessman Bill Foley, whose Black Knight Sports and Entertainment company includes the Maloof family-the former owners of the Sacramento Kings-as partners.
