The NHL has "chosen the team" of Fidelity National Financial Chair William Foley and the Maloof family, which previously owned the NBA Kings, as the "owners of a Las Vegas expansion team," according to Kosman & Brooks of the N.Y. POST. The league has "not determined a timetable for expansion, but two western U.S. cities are expected to be selected for new franchises." A source said that the Las Vegas franchise's fee "will be about" $400M. A source said that the NHL is "not expected to decide on expansion" until it settles on a second city (N.Y. POST, 11/12). THE HOCKEY NEWS' Ken Campbell noted "nobody knows exactly where the NHL is when it comes to Las Vegas as a landing spot, but it’s clear the league is further down the road there than it is with any other potential cities." A source said that the NHL BOG "secretly and very quietly at its last meeting approved Foley and Maloof as owners of a Las Vegas expansion franchise that will begin play" in '17-18. But NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly in an e-mail, "There was virtually no discussion about Las Vegas (or expansion for that matter) at the last Board meeting. Far from a ‘done deal.’ Still have to deal with the foundational question of whether we want to expand at all and if so how do we want to do it" (THEHOCKEYNEWS.com, 11/11). Daly over the weekend visited Las Vegas, and wrote of the purpose of his trip, "It was to attend a Sports Lawyers Association Board of Directors meeting. The trip was not 'expansion related' at all. But since I was there, I took the opportunity to review progress on the arena. It was nothing more than that" (ESPN.com, 11/11).
