The NHL is "ready to expand for the first time" since '00, and Commissioner Gary Bettman will "announce the Board of Governors’ decision" at a news conference scheduled for 1:00pm PT at the Encore hotel in Las Vegas, according to a front-page piece by Steve Carp of the LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL. Fidelity National Financial Chair Bill Foley is "prepared to pay" $500M to join the NHL with a Las Vegas-based franchise for the '17-18 season. A two-thirds vote is "required among the 30 owners to approve expansion." In addition to Las Vegas, Quebec City has "also applied for an expansion team." But it is "expected to have its bid put on hold after the league’s nine-member Executive Committee gave its approval on June 7 for Las Vegas only." Bettman will also discuss "other league matters," and NHL Network will televise it live. Meanwhile, since word of the Exec Committee's decision "leaked out last week, several hundred" season-ticket deposits have been placed, "pushing the total over 14,000." All 44 suites in T-Mobile Arena "have been sold out and the list of corporate sponsors who are ready to get on board with the team continues to grow." Foley confirmed there is a "long list of companies, both large and small, local and national, ready to throw their financial support behind the team" (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 6/22).
STRAIGHT BET: ESPN.com's Scott Burnside wrote he is "guessing that the vote will be announced as 'unanimous,'" but it is "worth watching given the contentious nature of the expansion debate." Burnside: "Some owners I've spoken with are quietly skeptical about whether the Las Vegas experiment will work" (ESPN.com, 6/17). In Las Vegas, Case Keefer notes there is optimism from some NHLers, with Blackhawks RW Patrick Kane saying, "Vegas will be a great venue. I'm sure they'll probably have a good home record, but at the same time, it will be fun for a lot of us to play somewhere different. I don't think you ever envisioned playing hockey in a place like this" (LAS VEGAS SUN, 6/22). The NATIONAL POST's Michael Traikos notes most players "seemed excited about adding a team to Sin City" (NATIONAL POST, 6/22).
GETTING CREATIVE: In Las Vegas, Ed Graney writes under the header, "Vegas NHL Team Will Need To Get Creative, Play Good Hockey To Keep Fans." One of the biggest challenges the team will face off the ice "as an expansion side that will need to produce a successful product on it, is building and maintaining interest for the long term." Graney: "People not only love a winner when deciding where to spend their discretionary income, but eventually demand one" (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 6/22). In Boston, Christopher Gasper writes he "can't get excited about the NHL expanding to Las Vegas" because it has "nothing to do with gambling or a surfeit of professional sports teams." Gasper: "I don't think Vegas can support a team that plays an 82-game season, stretching from October to April." The NHL seems to have "learned nothing from having two teams fail in Atlanta." Vegas is an "itinerant city where people arrive with their own sports allegiances and an inherent indifference to the local products" (BOSTON GLOBE, 6/22). Meanwhile, Foley said that he "still plans to build the team's headquarters and practice facility in the master-planned community in the western valley, but he hasn't finalized the site." In Las Vegas, Jamie Munks noted that marks a change from earlier this year, when "property on Far Hills Avenue just west of the 215 Beltway, in the city of Las Vegas, was identified as the future site of a two-rink practice facility" (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 6/21).
GET THIS PARTY STARTED: The REVIEW-JOURNAL's Carp wrote Foley with today's announcement has "been given the green light to throw a party." But Foley said that there is a "time and a place to hold a proper celebration and Wednesday is not the time." Foley "probably doesn't think it's right to have a party the day the other expansion applicant gets turned down." Instead, Foley will have a "small gathering of his 'Founding 75' group along with other local businessmen and politicians" tomorrow night at his Summerlin, Nev., office (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 6,21). Quebec radio host Jerome Landry said that the city is a "great 'plan B' for the NHL, meaning the league knows it can successfully move a struggling franchise to the provincial capital if a current team fails." Landry also said that Las Vegas "offers the NHL a higher-profile platform to market its product." Landry: "Quebec City is a sure shot like Winnipeg" (CP, 6/20).
HOME-ICE ADVANTAGE: Former Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman predicted that box seats and suites "will be a hot commodity" in the arena. Goodman said, "When their teams are playing against Las Vegas, people are going to come to town and want the best seat in the house." Triple-A PCL Las Vegas 51s President & COO Don Logan said, "Hockey, like baseball, is better in person than it is on TV. This will be a great destination for people following their teams." UNLV professor and Dir at Brookings Mountain West Robert Lang said, "We have a lot people that are here from all parts of the country. They're here in the winter. A lot are from the frozen north. You can get on a plane in Canada and not change planes before you arrive in Las Vegas" (AP, 6/18).
WILD CARD: MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said, "The (discussion) 'You can't go to Vegas because there's casinos there,' we passed that a long time ago right? ... I see Vegas as a viable alternative. I would not disqualify it just because of the gambling issue" (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 6/22). In N.Y., Damon Salvadore notes Manfred earlier this year "named two cities as strong possibilities for MLB expansion, however, neither of them was Las Vegas." Manfred had mentioned Mexico City and Montreal as "potential future destinations for an MLB team" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 6/22). YAHOO SPORTS' Mike Oz wrote baseball "isn't exactly the sport you'd think would cozy itself up to Vegas, but hey, Manfred has surprised us before with his ideas" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 6/21).
