The NHL expanding into Vegas is a topic that’s been discussed for quite some time, but up until now there haven’t been any reports indicating when the league would hold a formal vote over whether the city will be rewarded with a franchise. A new report from the Las Vegas Review-Journal indicates that September may be the month in which the NHL holds a final vote on Vegas.
The National Hockey League Board of Governors could vote on a Las Vegas franchise bid in September for a 2017-18 season start, the MGM International executive overseeing arena operations and the company’s new Strip arena said Friday.
At a media tour of the arena project, Mark Prows, MGM’s senior vice president of arenas, said the board will “socialize” with Bill Foley’s franchise team during its June meeting in Las Vegas, and could hold a formal vote on Foley’s expansion team proposal when it next meets, in September.
However, deputy commissioner Bill Daly spoke with Pro Hockey Talk and said the September report was “extremely premature.” Daly was quick to dismiss the story, but how often have we seen the league brush away a story on expansion only to later do exactly as the report predicted?
If the report above is to be believed, the league would hold a vote just before the 2015-16 season begins with the hope of having the new Vegas team compete beginning a couple years later in 2017-18. A lot of work has already been completed on a potential Vegas team (uniform colors? Check), so that time frame is definitely doable.
