NHL Franchise to Las Vegas: Latest Buzz, Speculation Surrounding Potential Team

Las Vegas might soon be home to a sports franchise in one of the country's most notable sports. Thanks to a push from 70-year-old billionaire William Foley, Sin City looks like a potential candidate for a future NHL franchise.

Continue for updates. 

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MGM Exec Claims NHL Will Vote on Vegas in September

Friday, May 1

Alan Snell of the Las Vegas Journal-Review reported comments from MGM International senior vice president of arenas Mark Prows regarding a potential expansion vote: 

"

During 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 will hold a formal vote on Foley’s expansion team proposal when it next meets, in September. 

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Bettman Updates Potential Las Vegas Expansion

Tuesday, April 21

The Canadian Press, via CBC.ca, passed along comments from NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman on the potential of an NHL franchise in Las Vegas:

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Bettman still isn't committing to doing anything about Las Vegas. Hockey Vision Las Vegas recently moved on from just seeking individual season-ticket deposits to looking for corporate support.

"What I'm hearing is that the season-ticket drive has gone and is going extraordinarily well," Bettman said. "When we get to the [board of governors] meeting in June I will report to the board as to where things stand based on the expressions of interest and we'll figure out then what, if anything, we want to do."

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Prospective Owner Comments on Progress

Monday, March 30

Scott Burnside of ESPN.com provided the latest update on Las Vegas' ticket drive, as well as the thoughts of potential franchise owner Foley:

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Although Foley would not discuss numbers with ESPN.com, several sources said the trial season ticket drive that had been green-lighted by the NHL late last year and began in early February had exceeded its original target of 10,000.

"We've done really, really well," Foley said.

(...)

One source familiar with the marketplace told ESPN.com Monday there are many individuals and business operators that are also interested in buying tickets, but that are waiting for a sign from the NHL that they are serious about having a team in Las Vegas before they step forward to make financial commitments that would drive that number even higher. The league and Foley's group have been in regular contact as the process has unfolded, but the league has never officially indicated they are planning to expand from their current 30-team roster.

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Announcement Expected Soon After Successful Ticket Drive

Friday, March 27

When prospective NHL owner William Foley was asked if his group is moving closer to expansion to Las Vegas, he said, "There will be a formal announcement soon," per TSN's Darren Dreger. "We're really pleased with how it's going," Foley told TSN. "Now we want to expand our base to ensure the support we have is as widespread as possible."

"The announcement Foley speaks of is believed to be on the success of a season ticket drive which opened in February and was designed to test the local market as well as the corporate sector to establish the long-term viability of the National Hockey League in what has traditionally been a non-hockey market," Dreger noted. 

"The final push is on with the NHL season-ticket drive in Las Vegas. Organizers are less than 1,000 deposits shy of stated 10,000 goal," Chris Johnston of Sportsnet reported on March 22. On March 16, Newsday's Steve Zipay reported that the "Group seeking NHL team has more than 9,000 deposits for season tickets."

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Bettman, Daley, Foley Discuss Vegas Move Progress

Thursday, March 5

Pierre LeBrun of ESPN reported Bettman's comments on the league's progress in getting a team to Las Vegas: 

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The NHL hasn’t given the Las Vegas ticket drive a deadline nor is it ready to make any conclusions just yet on the merits of it.
As for the next step in the process?

"We're not there yet," commissioner Gary Bettman told ESPN.com Wednesday. "The ticket drive continues, and when they conclude that, [when] they're done, then we'll have a discussion and see where things stand. But no decisions have been made. And until the drive concludes, I'm not sure anybody can make any judgments. And when I say judgments, I mean the viability of Las Vegas supporting a major league team."

The ticket drive had procured around 7,000 deposits by Feb. 24. Foley said recently to ESPN.com's Scott Burnside that he was still optimistic that they'd hit the 10,000 mark by the end of March, and that they were still tapping into the local business community and specifically the legal and development community, reaching out to people who had expressed interest before the drive formally began.

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Deputy commissioner Bill Daly added, via Johnston:

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The numbers that are coming out are ... within very strict parameters. When they designed their ticket drive, they did it with our input and basically we told them what we'd like to see is how many local, non-corporate fans they can get to put up real money without a promise of having a NHL team.

I think there has been a surge of enthusiastic support for the effort. They may have sold some big blocks that the parameters don't really give them credit for. The thing that we're most interested in, in terms of the whole ticket drive, is your average person who works and lives in Vegas. Are they willing to support a hockey team? Are they enthusiastic about doing it? Are they enthusiastic enough to part with real money with no commitment on a team?

When you think about it, that's a pretty tall order.

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Prospective owner Bill Foley also shared his thoughts:

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We're very confident we're going to get there. We just want to keep this momentum we have going, keep on getting these deposits and get to 10,000. Then once we get 10,000, get to 10,500 or 11,000 -- really demonstrate to the league that Las Vegas is a hockey city and it's ready for NHL hockey here hopefully in the '16 season. 

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NHL More Than Halfway to Goal Two Days into Ticket Drive

Thursday, Feb. 12

Alan Snel of the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that the league is making great progress towards their goal on their season ticket drive in Vegas:

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The ownership group of a prospective NHL franchise in Las Vegas that launched the ticket drive on Tuesday has exploded out of the box by receiving 5,000 deposits in the first day and a half.

Lead investor Bill Foley, partnering with the Maloof brothers of Las Vegas, was thrilled with the hot start because it’s already half of the 10,000 ticket commitment goal set by the Foley-Maloof team.

“All the seats in all the sections are selling really well. They’re pretty even distributed,” Foley said in a prepared statement.

“We’re off to a good start. We hope to see the Las Vegas community rally around this great cause and continue to buy deposits.”

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On Feb. 11, Johnston reported that Floyd Mayweather and Dana White were among those interested in purchasing season tickets for the franchise. 

Johnston previously reported on Feb. 5 fans looking to secure season tickets for the potential NHL franchise in Las Vegas will be asked to place a deposit as the team looks to secure 10,000 season ticket holders:

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Fans looking to secure season tickets for the potential NHL franchise in Las Vegas will be asked to lay down deposits ranging from $150 to $900, Sportsnet has learned.

The ticket drive is scheduled to get underway on Tuesday and will go a long way to determining whether the city is awarded a team.

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Vegas Wants Hockey Ad Airs During Super Bowl XLIX

Monday, Feb. 2

During NBC's historic, record-setting presentation of Super Bowl XLIX, a Vegas Wants Hockey commercial aired promoting the potential move, which you can see below:

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NHL Expansion Fee for Las Vegas Could Reach $500 Million

Wednesday, Jan. 21

TSN's Rick Westhead reported the expansion fee could total half of a billion dollars:

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It’s going to be between $450 million and $500 million. I bet it comes in at about $475 million,” one owner told TSN, requesting anonymity because the league does not like owners to speak publicly about such issues.

A second NHL owner subsequently agreed with the prediction.

[...]

The last teams to pay expansion fees, the Columbus Blue Jackets and Minnesota Wild, paid the league $80 million apiece.

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Foley's Target Number of Season Tickets is 10k

Saturday, Jan. 17

Snel provided Foley's comments on ticket sales:

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If we sell the 10,000 tickets, we’ll be amazed if we don’t get a franchise,” Foley said while driving to New York-New York to check out a mock-up of a suite that will be in the $375 million arena being built by MGM Resorts and Anschutz Entertainment Group behind New York-New York and next to Monte Carlo. “It would be a shock.

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Foley Eyes NHL Expansion to Las Vegas 

Wednesday, Dec. 24 

On Christmas Eve, Foley sent out an email release to potential fans of the franchise, per Mike Halford of NBC Sports:

"

Happy Holidays from Hockey Vision Las Vegas

Thank you so much for your interest in learning more about bringing a professional sports team to Las Vegas!

Las Vegas is a hockey city, and we believe THE TIME IS NOW to make it happen! Our goal is to show the NHL that we ARE a hockey city. You are key to achieving that goal!

Early next year, we plan to begin a ticket drive during which we will collect deposits for season tickets for the 2016-2017 season. We will provide more details as they are available. Please watch your email for more information about how WE can BE a hockey city!

Also, help spread the word – if you have friends, family or colleagues interested in joining our team, please have them sign up at http://www.LasVegas-Hockey.com.

We hope you have a very wonderful and safe holiday season and we look forward to connecting in the new year!

Bill Foley
Hockey Vision Las Vegas, LLC
http://www.LasVegas-Hockey.com

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As Foley mentions, the prospective group has already created an entire website to get the idea off the ground. Those who want to stay in the know about the aspiring franchise can sign up for future emails and notifications on the web page.

The ticket drive by Foley is yet another push to prove that the city is ready to house the NHL franchise. Bettman previously approved a ticket drive for the Las Vegas group. Pierre LeBrun of ESPN and Nick Cotsonika of Yahoo Sports passed along information from Bettman:

Some issues potentially holding back the move might be both gambling inside the city and the current facilities. A new arena is in the works with the AEG/MGM Arena, which broke ground earlier this year, potentially ready to host the team.

With the seriousness shown by Foley—and his deep pockets—the push appears to have a real chance of coming to fruition.

Any hopes of getting the franchise to Las Vegas seem to be building, but nothing is secured at this point; however, despite Foley's best efforts, at this stage, there appears to be no certain Christmas miracle for the aspiring group.

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