Bill Foley, the businessman trying to bring an NHL team to Las Vegas, answers questions for fans Wednesday, May 27, 2015, at Sunset Station.
Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2015 | noon
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Las Vegas is still firmly on the short list to land an expansion National Hockey League franchise.
Bill Foley, the would-be majority owner for the team hopeful to debut during the 2017-18 season, announced today the Las Vegas bid to secure a franchise will move to the next application phase with the NHL.
“In this phase, we will be providing the League with additional information, including information about the Las Vegas market and the MGM AEG Arena being developed between Monte Carlo and New York New York,” Foley messaged fans at vegaswantshockey.com. “We will also be permitted access to information provided by the League that it deems important to us. We are hopeful that at the conclusion of this phase, the League will invite us to participate in Phase III.”
Quebec City, the only other city to apply for an expansion team, was also moved into Phase II by the league, according to TSN. It’s not certain how many teams the 30-franchise league plans to add.
Foley and the Maloof brothers, his minority partners and former owners of the Sacramento Kings and the Palms, would pay the estimated $500 million in expansion fees to bring Las Vegas its first major professional franchise.
The state of the art, $375 million arena, privately funded by the MGM and AEG, is expected to be completed by spring of 2016. It will be equipped to host hockey as a major tenant.
In other Las Vegas hockey news, poker pro Daniel Negreanu is interested in being part of the ownership group, according to Pro Hockey Talk. The Toronto native, who has lived in Las Vegas for nearly two decades, attended a ticket deposit sale kickoff event at the MGM in February.
During the ticket drive, deposit money for 13,000 seats were secured to show the area had the support to host a team.
“Vegas has 2.2 million people. It’s a sports town,” he told Pro Hockey Talk. “We’ve been starving for a professional franchise of any kind for many years.”
A final decision on Foley's group securing a team for Las Vegas won't come until the fall, at the earliest.
Ray Brewer can be reached at 702-990-2662 or [email protected]. Follow Ray on Twitter at twitter.com/raybrewer21
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