Vegas, Baby: National Hockey League Will Expand To Sin City

The National Hockey League (NHL) confirmed on Wednesday that it has granted an expansion franchise to the city of Las Vegas for the 2017–18 season.

The team is owned by billionaire businessman Bill Foley.

The NHL's Board of Governors unanimously approved the expansion, marking the first time a new team has been added since the Columbus Blue Jackets and Minnesota Wild entered the league in the 2000–01 season.

Las Vegas was selected over Quebec City, despite the city's already existing hockey stadium that is more than adequate to host a professional hockey team and a passionate city that saw their NHL team, the Quebec Nordiques, move to Colorado in 1995 and subsequently win the Stanley Cup in its first year and then again in the 2000–01 season.

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The NHL's decision to add a team in Sin City rather than Quebec's capital city was based on a geographic imbalance within the conferences, the difficulty of bringing in two new teams at the same time and the struggling Canadian dollar, which is trading at around 80 cents on the U.S. dollar after trading at par just a few short years ago.

The yet-to-be-named Las Vegas team will play at the newly built T-Mobile Arena, which can hold 17,368 fans. The team has already received more than 14,000 deposits for season tickets, and its luxury seats are already sold out.

The Las Vegas team will form its roster by selecting one player from each of the other 30 teams. Each team will be able to protect seven forwards, three defensemen and one goalie.