Bettman: NHL could take first step toward expanding to Las Vegas at June meeting

Bettman cautious on expansion, las vegas prospects

If his owners are interested, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman is prepared to recommend that the league start the process to expand to Las Vegas.

Speaking before Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals on Wednesday in Tampa, Fla., Bettman said he is aware of businessman Bill Foley’s attempt to show that the city is ready to embrace the NHL. The league’s Board of Governors will meet June 24 at the MGM Grand, the same day as the league’s awards show at the hotel-casino.

“If, after our discussion in June where I’m going to report where all the expressions of interest stand, including what Las Vegas has been able to accomplish with the ticket drive, if the board has any interest in pursuing it, my recommendation would be then to open a formal expansion process,” Bettman said.

“And even if they green-light a formal expansion process, it doesn’t mean we’re going to expand. It means we’ll go through the steps of looking through things, and if the conclusion at the end of the process could be very well no expansion. So it would just be a question of possibly looking at the expressions of interest and looking at them a little more seriously than we have.”

Foley, the lead investor for the Las Vegas group, has said he has sold more than 11,500 season-ticket deposits since launching the drive in mid-February. The group recently expanded the drive to include partial season tickets. Bettman said he has no reason to doubt the figures.

“It’s his process,” Bettman said. “He was the one testing the marketplace, and if he decided he wanted to announce a count or what level of success he has achieved to this point, that’s up to him.

“I will report that to the Board of Governors at the meeting in June. It looks like his drive has had some degree of success, to say the least.”

While Bettman talked cautiously about Las Vegas, he remained steadfast that two struggling franchises — the Arizona Coyotes and Florida Panthers — are not headed for relocation anytime soon.

STEVE CARP/LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL