NHL expansion: Las Vegas ownership group reportedly chosen

The NHL has chosen an ownership group for a potential Las Vegas expansion team, according to a report.

The New York Post reported that billionaire businessman William Foley and the Maloof family, which once ran the Palms casino and formerly owned the NBA's Sacramento Kings, would get the team.

The NHL hasn't announced any expansion plans. The Post reported that there is no timetable in place, but that Las Vegas and another western U.S. cities are expected to get new franchises at an expansion fee of $400 million US each.

NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly admitted to The (Minneapolis) Star Tribune this week that he had met with a potential Las Vegas ownership group, which the Post reported was Foley and the Maloofs.

Daly also told The Star Tribune that if the NHL expands “it would have to take place in the West" because the league currently has 16 teams in its Eastern Conference and only 14 teams in the Western Conference.

Despite previous denials by Daly and NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, expansion talk has been swirling for months.

An August report by The Province, based in Vancouver, said an expansion team in Las Vegas was a "done deal." A separate report at the same time by Sports Business News said the league would add four expansion teams by 2017 — in Las Vegas, Seattle, Toronto and Quebec City.