While all is quiet on the expansion front, the brand new $375-million arena on the Las Vegas Strip is set for some National Hockey League pre-season action.
The Los Angeles Kings will host its annual “Frozen Fury” exhibition series in the 20,000-seat T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas in October. The Kings will play the Dallas Stars on Oct. 7 and the Colorado Avalanche on Oct. 8.
“We’re thrilled to incorporate this trip to Las Vegas into our preseason schedule,” Stars President, CEO and alternate governor Jim Lites said in a release. “The new T-Mobile Arena is a beautiful facility and we’re proud to take part in one of the first sporting events there.”
Bill Foley, the billionaire at the centre of the prospective Las Vegas NHL ownership group, has kept quiet while waiting for the league to take the next step in the expansion process.
“I don’t ask a lot of questions,” Foley said in February. “I understand they want to get it right. And I don’t blame them. This is a huge decision that is going to affect the NHL for years to come. But I’m not a patient guy by nature. However, I’ve learned to be patient. At least for this project.
“I don’t want to upset the other owners because I want to be one of them one of these days, so I try to keep my mouth shut.”
T-Mobile Arena will open next week amid an uncertain future with the NHL. Senior vice-president of entertainment for MGM Resorts International Rick Arpin says that hasn’t slowed his group’s vision to get the state-of-the-art arena opened.
“We’re ready for an NHL team,” said Arpin. “But our primary motivation was not for a pro sports team. We built this building to get events we couldn’t do otherwise, and pro sports certainly fits in that.”
Foley’s Las Vegas group and an effort led by Quebecor out of Quebec City were the only expansion bids submitted to the league in the summer of 2015.
The Montreal Canadiens and Pittsburgh Penguins met in a pre-season game at the Videotron Centre in Quebec City last September.
Potential expansion draft plans were discussed at the NHL’s GM meetings in Boca Raton, Fla., last month. A decision for potential expansion to start the 2017-18 season is expected by the NHL Draft in June.
