LAS VEGAS (AP) – The NHL is making a big bet on Las Vegas. The league will expand to Las Vegas for the 2017-18 season. It awarded its 31st franchise to billionaire businessman Bill Foley on Wednesday. Commissioner Gary Bettman announced the decision after the league’s board of governors met on a 109-degree day and voted to put an ice hockey team in the Mojave Desert’s gambling mecca. Foley is expected to pay $500 million to the NHL’s other owners as an expansion fee. The new team will play in T-Mobile Arena, the $375 million building that opened just off the Las Vegas Strip in April. The NHL is expanding for the first time since 2000, when Minnesota and Columbus each paid $80 million to join the league.
