from Steve Carp of the Las Vegas Review-Journal,

The biggest hurdle in Las Vegas’ attempt to have a professional major league sports team has been cleared.

The Associated Press reported Tuesday that the NHL’s executive committee has recommended the league expand to Las Vegas when the Board of Governors meets at Encore next Wednesday. A two-thirds vote from the 30 teams is required for approval which would be the final hurdle in the long process that began back in late 2014 when billionaire businessman Bill Foley made it public he was interested in bringing the NHL to Las Vegas.

The AP cited a source with direct knowledge of the situation an who spoke on the condition of anonymity. A second source with knowledge of the situation said that Las Vegas was “A done deal.”

Foley would pay $500 million to become the NHL’s 31st team. The Las Vegas team would begin play in 2017-18 at T-Mobile Arena. More than 14,000 deposits have been put down on season tickets since Foley launched a sales drive in February 2015.

Foley could not be reached for immediate comment.

a bit more

added 2:09pm, via Elliotte Friedman of Sporstnet,