The NHL is making a big bet on Las Vegas.
The league will expand to Las Vegas for the 2017-18 season after awarding 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 unanimously voted to put an ice hockey team in the Mojave Desert's gambling mecca.
"We think this is a tremendously exciting opportunity, not just for Las Vegas, but for the league as well," Bettman said, calling Las Vegas "a vibrant, growing, global destination city."
Foley will 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.