Las Vegas moves on to third stage of NHL expansion process

On Saturday, the ownership group working to bring an NHL team to Las Vegas announced the prospective franchise has advanced to the third stage of the expansion process.

NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that moving ahead "only means that (the group) ha(s) satisfied requirements of this phase and get to progress to more comprehensive due diligence and additional submission requirements."

A person familiar with the process told the AP that in this stage, the NHL would be reviewing the company's business plan and revenue projections. If approved, the league would be in a position to award an expansion franchise as early as next month. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because the NHL has not provided details of the process.

If final approval were to happen for a Las Vegas-based team, the newly formed club would potentially start playing at the new $375 million MGM Resorts International-AEG arena by the 2017-18 season.

Earlier in the week, Quebecor also announced its bid to bring a team to Quebec City was now in the third stage of the process as well.

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