LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — The NHL made it official on Tuesday, bringing the 2024 NHL Draft to Sphere in Las Vegas on June 28-29.
The NHL Board of Governors vote was first reported by TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger.
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said Tuesday there are still contracts that need to be signed, but the NHL is in a good place to get it done, according to NHL.com.
“I think it’ll be a pretty well viewed event, both in terms of the draft itself and the viral use of The Sphere inside and outside using the globe. So we think it’ll be fun. We think it’ll be dramatic and compelling,” Bettman said after the league’s Board of Governors wrapped up two days of meetings in Seattle.
Speculation that the draft would be at Sphere has been out there, but the pricetag — in the “tens of millions of dollars,” according to Dreger — introduced uncertainty.
Sphere opened Sept. 29, 2023, and the NHL will be the first of the major sports to hold its draft there. In a sense, the league is splurging before the event is decentralized after the 2024 draft — a move to save travel and lodging costs.
The league said the salary cap will go up to $87.7 million for the 2024-25 season. Plans are moving forward with the idea of a mini-international tournament in February 2025 featuring four countries as a lead-in to the 2026 Olympics.
The recent F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix showcased Sphere, and the 2022 NFL Draft in Las Vegas put attention on using the Strip as a backdrop for major events like this. Super Bowl LVIII is at Allegiant Stadium on Feb. 11, 2024.
Sphere is on the east side of the Las Vegas Strip — just a couple miles from T-Mobile Arena on the west side, where the Vegas Golden Knights won the Stanley Cup in June. The Knights accomplished the feat on cue after owner Bill Foley’s prediction of winning the cup in the franchise’s sixth year.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.