Flyers fans with a sense of adventure can now add yet another city to travel to for a road game, as the NHL announced Wednesday that it will expand its 31st club to Las Vegas.
The league's Board of Governors voted unanimously to add the new Las Vegas club, which will now have to pay a whopping $500 million expansion fee — to be divided among the league's 30 clubs. As a result, each team will net approximately $16,666,666.
So far, approximately 13,200 season ticket deposits have been placed for the new team, which will begin play in the 2017-18 season. They will play at the 20,000-seat T-Mobile Arena on the Las Vegas Strip, which just opened in April.
Las Vegas has never played host to a major-league franchise, but does have a history of hockey in the area. The ECHL's Las Vegas Wranglers previously operated from 2003 until 2014.
The new franchise also represents the NHL's first expansion attempt since 2000, when the Columbus Blue Jackets and Minnesota Wild joined the league. They will also be the fifth team added to the league since 1998, and will compete in the Pacific Division — leaving the current playoff format unaltered.
Rob Riches is a contributor to Flyerdelphia and Sports Talk Philly. Follow him on Twitter @Riches61
