Poker's Daniel Negreanu working to bring NHL to Vegas

Back in October, we reported that billionaire William Foley is looking to bring an NHL team to Las Vegas. Foley’s goal hasn’t cooled off any since then, and now, he’ll have more from famed poker player Daniel Negreanu.

Negreanu tweeted the following yesterday about his meeting with the billionaire, “Very excited about tonight, meeting with the new ownership group looking to bring an NHL team to Las Vegas. This is happening friends!”

A native of Toronto, Negreanu is a big fan of the Maple Leafs and hockey in general. And seeing as how he’s been living in Vegas for years, he definitely knows a thing or two about Sin City. Given his knowledge of Vegas and clout as poker’s biggest all-time money winner, Negreanu makes for a good spokesman here. But as SportsNet.ca notes, it’s “uncertain what capacity, if any, the Toronto native would serve with the team.”

Aside from having Negreanu’s , another big name that will be ing Foley’s side is hockey great Wayne Gretzky. Often considered the best hockey player ever, Gretzky will be working with Foley in an “unofficial” capacity while introducing him to business partners.

It appears that the NHL is at least open to the idea of adding a team in a city where legal sportsbooks are the norm. They’ve already given Foley permission to host a season-ticket drive to measure the interest of Vegas-area hockey fans. Assuming he’s successful, it will move Foley one step closer to putting a hockey team in American’s gambling capital. But will this work as a long-term arrangement?

This is the big question that SportsNet had for Foley in an interview. “Las Vegas is a big town now, 2.2 million people,” the businessman said. “And it’s not just a tourist town and casino town. It’s a town that has lots of different businesses there, it’s a real community. Schools, churches, sports – it’s an avid sports town. The Wranglers (hockey) have done well in Las Vegas without really having a decent venue. We are very confident that Las Vegas is ready for hockey.”

Foley concluded his reasoning for why NHL hockey will work in Vegas by saying that the city is in the top 10 as far as disposable income goes. He’ll get his chance to prove that Sin City is ready for hockey in the coming months as his group finds out how interested the town is in season tickets.