The NHL announced that the 2024 Draft will be coming to the MSG Sphere in Las Vegas on June 28-29.
The 2024 NHL Draft will be the last time that the league will be held in its current format. It will also be the first time that a major sporting event will be hosted at the MSG Sphere in Las Vegas.
The NHL will be the first sports league to make use of the Sphere’s 580,000 square foot LED lighting and auditorium, which seats a maximum of 18,600 fans.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said at the Board of Governors meeting in Seattle that plans are being finalized for the 2024 NHL Draft to come to Las Vegas’ newest attraction. The $2.3 billion MSG Sphere opened in September and took five years to construct after ground was broken on Sands Avenue.
“It will the first sporting event in the Sphere and 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,” Bettman said. “We think it’ll be fun. We think it’ll be dramatic and compelling.”
This will be the last NHL Draft that will feature representatives from all 32 teams on the draft floor. Beginning in 2025, the NHL will move to a decentralized model, allowing most teams to stay in their home markets to hold team events and have access to their personnel in real time.
The NHL just announced that 2024 NHL draft will be held at the MSG Sphere in Las Vegas 🔥 pic.twitter.com/RfoataPaVu
— Joe Pompliano (@JoePompliano) December 5, 2023
Golden Knights Have Been At The Center Of The NHL’s Biggest Events
Golden Knights owner Bill Foley has been in talks with the league office over the past year. Foley has been adamant about hosting the entry draft in Las Vegas and said in June that the Golden Knights “had some good feedback” at the time.
The MSG Sphere sits less than three miles from T-Mobile Arena, the home of the Golden Knights, on the Las Vegas Strip.
Vegas has been the home of several high-profile events in the NHL over the past few years.
The Golden Knights hosted the NHL All-Star Game in 2022, along with the Stanley Cup Finals in 2018 and 2023. Las Vegas will also be participating in its first-ever Winter Classic on Jan. 1 at T-Mobile Park in Seattle against the Kraken.
Las Vegas Turning Into Sports Hub
In addition to the NHL, other top sports leagues have also made Vegas a hub for high-profile events. Formula 1 recently hosted the Las Vegas Grand Prix on Nov. 18. The city will also be home to the NBA Cup, beginning later this week, followed by Super Bowl LVIII at Allegiant Stadium on Feb. 11.
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