The city of sin would be close to being the center of attention of the NHL in 2024. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has announced that the league is working on the city of Las Vegas hosting the next NHL draft 2024 on June 28 and 29.
On this occasion the chosen venue would be the Las Vegas Sphere stadium, a stadium shaped like a giant sphere, which has a capacity of 18,600 people, with the main particularity that the entire sphere is a screen where all kinds of images are projected, both inside and outside, with 16K quality and also has a great audio technology.
On that, Bettman confirmed that they were working on the draft being held in Las Vegas and more specifically at the Sphere: "It will be the first sporting event at the Sphere and I think it will be a very well regarded event both in terms of the draft and the viral use of the venue. So we think it will be fun and compelling." For his part, Vegas Golden Knights President of Operations George McPheewas happy to have the draft in Las Vegas, as well as praising the Sphere, "We are thrilled to be able to host the draft at the Sphere. Anyone you talk to will say it (the Sphere) is out of this world. It's just a fascinating and incredible opportunity to create a historic moment in the sport."
Last draft with 32 representatives
Bettman himself already previewed the possibility, last November 2022, that the draft could be decentralized in the future. Elliotte Friedman, expert of "Sportsnet NHL", revealed in his column "32 Thoughts" that NHL teams had officially voted to decentralize the NHL draft . Of the 32 NHL teams that cast their votes on October 24, 30 of them voted in favor of the change.
In all likelihood the most determining factor for this change was the timing of the draft, as free agency begins on July 1 and the draft takes place just a few days earlier. That makes for a very intense and busy week that does not lend itself to the strategic planning necessary to get everything right.
That is why the new format would almost certainly come into effect as of the 2025draft , so this next draft could be the last one with all 32 team representatives in physical form, resembling the NBA and NFL's . Thus, the new format would be with most team management remaining in their home markets, so they could access their personnel in real time and send their selections through meeting rooms, while the players would attend the physicaldraft along with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, who would announce each team' s selection. For their part, each of the franchises would be able to hold fan events in each of their cities.