Bill Foley thinks an NBA team could succeed in Jacksonville one day, and the city may also be able to support an NHL team.
However, right now, the chairman of Jacksonville-based Fidelity National Financial Inc. has his sights set on getting an NHL franchise for Las Vegas.
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman this week gave Foley approval to launch a season ticket drive to see what kind of support there is for a team in Las Vegas.
“It was kind of an idea that the commissioner and I batted around,” Foley said in a telephone interview Thursday.
Foley said he lived in Canada for a time during his childhood and played hockey, but he never considered the idea of owning a team until he was contacted by the Maloof family, former owner of the NBA’s Sacramento Kings.
“The Maloof family came to me with the idea that hockey would work in Las Vegas,” he said.
Las Vegas is known as a gambling and resort destination, but it’s a growing market with 2.2 million permanent residents, Foley said.
“They have a lot of other businesses now,” he said. “When people get into it, they see there’s a lot more here than a lot of casinos.”
One impetus for bringing a hockey franchise to the city is a $375 million arena under construction near the Las Vegas strip that could seat 18,000 fans for hockey. The arena, privately financed by AEG and MGM Resorts International, is scheduled to open in 2016.
“It’s going to be really beautiful,” Foley said.
Foley’s interest has sparked speculation in hockey circles about where the Las Vegas team would come from, whether it would be an expansion team or if an existing team might be looking to relocate.
“The idea is it would be an expansion team,” said Foley.
When Bettman announced his go-ahead for Foley’s season-ticket drive, he also stressed that the league has no current plans to expand, according to The Associated Press. The news service said other cities are interested in pursuing an NHL expansion team, including Seattle and Quebec City.
Las Vegas’ growth has been enticing for other sports leagues, but concerns about legalized betting on sports in the city has made officials wary of locating a team there.
Foley said there would likely be some limitations put on betting on a local hockey team, but he thinks sports leagues shouldn’t consider gambling to be an obstacle to putting teams in Las Vegas.
“It’s kind of putting your head in the sand,” he said.
Foley has a home in California, where he began growing Fidelity into a Fortune 500 company three decades ago, and a ranch in Montana.
However, he moved to Jacksonville in 2003 when Fidelity moved its headquarters from Santa Barbara, Calif. He said he spends about 25 percent of his time in Jacksonville but he does consider it to be his official residence.
Mayor Alvin Brown has talked about getting an NBA franchise for Jacksonville, and Foley does not think that’s far-fetched. Jacksonville may not be big enough to support a team now, but Foley said it could happen a few years down the road.
“I think NBA basketball would definitely work in Jacksonville,” he said.
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