NHL Commissioner to attend vegas ticket launch press conference

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has been nothing if not consistent. He has maintained from the beginning that the league isn't considering expansion, but continues to listen to "expressions of interest" from potential investors in hockey-hungry communities.

To hear him talk, the idea of expanding bores him to tears, but he doesn't want to be impolite when cities come a-callin'. He simply listens to what they have to say in a bemused, nonchalant manner.

In that spirit, he's flying to Las Vegas next Tuesday to attend a press conference about potential expansion.

According to the Las Vegas Review Journal, the event will mark the beginning of a season ticket drive, which Bettman authorized, to gauge interest in that city.

The Foley-Maloof group confirmed Friday morning that Bettman is scheduled to attend the press conference to launch the ticket drive.

In December, Bettman gave the Foley group the green light to pursue the ticket deposit campaign. While the league has not officially approved Las Vegas as a new market, Foley said he would be "shocked" if fans plunk down 10,000 deposits and Las Vegas doesn't get a team.

I'm sure the commissioner will casually field expressions of interest from reporters about how Sin City might fit into his league, just like he casually mentioned last week that there are multiple investment groups looking to bring a team to Bellevue or Tukwila.

Who knows? Maybe he'll show up at a press conference in the Seattle area some day. He might even dress business-casual.