Though the group that hopes to bring an NHL franchise to Las Vegas has not yet officially announced that it has reached its goal of 10,000 commitments to buy season tickets, optimism is growing that the city will earn its first major league franchise. Speaking at the IMG World Congre s of Sports in Los Angeles, NHL deputy commi sioner Bill Daly added some substance to that optimism.More from (via ):"The response in Las Vegas has been very impre sive and certainly suggests that there is an ability to support a profe sional sports franchise and particularly an NHL franchise at this point in time," Daly said while speaking on a panel with other sports busine s insiders. "We have a Board of Governors meeting coming up in June. We'll obviously report on the results of the Las Vegas ticket drive and we'll have a discu sion with our ownership as to whether they want to entertain the concept of expansion; they haven't made that decision yet. And if they want to entertain the concept of expansion, how they want to do it."I Valente Bellozo Jersey don't expect any re-location in our league. We went through a period a couple of years ago in and around the work stoppage where we had some situations, which were unstable in our league. Quite frankly, with new ownership we've been able to generate in the National Hockey League, we've never been more stable, certainly in my 18 years at the league, but probably in its history. We're really comfortable with where we are from a franchise standpoint, so if expansion comes, I think it would come in the form of expansion."Las Vegas has the arena, a 20,000-seat facility that will be completed in time for the 2016-17 season. They have committed owners in the form of Las Vegas Hockey vision led by Bill Foley and the Maloof family. What they are starting to prove is that theres enough interest from local residents for this venture.Calgary Flames president Brian Burke was also on hand at the Congre s and expre sed some hesitance in believing Vegas would work, citing the fact that there's a reason no major profe sional sports league has dropped a franchise there yet. He did praise the ticket drive route as the "sensible approach" to test-driving the market according to ThePostgame.com. The last public acknowledgement of the sales so far as part of the ticket drive that began in February, was that the campaign exceeded 9,000 commitments as of March 15. , the Foley-led group has expanded its ticket drive to include local busine ses including casinos.The NHL wanted to see how the ticket drive would fare without corporations buying up blocks to see if the public at large would be committed enough to put deposits down for a team that does not yet exist. That the group is starting to sell the corporate blocks now suggests that they either met or nearly met the 10,000 ticket commitment goal with the general public first.Things are moving in a positive direction, even if it hasnt been as brisk as would be desired. There are still plenty of hurdles to get past before this becomes a reality, though. The NHLs Board of Governors meet in Las Vegas in June around the NHL Awards. Bringing a team via expansion is expected to be on the agenda for further discu sion. Javier Sanoja Jersey