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Ice in Las Vegas is most commonly found at the bottom of drinks. Now it will be found at the bottom of a rink.

The National Hockey League, boldly going where no major professional league has gone before, confirmed on Wednesday it would place an expansion team in Las Vegas for the 2017-18 season. It did so on a day when temperatures reached 109 in that glittering desert city. Irony much?

No, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said, he wasn’t concerned about gambling being a factor. The NFL has apparently come to this same conclusion as it allows the Oakland Raiders to negotiate with the city.

Is hockey a gamble in Las Vegas? It once had a popular minor league team. It is a sports showplace, at least for boxing and college basketball. But this is truly a hedged bet.

When the NHL last expanded in 2000 to Columbus and Minnesota, the franchise fee was $80 million. Businessman Bill Foley and partners Joe and Gavin Maloof (former owners of the NBA’s Sacramento Kings) will pony up $500 million.

Foley, a West Point graduate, would like to name his team the Black Knights. Another irony. In a city where the illumination never fades on the Strip, a hockey team could be called the Black Knights.
 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman