NHL Will Hold 2024 Draft At The Las Vegas Sphere

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UPDATE: The NHL officially announced it will be holding the 2024 Entry Draft at The Sphere in Las Vegas following the publication of this article

The NHL Entry Draft typically doesn’t attract the kind of attention the NFL and NBA are able to generate on an annual basis, but there’s a chance that could change when you consider the league is reportedly hoping to take advantage of the spectacle that is The Sphere in Las Vegas.

The Sphere has been the talk of Sin City and beyond since it debuted its eye-catching exterior over the summer before officially opening for business when U2 kicked off a string of shows in the fall, and it’s hard not to be intrigued by any event that’s held inside the revolutionary new venue.

Last year, the NHL set a new viewing record when it managed to lure in more than 680,000 viewers to watch the Entry Draft thanks in no small part to the hype surrounding Connor Bedard. However, that’s not really that impressive when you consider the first round of the NBA Draft averaged close to 5 million people and the NFL managed to attract more than 54 million fans.

There’s really nothing the NHL can do to come close to sniffing those numbers. Hockey simply isn’t as popular as those two other pastimes, and the nature of the draft means the order in which top players are selected is typically a forgone conclusion (there’s also a comparative lack of familiarity with prospects that makes it hard to drum up that much hype after the first few picks).

With that said, NHL insider Frank Seravalli seems to think the league is hoping to give fans a reason to tune in by hosting the 2024 draft at The Sphere—a decision that could be officially approved as early as Tuesday.

It’s hard to believe holding the draft at The Sphere would lead to a dramatic increase in ratings, but I don’t think I’m alone when I say I’d tune in (at least for a few picks) just to get a chance to see how they handle things.