Why has Vegas never had a big-league team?

It seems major league sports franchisesare finally overcomingtheir fearof bringing teams to North America's gambling capital.

Las Vegas has always had some kind ofminor-league team be it baseball or hockey and, of course, has played host to some of the most high-profile boxing matches in history. There was a brief andill-fated attempt by the Canadian Football League the Las Vegas Posse in the 1990s, and in more recent years, the city is home to the headquarters of the UFC, the de facto professional mixed martial arts circuit.

But a major sports franchise has never called the city home. Until now, it seems.

The Associated Press reported Tuesday thatthe NHL will announce plans for an expansion team in Las Vegas on June 22ahead of its board of governors meeting, and with a $500-million US fee going into the owners' pockets, is pretty much a done deal to be approved.

Sports organizations have long avoided Sin City over fears related to its vice-fuelled economy. The biggest concern has always been the gambling industry, and fears of match-fixing and other corruption.

Ban lifted in 2001 paved way

But with each yearthatargument holds less and less merit. In 2001 Nevada lifted a 40-year-old ban which barred sports books from taking bets on teams based in the state. The change meant residents could placebetsonUniversity of Nevada-Las Vegas Rebels games, but a lot didn't actuallychange. Everyone was already betting on UNLV games.

"There's always been gambling on basketball in [Las Vegas]and there's always been gambling on Rebel basketball, it just hasn't been above board," MikeOlsen, president of theLas Vegas Silver Bandits, a team which at the time played in theInternational Basketball League,told ESPN at the time. "Now it's legal, so at least now it can be monitored, which means they'll have an easier time of catching point-shavers by tracking the unusual betting cycles at the sports books."

The rise of internetbettingonly made that it easier for Nevada residents and again, there was no evidence of match-fixing or other results-oriented corruption at the school.

Worriesof young, newly wealthy professional athletes playing in a citylionized for its contentiousindulgences seemto have been at least partially put to rest byleagues where sports betting is a mainstay.The English PremierLeague thrivesin a country where bookmakers keep legalshop frontsacross the country with relatively few cases of corruption involving individual players.

Fancy new facility

Another roadblock was a lack of suitable facilities, but that too has changed.InApril the city celebrated the openingofT-MobileArena, a new NBA- andNHL-ready, 20,000-seat facility at the south end of its iconic strip, a short walk from many of the world's largest hotels and casinos. The arena was paid for completely by private money, bypassing the regulartug-of-warteams too often force municipal governmentsinto over new rinks and stadiums.

The bid for a new NHL team has already secured 13,200 season-ticket deposits. With a population of two million, and an estimated 40 millionvisitors each year, the team should be able to get rid ofthe remaining 4,300tickets which will be available each game. (T-Mobile Arena will hold only 17,500 for hockey games)

A new hockey team might not be the only sports franchise coming to Las Vegas in the coming years. The NFL's Oakland Raiders have been taking a serious look at the city, and there are rumours of MLS interest as well.

With worries over corruption largely curbed simply by the reality of globalinternet wagering,major sports franchises' interest inLas Vegas was inevitable;there is too much money to be made for owners to ignore much longer.