Sphere To Host 2024 NHL Draft on June 28-29; League To Adopt Decentralized Format in 2025

After years traveling to numerous venues across the nation, and a handful of remote editions from the NHL Network studios in Secaucus, NJ, the National Hockey League is going big for their next iteration of the NHL Entry Draft by heading to the Sphere in Las Vegas. According to TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger, Sin City’s newest entertainment destination — a 18,000-seat venue that’s hosting the likes of U2 and has quickly become the most technologically-advanced structure in the United States — will host the two-day event on June 28-29, 2024.

“It will the first sporting event in the Sphere and I think it’ll be a pretty-well viewed event both in terms of the draft itself and the viral use of the Sphere inside and outside using the globe,” said NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman at the NHL Board of Governors meeting on Dec. 2. “We think it’ll be fun, dramatic, and compelling.”

This upcoming NHL Dratf at the Sphere is most likely going to be the last in its current format. After a poll taken in October at the start of the 2023-24 regular season, all 32 teams were in favor of decentralizing draft-day operations. Beginning in 2025, the event would no longer feature the pomp and circumstance of GMs and executives stationed at places on the show floor with prospects waiting for their names to be called in a green room. The new version would have these prospects in one location while each team’s personnel will be back in their home cities. This decision would allow each club to produce fan-based activations in their venue as well as allow real-time communication between decision makers in their respective draft rooms.