With the special meeting on expansion scheduled for Wednesday of next week (January 20th) there’s been heavily speculation that an expansion announcement could come at the All Star Weekend in Nashville on January 30th and 31st.

However, the probability of that being the case appears to be diminishing with each piece of news published. The latest, from Steve Carp at the RJ may be the most damning for the possibility of an announcement in January.

Bill Foley, the billionaire businessman who is heading Las Vegas’ bid, said he is aware of the meeting but will not be attending. Foley also said he is not planning to attend the NHL’s All-Star Weekend in Nashville, Tenn., at the end of the month. – Steve Carp, LVRJ

It’s highly unlikely the league makes an expansion announcement without The Creator standing right next to Gary Bettman when it’s done. Of course, things could change between now and the 30th, but if it’s not in his plans to be there, the chances of an announcement are slim to none.

As I speculated on the most recent podcast, there’s really only one way the special meeting Wednesday could lead to Las Vegas being awarded a team a week later. That scenario would be if there’s an overwhelming majority ready to vote “yes” and the league feels as if there’s no purpose wasting any more time.

Based on what we’ve seen thus far in the process though, there’s a better chance they redraw the Powerball numbers so one of us wins rather than these losers.

Anything’s possible, but January is growing less and less likely by the minute.