Las Vegas and Quebec City are moving on to the second of three phases in their bids to land National Hockey League (NHL) expansion franchises.

The ownership groups trying to bring the first major sports franchise to Las Vegas and Quebec City both announced Wednesday that the league has invited them to participate in the second phase of the league’s expansion process.

Bill Foley, leading the Las Vegas bid, announced on his group’s website vegaswantshockey.com that they have received an invitation from the NHL to advance on the next phase. Quebecor also posted on its Twitter account that Quebec City has been retained for the next level.

“In this phase, we will be providing the League with additional information, including information about the Las Vegas market and the MGM AEG Arena being developed between Monte Carlo and New York New York. We will also be permitted access to information provided by the League that it deems important to us. We are hopeful that at the conclusion of this phase, the League will invite us to participate in Phase III,” said Foley.