A NHL Franchise in Las Vegas Makes Sense

The Hockey News reported yesterday that the NHL has identified an ownership group for the “maybe not tomorrow, or the next day, or the next day, but some day” franchise in Las Vegas. Reportedly the group is led by William P. Foley and includes the Maloof family, formerly owners of the NBA’s Sacramento Kings (in only the NHL would it make sense to have the Maloofs in any way involved with new ownership considering their history of bad business practices.)

While there doesn’t appear to be any expansion or re-location plans imminent, one can connect the dots to see where the league is heading. Whether it’s in Las Vegas, Kansas City, Quebec, Seattle, or any other city that may deserve a franchise, it appears to be only a matter of time before the league expands.

While many people are steadfastly opposed to expansion, specifically in Las Vegas, I think it’s time for the NHL to roll the dice and open a new franchise in Sin City. The arguments against it are plenty and valid: could games be compromised with legalized betting? Is the population sufficient to support a team?

The gambling issue is apparently the big issue that most leagues struggle with when Las Vegas expansion comes up. With Nevada as the only state with no-restrictions legalized gambling (until the courts get their act together and allow New Jersey), there is the perception that a team in Las Vegas would lead to players getting mixed up with the wrong crowd and possibly throwing games or referees being influenced by “outside forces.” While the proximity of casinos would obviously be closer, that doesn’t automatically equate to more gambling on a team or games being thrown. With the technology today, placing bets on a game can occur with the click of a button, so it’s tough to believe that all of a sudden the gambling floodgates will open up with a Las Vegas team.

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Additionally there are ways to limit the perception of illegal occurrences during a game. Las Vegas casinos won’t put a gambling line on either of the two major colleges in the area (UNLV and Nevada.) There is little doubt that the NHL would seek and be granted assurances from the Nevada Gaming Commission that casinos would not set gambling lines nor take any bets involving a Las Vegas team.

The worries about gambling and throwing games seems even less worrisome when there are already federal investigations into whether Thomas Vanek was involved in illegal gambling while over the last several years. If Vanek can get mixed up with these “extra curricular” activities in Buffalo, should there be a legitimate concern about unforeseen concerns about a franchise in Las Vegas? If people want to bet on a game, they’ll find a way. To think that by keeping a team out of Las Vegas will curb this is naïve and ignores the various avenues people have to wager on games.

The other concern frequently raised at the notion of a Las Vegas franchise is whether there is the population in the area to support a team. The Las Vegas metropolitan area (Clark County which includes Boulder City, Henderson, Las Vegas, Mesquite, North Las Vegas, and unincorporated areas) has seen its population rise from 1,425,723 in 2000 to 2,062,254 in 2013 (population trends here.) While that statistic alone may not mean much, consider that the Las Vegas metropolitan area would be greater than either other metropolitan areas of current NHL franchises (Calgary, Buffalo, Carolina, Nashville, Columbus, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Ottawa.) If the NHL was able to get comfortable expanding into these areas, it should have no fears of a Las Vegas franchise not having the population center to draw from. That’s even before you count tourists who would undoubtedly attend games (I attended an Islander game several years back and sat next to a person from Switzerland who was in New York on vacation but wanted to see his hometown hero Mark Streit. If tourists are heading to the Nassau Coliseum for a hockey game, I’d venture a guess that tourists will also find their way to a Las Vegas arena.)

So I already hear the people screaming: “but what about the Wranglers in the ECHL?” True, the team ceased operations earlier this year. But they are still seeking a permanent home after its lease was not renewed last year and could very well be back in operation next year. It’s also unfair to compare the success of minor league teams to a major league franchise when the quality of play is stark. No offense to an ECHL franchise, but I would much rather pay a few extra bucks to watch the best of the best play as opposed to a bunch of minor leaguers, many whom will never make it to the big show. I’m confident that many others feel the same way.

Las Vegas also represents an untapped market for the NHL to lay a foundation and grab fans who may not have an allegiance to any particular team in any sport due to the lack of a professional major league team. The NBA dipped its toe in the water by having its all-star game played there in 2007, but have yet to go beyond that. The NHL already visits Las Vegas for its annual awards show and has held preseason games in Las Vegas previously. There’s over two million residents in the area and tens of millions more that visit annually…that’s a lot of dollars up for grabs and even if the NHL can grab a tiny fraction of it, it would make a Las Vegas franchise worthwhile.

Which makes Tuesday’s news of a potential ownership group that much more exciting and puts the league one step closer to an opportunity to expand the sport into an unrealized area that would benefit the game.

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