Las Vegas NHL Expansion “…Formal Announcement Soon”
By Frank Walker
The rumors around a new Las Vegas NHL Expansion franchise have officially gone into overdrive. According to a report from TSN’s Darren Dreger potential owner Bill Foley said “There will be a formal announcement soon.”
The ticket drive has gone past the 8,000 season ticket holder mark. Talk among pundits has widely speculated that the goal for a ticket drive such as this would be about 10,000. That may or may not have been the internal goal of this ownership group. What the report from Dreger does point out is that now the Las Vegas NHL Expansion group is starting with it’s next phase; to start offering ticket packages to casinos in the area.
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Many are expressing doubt at how viable this franchise would be, and with good reason. Does the league really need another team in a market that hasn’t been traditionally thought of as a “hockey” town? What type of environment is going to exist inside an arena if the majority of tickets are not held by fans but by the casinos? Would the building be cheering and booing based on a betting line? Would the majority of people in the arena be moderately interested out of towners? Another concern with casinos being counted on to buy tickets is that most casinos try and provide free entertainment to customer’s to keep them in their own building so they keep gambling. Would they want to send their customers to an arena down the street owned by a competing casino?
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I look at this team with cautious optimism. If this group has been able to sell 8,000 to 10,000 tickets to locals who would have a rooting interest in the team then that would be enough to ensure a solid fan base for the home team in the arena. Many teams, (Columbus, Nashville, and anyone playing the Canadians) experience the phenomena of opposing fans invading your arena more often than they would like. This does not mean that the market isn’t viable for hockey. I consider it encouraging that they have been able to sell this many tickets in a city where hockey is not an overly popular sport. I’ve
how it takes time to build a devotion to the sport into the market .
Also note that the NHL leadership is looking at gaining a different type of long term value from the Las Vegas NHL Expansion team. When the current NHL TV contract expires the league will have one more large market added to it’s negotiations that no other league offers as a market for a local team. It will also create more face time for the league as the first major professional sports franchise in Sin City.
With an owner who is willing to put money into creating a winning hockey product, a Las Vegas NHL Expansion franchise could be a huge success, and one of the final feathers in the commissioner’s cap heading into the league’s centennial.
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