Vegas Golden Knights debut new alternate golden sweaters
By Nick Herrera
The Vegas Golden Knights have a new alternate jersey.
On Friday, the Vegas Golden Knights rolled out a new look. It was another step out of the organization’s infancy, and the only thing more Vegas-like is the strip itself. This will be the Golden Knights third jersey however, the club went all-in on the Vegas strip type marketing. Now they actually are the “Golden” Knights.
The Golden Knights have an interesting novelty type of draw that no other team has. That is purely the fact of being located in Vegas. There is a constant rotation of vacationers through the city. Las Vegas does have a population of about 2.6 million and growing, but it also hits over 42 million annual visitors over each of the past five years (according to lvcva.com).
When you factor in that now there is an NFL team in Las Vegas a rebrand makes sense. When the Las Vegas Raiders rumors of moving to Las Vegas first came out there were those who thought it would be detrimental to the NFL and its public perceptions with player discipline. Perhaps NFL football in the time of COVID is a good way for the NFL to ease into a city as notorious as Vegas.
https://twitter.com/GoldenKnights/status/1312082934501785600?s=20
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But as far as hockey is concerned, the NHL is not near as popular in the states as football is. The Golden Knights, occupying a massive tourist city, are now competing with the NFL but also have more possible game attendees.
Let us just say that the NFL is not the main reason for the new jerseys or not even a reason at all. When a team goes for a new look it is often coinciding with a turn in a competitive direction.
As a Colorado native, I am reminded of the Denver Broncos losing the classic 70s orange just before winning two Super Bowls back to back.
Or the Colorado Avalanche bringing in an old Colorado Rockies (hockey club, now the New Jersey Devils) alternate jerseys as they tried to move on from the Sakic, Forsberg, Roy dominant teams.
But the Golden Knights have been a premier playoff contender since their existence. Why the change? Aside from tourism changes to Las Vegas, nobody likes the team that comes close for decades at a time. Plenty of organizations have proven that. Every team that could not win during Michael Jordan’s NBA dominance is a prime example.
For the three seasons that the Golden Knights have been in the NHL, the team has averaged over 18,000 fans in attendance per game. This is at the T-Mobile arena that has a listed seating capacity of 17,500 for hockey games. We can pretty much assume that merchandise money and a competitive bump is the reason for the change.
dark. Next. 2020 NHL Mock Draft
Time will tell how the new sweaters are received by Golden Knights fans. Will they be remembered like the gross mustard jerseys of the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars, or end up a classic like the MLB’s Chicago Cubs or White Sox?