http://www.si.com/nhl/2014/08/26/rep...egas-done-deal

Seems pretty legit.

Wow a pro team in Vegas? This should be interesting is this why MGM is building a new arena?

About six months ago, someone told me that this would happen because Jerry Bruckheimer wanted a team in Vegas. Still skeptical, but I'll be the first in line for season tickets if it becomes a reality.

whoever the future owners are, they'd be much better off trying to get a team to relocate than to get an expansion team. It takes soooo long for an expansion team to do well, where a relocated team can do well relatively soon. The Nordiques moved to Colorado, won the Cup the next year. The Whalers moved to Carolina, became the Hurricanes and won a cup 8 or 9 years later. Also, the Stars won a cup in Dallas five years after moving from Minn, the Flames 9 years after moving from Atlanta.

The last report I saw said 2 new teams in 2017, and 2 teams switching conferences, for a total of 16 and 16. We shall see.....I'd love to have an NHL team to watch when I visit Vegas in the winter.

I've heard four expansion teams - Vegas, Seattle, Quebec City, and somewhere in the Toronto suburbs. Maybe relocation is part of that plan, but it sounded to me like expansion is the priority.

Yes, this is what is being bantered about.

LV, Quebec, Seattle, and Toronto # 2.

- Jeez, they could move/expand 2 more teams in T.O and they'd all still be sell outs.

Would they all still suck?

Heh, probably.

"The NHL opened its expansion process on Monday, with interested parties able to submit bids to potentially become the league’s 31st and/or 32nd team.

Some of the markets we know will be submitting bids: Las Vegas, Quebec City, Seattle ....."

https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nh...144736125.html

It may be getting a little more real.

I doubt tourists will come to Vegas to go to an NHL game. Locals certainly will not be on board. Terrible idea imo.

No way. The close proximity to the Cali teams not to mention a lot of teams have fans that travel. I could see it being popular to goto Vegas see a game and also do the usual stuff in Vegas.

If the league wants to make this a (financial) success, they need to use the Toronto Maple Leaf model of a home game every Saturday night. Schedule home games every Saturday during the winter months against Detroit, Edmonton, Calgary, etc and they should do OK.

I thought Vegas wanted hockey badly? The city is certainly big enough to support it.

Even though the San Jose Sharks disappoint year after year in the playoffs, and didn't even make it this year, they continue to sell out. There are just enough local hockey fans to keep the place packed.

Why is it that every time the NHL in Vegas is mentioned, some ignorant, unoriginal piece of human garbage has to come and **** all over it? They've sold 13k season tickets in an 18k arena to individuals - no businesses/big corporations involved yet. Never come back to Vegas. We don't want people like you here.

Seattle won the very first Stanley Cup. We want a team!

Vegas is a single-industry town with 2.5 million people working unique shifts, most without disposable income to attend NHL games. They will also have a little competition for entertainment dollars on the strip.

Why do you think the NFL has never worked in Los Angeles?

I'll try not to shred this ignorance too much, but:

The workforce in Las Vegas is 850,000. Only about 40% of those jobs work in hospitality and many of those are normal 9-5 jobs. About 20-25% of the population is retired, including many from the north where hockey is popular. The retirees in Las Vegas are typically middle class and higher.

The average household income in Las Vegas is 20% above the national average with a below average cost of living and no income tax.

Carrot Top and NHL appeal to different audiences, not to mention there are already deposits for 13k seats.

The Raiders mostly sucked and played in a terrible stadium with 100,000 seats. The Rams played in a baseball stadium in Anaheim and also sucked. Neither was ideal, both couldn't get new stadiums, and both are completely irrelevant to hockey in Las Vegas.

Also of note is that there is a large hockey community. There are two rinks that offer leagues. Both operate at or above capacity.

Obviously I meant Clark County.

6 current NHL markets with the fewest number of hockey fans are Nashville, Miami, Raleigh, Columbus, Phoenix and Tampa. Those franchises lost a collective $51 million in 2013-14, according to Forbes.

All pro sports teams in Vegas are well below league averages, look up attendance to the Wranglers, 51's, and Gladiators.

Clark County is a large hockey community? Sounds great but you are wrong.

I am active at the Las Vegas Ice Center. Yes, Las Vegas has a decent hockey community. This city could handle double the ice it has now. The hope is that an NHL practice facility could handle the overflow. As it is now, adult leagues are playing until after midnight in the winter.

I must question that graph. How old is it? Metro Las Vegas had 1.7 million people in 2004. It is 20% bigger than that now and local hockey popularity is noticeably stronger, even in just the past couple of years.

I do agree that a Las Vegas NHL team isn't going to make anyone rich.

My impression was that a large part of the anticipated audience for an NHL team would be casino companies buying packages of season tickets that they would give away as comps to people coming in from out of town. And this would guarantee a certain level of attendance regardless of the actual local affinity for hockey.

How would this impact betting on the team in Vegas and NHL as a whole? If I understand correctly Vegas casinos would no longer be able to take NHL bets.

There is no discussion about banning NHL betting. There is NHL betting in Canada without any issues. Some of the teams get royalties from the lotteries that book the bets. There has not even been any serious talk about restricting betting on a Las Vegas team if one were to exist, only that it is a concern that it may make for a not-so home ice feeling.

You're forgetting one important factor - we have NOTHING else to call our own.
- Nashville has the Titans and U Tennessee.
- Miami has the Marlins, Heat, Dolphins and Hurricanes.
- Raleigh has the tobacco triangle (UNC, NC State and Duke), plus the Panthers aren't too far away.
- Columbus has Ohio State and those fans are ****ing nuts.
- Phoenix has the Suns, Cardinals and D-Backs, not to mention Wildcats and ASU.
- Tampa has the Bucs and Rays.

You could argue that the Rebels basketball team is the only game in town worth watching, but they've been mediocre lately so no one bothers going to games. But the same could be said for teams with fanatical fans. The Red Sox and Yankees don't sell out games when they stink, and those fan bases are insane. A major league-level pro team WILL do well here. Saying it will fail because our minor league teams don't do well is insane. Apples and oranges. Vegas scored a perfect 100/100 in BizJournal.com's evaluation of possible expansion cities: http://www.bizjournals.com/bizjourna...ortmethod.html

Goddammit I'm getting sick and tired of having the same arguments with these morons over and over and over and over and over again. If you don't want to see the team here, fine. **** off then. But leave those of us who want it and who have put season ticket deposits down alone instead of insta-****ting on it.

I hope Vegas doesn't get an expansion team, but instead a relocated team. Expansion teams usually take so long to be competitive, yet in only a few years a relocated team can compete for a cup (look at Stars, Hurricanes, Avalanche for example).
I could definitely see people planning Vegas trips around seeing their favorite team playing. The bad part is when teams like the Red Wings or Blackhawks come in it'll seem like more fans are for them than the home team. As a former Thrasher season ticket holder, trust me I know.
As for the betting question, I would think that only the Vegas team wouldn't be on the board.