http://www.thescore.com/news/657091

Well it's sounding more and more likely that Sin City will finally have a "big-4" sports team in town, in the form of an NHL expansion franchise. Ownership has been given the green light to gauge interest through a season ticket drive, and it that goes well it's expected that this will become a reality.

Wayne Gretzky is already working with the ownership group as an advisor, for obvious reasons.



Vegas baby, Vegas!

Anyone live there and/or excited about this possibility?
Obviously this could be a test case for the other leagues, like the NBA.

Won't happen

I'm excited..assuming it'll happen.

Did someone say Vegas Knights?

Season ticket drive should prove interesting.

I just don't see this as a viable option for the NHL. The sunbelt idea has proven to be poor and now we are going to a city like Las Vegas where there is a really large transient population. I don't know, I just don't see a place like Vegas sustaining a pro franchise, particularly NHL. However, I do understand that there are a lot of pros to having a franchise in Vegas but I think it will heavily rely on the tourist population to go to these games so if they can get enough interest for season tickets it might work.

it's estimated that there are over 2 million people living in the metro Vegas area, so it won't be completely dependent on tourists. but i think there will be a lot of comped tourists at games. their tourism actually industry gives them a built in advantage over some other places as i see it.

hockey has worked in California, so i don't see why it can't in Las Vegas.
i also don't the failures in Glendale and Sunrise as having much to do with it.

living in Vegas now, it would be so ****ing great to have a sports team to go see randomly

really think it would be a full house every night from tourists to locals

I have no doubt in my mind that Vegas would be able to easily overcome some hurdles that are involved with having a pro franchise in the city.

-Arena would likely be no problem as MGM is building a rink on the strip (so I've heard)
-Corporate sponsorship would be handled easily through the casinos.
-Marketability would be easy as Las Vegas does a very good job of this already and yes, I agree, that they would be able to comp the high roller casino players, include them in packages for tourists, etc.

The comparison that you gave with California though doesn't hold a lot of weight though.

First off, market size is very important. Vegas would be one of the smallest markets in the US outside of Buffalo. California works in big reason due to market size. To give you a comparison, California and Canada basically have the same population (California has 3 teams, Canada has 7).

Wayne Gretzky probably saved hockey in California as there is still a huge local fan base that was generated when he was traded there in the early 90s. Unless Vegas has a diehard hockey fanbase I just don't see it working.

It could work if they have a fanbase and this is why I think that the season ticket drive will be really interesting to see how it goes. If they are able to sell 10,000+ season tickets than I will retract my statement since that is the biggest hurdle in my mind.

I'm all for it, providing scumbag Jeffrey Pollack isn't involved.

For those that don't know, Pollack and Gary Bettman are half-brothers.

Pollack and the Maloofs? What could go wrong?

Would be a terrible idea for NFL/MLB obv but think hockey coming to town would be great.

Sidenote: Why do the knights have to be black?

Fail.

If true, team will be moved (or terminated) within 4 years max.

the Vegas metro area is bigger than Raleigh & Nashville, almost twice the size of Buffalo, about the same as Columbus. seems fine, especially with the tourism factor.

hmm, well if that's the case, then i'd imagine that Pollack is involved in some way, shape, or form, knowing Bettman.

this William Foley dude seems to be the frontman for the group, at least at this point, but yeah the Maloofs also seem to be involved. anyone have some good info on the group breakdown?

forward thinking, wave of the future! (see: Subbans)

also night be dark, yo.

It would be the most wagered upon game every night by a mile

I'm still holding out hope for SLC, but Vegas would be neat, too.

I'm pretty sure you know more about mortgages than you do about NHL expansion franchises.

No.

Not worried, Black Knights don't fare too well vs. Kings

What pro sport are fans most willing to travel for? I'm assuming it's basically inversely correlated with how many games are in a season?

I feel like if Vegas got an NBA team, every time the Warriors, Clippers, Lakers, Nuggets or Suns played in Vegas a ton of people would come enjoy the roadie and party in Vegas. How many NHL franchises are close? Kings, Ducks, Sharks, Avalanche and whatever Phx's team is called? So, about the same I guess.

Would also be great if the leagues went out of their way to schedule more of the home games on Thurs/Fri/Sat/Sun and more road games on M/T/W

Coyotes

Atlanta Thrashers lasted 12 seasons in the NHL. I say the Knights last less than that. Willing to make a friendly wager.

They want more NHL teams? Jesus what a ****ty league.

lolwat?

maloofs? lol. gl with that.

otherwise support the idea.

The difference between basketball (which the NHL's tried to model themselves after) and hockey is that a functioning basketball team only really needs 8-9 players. Maybe less if we're being honest. A functioning hockey team needs 20, all of which who play roughly equal time. There's simply not enough talent or enough interest to support the growth the NHL's been trying under the Bettman regime.

There's a rumor (which this columnist shuts down, but still) of an expansion to 34 teams. THIRTY FOUR!