1. $how ur werk
2. guess that's all there is to it then, huh? Columbus, Vegas ... same thing

i mean, i wish i could remember the source on this cause it'd be helpful, but the other day i heard someone legitimate talking about how they could probably make a go of it in Vegas selling 0 season tix to locals. they'd all be bought up/used by the casinos, or ticket brokers, or whatever. and obviously they aren't going to sell 0 season tickets to locals. even a terrible team that basically no one cares about can carry a base of 5-10k actual fans. do they have 12-20k real fans in town? well i guess we'll see what's what with this ticket drive thing.

what is your argument against this, seriously?
(outside of that you aren't looking to see a game when in Vegas)

Where is our resident lawyer, Riverman, to let us know the ramifications of gambling on the Vegas Knights?

Carolina #28, Nashville #24, Buffalo#23, Columbus#29

All in the bottom tier of the league.

The fact is that market size matters when it comes to having a pro team succeed and Vegas isn't a big market and more importantly I just don't think the local interest is there and I firmly believe that you need a strong local fanbase for any pro team to survive, I have no facts or stats to back that up so it's just speculation but I haven't heard of Vegas locals desperate for an NHL franchise.

I think that putting hockey in cities where it struggles ultimately hurts the league as a whole. If you have too many teams losing money than that is not good.

I have 0 problems with a franchise in Vegas, I just simply don't think it's a good business decision is all.

I'd love to be wrong and see the NHL go there and have a team succeed there but I think there are far better options than Vegas (Seattle, Hamilton, Quebec immediately come to mind).

Your "far better options" include a city that previously lost an NHL franchise due to financial issues.

lol syf

Hence why I think it's a bad idea to go to Vegas...

also area pops of 721k & 766k over ~2m+ (w/ mucho tourists), when sortbymarketsize is the most important factor

and obv Hamilton is never happening while Buffalo is still a thing, come on

fwiw I'm bearish on this too, hockey in the desert seems total bonkers of an idea. The big market games will probably be fine from enough already visiting tourists but lots of divisional games will be *crickets*.

Basketball might have a chance but I just don't see a cold weather game surviving in any desert city.

I hope I am wrong tho, b/c it doesn't matter to me and some people here would enjoy it.

For the record, I don't think the NHL should expand and I think people are getting way ahead of themselves wrt a team in Vegas. Sounds like they are basically doing market research right now to try and decide whether or not Vegas is a viable option. Even if they do find out that it's a viable option that still a long way from planning to put a franchise there since it's such a unique city in so many ways.

Las Vegas Mumps

Season ticket drive about to begin

Prices have been revealed for the drive.

Should be interesting to see how many they get.

10,000 is the goal.

1. Dumb mascot name. So many more creative things you can do in Vegas.
2. LOL at the idiots getting mad because it's named after Vegas and not Nevada. No one goes Nevada, baby, Nevada!
3. I continue to think any non-NFL team simply has too many home games to succeed here. Too many transients and there isn't a huge sense of community in Vegas. Too much money per ticket, too many tickets and too many games. Any plan to have a franchise that hinges on "well, people from out of town will go to the games" is an idiotic one.

MLS with a decent stadium and some solution to the searing summer heat could maaaaaybe work. Fewer seats and games, plus should be cheaper and appeal to the Latino population. But NHL? Vegas? GTFO.

counterpoint: the NHL "works" in places like Raleigh, Columbus, Nashville, Edmonton, Winnipeg, and the suburbs of Phoenix & Miami. Vegas should have a much easier go of it imo.

i mean, if this 75 thing is successful, that's about half the ticket drive right there.

Houston needs a team. 6.3 million population, growing at 5% per year. Dallas team has been a success. Would be nice to get a 2nd team in the state to rival Dallas.

Houston also has the Toyota Center downtown where the Rockets play and it's like 10 years old or something. And fully capable of being used for ice hockey. I've played there twice!

Miami and Phoenix have much larger popluation bases. Nashville/Columbus/Raleigh have very real sense of community and people with roots there. Vegas has none of that.

I'm just saying man, no one here gives a ****.

40 million tourists / year tho

i just find it hard to believe that Vegas would be a bottom 1/3 market in this league, average at worst

ticket drive will probably be a "success", and they'll probably get a team, so buckle up

People who visit Vegas sure as **** are not going to go watch an NHL hockey game. Even if they are die hard hockey fans. If their favorite team is in town, maybe.

Right. The whole damn argument really truly hinges on "tourists tho". Yeah, go to Vegas, baby, Vegas to watch some ****ty hockey. C'mon. It's so bad. I just hope no public money goes into it.

I could see fans from Canada and colder markets planning trips around their team playing in Vegas.

Tourists tho

not sure why Clark is so MAD about this

i mean if they sell out their 10k packages for 5-10 years and get a team what do you care?
you don't have to go or gaf if you don't want to

Because it's so obviously dumb, that's all. You aren't going to get thousands of tourists a day to come watch bad hockey.

And this isn't exactly proof, but it's not *good*:

.

Long article on it

No way. Anyone who is that likely to plan a trip to Vegas (from that far away) doesn't have the trip hinge on "Will the 13-34 Knights be hosting my Leafs ONCE that weekend?"

Just LOL. If they do, it's not nearly enough to be substantial.

Seems like the road trip idea could be a thing.

Another factor is people being able to put down a big bet at a sportsbook and going to watch the game that night.

The fact that the team would have very little local support and the arena could be 50/50 in fan support on some nights would be pretty lol, but it'd be fun to watch whether a LV franchise succeeds (and by "succeed" I mean barely maintaining viability) or is a massive flop.

How is it possible that the Maloofs are within a thousand miles of this idea? Didn't Bettman learn his lesson with the John Spano debacle?

If they're going to (successfully) run an NHL franchise in Vegas, they should do it in Vegas baby, Vegas fashion.

That means, make the arena somewhat like a casino. Maybe something like a large, live sportsbook. Maybe have some betting interface behind everyone's seat, where you can bet on live results as they happen. Get to the game, find your seat, swipe your credit card and let's play some hockey. Do this method or die. You heard it hear first.

When in Rome.