Couple of hours to catch a game is a nice break. Especially if you can gamble on said game.
People go play golf in Vegas...stuff happens.

It's quite clear that Clark just hates hockey when he calls the NHL "****ty hockey".

You mention people golf in Vegas but that's a morning/afternoon activity. One of the concerns I have about the long term viability about hockey in Vegas is that so much goes on in Vegas at night. Seems to me like it would be hard to draw tourists to spend 7-10 at night when so much else is going on.

Would have thought that it'd be an interesting alternative for tourists, and it's not like LV doesn't have non-tourists that live there

Of course.

It definitely needs a local fanbase to survive. I suppose my point is that I think people are overrating the impact tourists will have on the success of the team.

yea def lol tourists. don't think watching hockey is tourist thing. unless you are from canada or europe in which case you wouldn't be dumb enough to stop in LV, unless it was to gambool and eat. whats the average stay in LV. 3 nights? are people really gonna sacrifice a whole night to watch some hockey?

Isn't traffic a ****hole? these blue collar locals are gonna be driving to watch hockey all of the sudden?

games take 2.5 hours and are often finished by 930pm local, how is that sacrificing a night in Vegas?

yeah that was a bizarre comment. Since when does Vegas close at 10 pm?

People vacation from the North to SoCal to see hockey games all the time. It's not unheard of for it to be cost comparable. I can see a fan take a week long vacation from Northern climates to see 2/3 games in LA, Ana, LV, Phx.

I called hockey in Vegas ****ty hockey not the NHL. Slow your defensiveness roll a little.

Yes. A fan. But 5,000 fans a night? Lol no.

Because a night in Vegas starts at like 6pm? Steak dinner, poker, hookers, blow, craps, booze, ladyboys, crack, pawn shop, back to biological female hookers, buffet, blackjack, then figure out what you're doing at 7.

Seriously, this is pretty damning. Maybe as much as struggling to find 10k people willing to plunk down $150.

Hockey game obv

I don't understand the context of your comment then.

I think there is some validity to the tourist component in that people do like watching pro sports so it will attract some tourists for sure.

I don't think Vegas has the local support to be viable.

It'll be a crappy expansion product for years. That was my point. Sorry if that wasn't clear.

Ya, ok I see what you are saying now and I think that's a good point.

Expansion teams generally struggle for the first few years because they have to build from essentially nothing so while people in Vegas might be excited about hockey, the product on the ice won't be very good and when teams lose, fans can quickly lose interest in the team.

72off & others who support this idea:

Why do you think hockey in Vegas will be successful when it hasn't been successful in other similar* cities before? I suspect that you will say that the biggest difference will be in the tourists that come in from out of town to watch the games but why hasn't that worked in places like Sunrise, Phoenix or Tampa?

*I realize that Vegas is a very unique city but in terms of media market size, local fanbase, demographics, etc. Those factors seem to indicate that a team in Vegas will probably not be successful.

Could be a fun discussion to be had thinking about which players would get exposed in an expansion draft

not even sure that i think the NHL will necessarily succeed in Vegas, for the reasons mentioned in the article Clark keeps posting, but if i had to argue that side i guess i'd say: tourists, the casinos, downtown stadium

i do think that Vegas is probably the best realistic option the NHL has. i'm skeptical about Seattle as a hockey town, Quebec City as a 21st century NHL town, and anywhere else one could name. Toronto2 is probably a great option, but i'm guessing that's being blocked by Rogers/Bell.

Tampa isn't a big tourist destination afaik, and Arizona & Florida obviously shot themselves in the foot by building their stadiums in the suburbs of Glendale & Sunrise. people might travel to watch a good team, they probably won't to watch a bad one.

If winnipeg works, why wouldn't Québec?

Merch would sell well to tourists if sold in Casino gift shops and looking sufficiently Vegasy and the team gets a reasonable name like Gamblers, Aces, Snakeeyes whoteva

Quebec City would work better than Vegas imo

it's a smaller, french ice palace
i mean if you thought no one wanted to play in Edmonton or Winnipeg...

also i'm guessing that QC doesn't have the richest man in the country (22nd in the world) on board as an owner

Yeah. So many better names than lol Black Knights.

I mean. There is one good name. gamblers. Period. But a lot of good alternatives.

Vegas Vices