Potential Las Vegas Franchise

pondnorth

Registered User
Dec 16, 2005
1,232
0
Fixed it for you.

Did not need fixing as everyone knows Winnipeg and Quebec are the worst 2 places on earth for a nhl team.Pheonix lost 30m this season and at least 100m since ther arrival in the nhl.There is not that much money in Winnipeg and Quebec combined to start with,let alone lose that much.Nashville`s owner lost 70m in 10 seasons.Winnipeg and Quebec never lost 170m in there histories in the nhl or the wha.
 

Granlund2Pulkkinen*

Guest
Top 10 ways to make this work

1. Have it in an ice arena that houses popular performing artists.
2. Put slot machines in the lobby, have all proceeds go to the organisation
3. Have a team themed casino some where on the strip
4. Allude to ice as diamonds
5. Instead of having boring blimps and crap during intermissions, have sigfreid and roy come out
6. Have a catchy slogan like... "the coolest team in the desert"
7. Have a player admit to a gambling addiction so it gets media coverage as to why a team shouldn't have been in LV... revers psychology
8. Have the players go to chip and dales to dance after games... hand out free tix
9. Janet Gretzky could become spokes woman for them
10. Pay a showgirl place to wear 'sexy jerseys' for them for a few dances


Extra Credit: Name the team the 'Las Vegas Jackpots'
 

jkrdevil

UnRegistered User
Apr 24, 2006
42,633
12,472
Miami
Did not need fixing as everyone knows Winnipeg and Quebec are the worst 2 places on earth for a nhl team.Pheonix lost 30m this season and at least 100m since ther arrival in the nhl.There is not that much money in Winnipeg and Quebec combined to start with,let alone lose that much.Nashville`s owner lost 70m in 10 seasons.Winnipeg and Quebec never lost 170m in there histories in the nhl or the wha.

Well for most of their history those two cities didn't have to deal with Free Agency the way it is today and thus didn't have to payroll that teams have today and thus made a lot more money then. Yes I know Winnipeg gave Hull 1 million to get him away from the Blackhawks but still FA by in large was restricted.
 

pondnorth

Registered User
Dec 16, 2005
1,232
0
Top 10 ways to make this work

1. Have it in an ice arena that houses popular performing artists.
2. Put slot machines in the lobby, have all proceeds go to the organisation
3. Have a team themed casino some where on the strip
4. Allude to ice as diamonds
5. Instead of having boring blimps and crap during intermissions, have sigfreid and roy come out
6. Have a catchy slogan like... "the coolest team in the desert"
7. Have a player admit to a gambling addiction so it gets media coverage as to why a team shouldn't have been in LV... revers psychology
8. Have the players go to chip and dales to dance after games... hand out free tix
9. Janet Gretzky could become spokes woman for them
10. Pay a showgirl place to wear 'sexy jerseys' for them for a few dances


Extra Credit: Name the team the 'Las Vegas Jackpots'

You forgot Rick Toccett as head coach and odds maker or bookie.
 

Felonious Python

Minor League Degenerate
Aug 20, 2004
30,395
8,668
Move the ECHL franchise and name the new NHL franchise:

125px-Las_Vegas_Thunder_97.gif


Ask the league for plenty of weekend afternoon games.

Nothing like a little cooling down at an ice hockey game with a brewsky on a hot desert day. It'd be on my list of things to do when I visit LV !

That would work well when they play against the Lightning.

Jerry Bruckheimer is the main man behind a team in Vegas. I have a gut instinct that he would name the team something rather out there. Like "Las Vegas 21" not even a 'the' in front, just Las Vegas 21.

Ocean's 20 maybe?
 

krudmonk

Registered User
Jan 12, 2006
5,509
0
Sannozay
We just got the Mighty Ducks to drop the "Mighty" and change the stupid logo, so now people want to usher in a new novelty joke franchise? Kill me now.
 

Resolute

Registered User
Mar 4, 2005
4,125
0
AB
I do hope that this is someones idea of a joke even thinking about putting a NHL team in Las Vegas.:shakehead:shakehead

Yes, yes, yes, we are well aware that anything beyond returning to a 21 team NHL with Hartford, Quebec City and Winnipeg back is a joke. :shakehead
 

Michael Morbid

Registered User
Jun 11, 2004
4,698
2
PBC
Since it's Bruckheimer maybe something Pirates of the Carribean or CSI related?

Las Vegas Pirates
Las Vegas Crime Scene InvestiGATORS (logo being a Gator with a flashlight)

etc. etc.
 

LadyStanley

Registered User
Sep 22, 2004
105,729
18,857
Sin City
http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nevada/2007/jun/08/060810600.html
NHL official says Las Vegas would need new arena to land team



On Friday, XM's Home Ice "War Room" hour-long segment discussed a potential move to Vegas. Some of the highlights:

The existing ECHL franchise has about 3500 in average attendance for 32 games.

A Vegas caller indicated that Vegas was mainly a "event" driven town, so that a special "one time" event may draw fans, but gettting them to 40+ "repetitive" games may be a problem. (Later caller from LA indicated that the annual pre-season game with the Kings was sold out because a lot of Kings fans make the trip as an excuse to travel to Vegas. My personal experience: I attended a week worth of games of the ECHL franchise and the one that had a opponent from four hours away was filled as they away fans flocked to see the game.)

I think this same caller indicated that many "families" avoid the Vegas Strip due to traffic (heck, even a mile off the strip is sometimes crazy, including I-15!), but that out of towners may not go to an event that is "miles" off the strip. (The ECHL franchise plays at an arena attached to an off-strip casino; they're about a mile from the I-15 on the other side away from the strip.) Also some discussion over the "city fathers"/committee that controls the "Strip" development; sounds like it could be a real hassle to get them on board/support such a new development.

If the majority of workers are the "low paid" bartenders, waitresses and dealers, how many can even afford to purchase season tickets? And what of their "standard" work shift of 5pm - midnight?

Las Vegas may have the "reverse" problem of Nashville: All the club/corporate seats will be sold, but the upper deck may be empty.

Discussion included that the NHL may have to "get in bed" with one or more casinos to drive this forward.

Concerns expressed with the "enticements" of the environment of Vegas on the players (both those who "live" there and visit). Mentioned the crazy "gang bang" atmosphere resulting from the NBA All-Star game.

Consensus from hosts was that Las Vegas would succeed only if they "relocated" a team (almost ready to win); there would be no patience for 3+ years to develop a team as an expansion team.

They also floated the idea of a "shared location" franchise. (Think "Phoenix-Las Vegas".)
 

Doc Scurlock

Registered User
Nov 23, 2006
1,211
6
Since it's Bruckheimer maybe something Pirates of the Carribean or CSI related?

Las Vegas Pirates
Las Vegas Crime Scene InvestiGATORS (logo being a Gator with a flashlight)

etc. etc.

I prefer the Las Vegas Grissoms. Their logo can be William Petersen's head.

grissom_470.jpg


Snazzy! :hockey:
 

Wetcoaster

Guest
According to reports there are 7 development teams currently in the running to be awarded the contract to develop and NHL/NBA ready arena in the Las Vegas area. The arena could be ready for play in 2009-10 season according to the reported time lines. It is not as if Las Vegas has no experience in quickly building large complexes.

If the NHL wants to get a jump on the NBA they could do what they have done in the past - grant a franchise to a city pending construction of an NHL quality venue and allow them to operate in a less than optimim facility. In the interim the 20 year old Thomas and Mack Center on the UNLV campus which would seat around 18,000 for hockey (but with reportedly not the greatest sight lines similar to the Key Arena in Seattle) could be used.

The Las Vegas Wranglers of the ECHL currently play out of the 9,000 seat Orleans Arena but that is likely too small for NHL. The IHL Las Vegas Thunder IHL minor league franchise played in the Thomas and Mack Center.

If the NHL decided to jump on the expansion bandwagon quickly (and the NHL owners have always been happy to pocket expansion fee payments) Las Vegas, Kansas City, Houston and Portland would be the frontrunners with perhaps Oklahoma City in the mix given how well it was received in the last expansion go round.

Putting the two expansion teams in the US west accomplishes two things:
  • Bettman's unfulfilled dream of a sizeable US national TV contract does not take a hit
  • Detroit gets the chance to go back into the Eastern Conference
 

Doc Scurlock

Registered User
Nov 23, 2006
1,211
6
Arguing about media market sizes is so futile at this point simply because the majority of the US media could give two pieces of monkey poop about the NHL. Need proof look at TV, sports radio, newspapers etc. They've got more important things to write and talk about like Paris Hilton going to jail.
 

Wetcoaster

Guest
Arguing about media market sizes is so futile at this point simply because the majority of the US media could give two pieces of monkey poop about the NHL. Need proof look at TV, sports radio, newspapers etc. They've got more important things to write and talk about like Paris Hilton going to jail.
However it plays the white whale to Bettman's impersonation of Captain Ahab.
 

PhillyPhantic

Registered User
May 4, 2007
814
0
Seattle, WA
I wonder why no one think of Portland or Seattle for a NHL franchise. Most people here don't care about the Nucks, and the Nucks fans would travel just to see them play away games.
 

Wetcoaster

Guest
That it does. I guess we all have to have our dreams, don't we?
As much as I am not a great admirer of "The Count", you have to give him points for his sheer stubborness and tenacity in the face of overwhelming evidence that it just is not going to work.

He must have been brought up reading "The Little Engine that Could":
A little railroad engine was employed about a station yard for such work as it was built for, pulling a few cars on and off the switches. One morning it was waiting for the next call when a long train of freight-cars asked a large engine in the roundhouse to take it over the hill "I can't; that is too much a pull for me," said the great engine built for hard work. Then the train asked another engine, and another, only to hear excuses and be refused. At last in desperation the train asked the little switch engine to draw it up the grade and down on the other side. "I think I can," puffed the little locomotive, and put itself in front of the great heavy train. As it went on the little engine kept bravely puffing faster and faster, "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can."

Then as it near the top of the grade, that had so discouraged the larger engines, it went more slowly, but still kept saying, "I--think--I--can, I--think--I--can." It reached the top by dint of brave effort and then went on down the grade, congratulating itself, "I thought I could, I thought I could."

On the other hand there are those conspiracy theorists who claim David Stern recommended Bettman so that Stern would not have to worry about the NHL cutting into the NBA's market share.:D
 

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