NHL adding Las Vegas as an expansion team

[Ingvar]

Seattle is just the better market. Hockey is already successful in a city like Seattle. You also have surrounding cities close by that would be willing to go to the games (i.e. Tacoma (1 hour), Portland (3 hours), Tri-Cities (2 hours), Wenatchee (3 hours), and even both Vancouver's (3 hours)). You have many WHL teams in Washington, along with a NAHL team in Wenatchee (who has a beautiful arena). Seattle would have been the smarter choice, IMO. Maybe I am biased towards the NW.

Las Vegas has arena and ownership - Seattle doesn't. So it wasn't an option.

 

[WingedWheel1987]

Las Vegas has arena and ownership - Seattle doesn't. So it wasn't an option.

Yeah, but Seattle has actual fans of the game of hockey.

 

[jkutswings]

Yeah, but Seattle has actual fans of the game of hockey.

But as discussed earlier, the league is less concerned with growing the sport than in making their boys' club more opulent. If Honolulu offered a billion dollars for a franchise, Bettman would spin it as a brilliant move.

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

Yeah, but Seattle has actual fans of the game of hockey.

True.

The article I posted earlier in the thread estimates the number of Seattle NHL fans at 241,000 compared to Vegas's 91,000.

 

[WingedWheel1987]

Does Vegas has bets yet on how long it takes the team to relocate?

 

[Bench]

I think it's fun there will be a team in Vegas. I'll let the billionaires worry about the finances.

 

[PelagicJoe]

Because they like to rake in the half-billion expansion fee. Even better when they move so some other schmuck has to pony up the relocation fee.

I think the league could stand to axe about 6 teams to stop diluting the product.

Highly agreed. We can then raise the cap to something like 100MM per team. Arizona, Nashville, Carolina definitely need to go away. We could probably stand to axe the Blue Jackets too.

 

[Reddwit]

True.

The article I posted earlier in the thread estimates the number of Seattle NHL fans at 241,000 compared to Vegas's 91,000.

Who cares? How many hockey fans were projected in Dallas? St. Louis? Any of the Florida or California locations?

Vegas gets about 30M visitors a year. Its the largest tourist destination in the US outside of NYC or DC. And what you do in Vegas? You gamble and see shows. You don't see historical monuments. You don't go to intellectual museums. You don't do outdoorsy activities (or if you do, they last nothing more than half a day). Those are 30M people a year who give ****-all about intellectual/historical activities and want entertainment. And how is the Vegas team going to be marketed? As a combination of a god damn MMA fight on skates (even if the team is packed with skilled prima donnas) and an opportunity to diversify your gambling.

Vegas may have a terrible home-base, but its going to have no problem filling the building with bros who are drunk by noon or people who want a change of scenery after their third night of gambling and then clubbing. At the risk of being heteronormative, every other dude is going to say 'fine, if we have to see Britney/Mariah/BlueMan Group tonight, we're watching hockey tomorrow" to his wife.

I'm stoked to see it. As long as the arena is packed with slot machines, craps and poker tables, and copious amounts of liquor at sub-standard arena prices, its going to be a ****show to play in that arena.

 

[WingedWheel1987]

I'm going to Vegas next weekend for a bachelor party and the last thing i would want to do while i'm there is go to a hockey game.

There are plenty of other things i would do before i thought about going to a hockey game.

Those millions of tourists probably don't care about hockey in their home state and now suddenly they are going to want to see a hockey game in a city that has 200 other things to do that they can't do at home? I don't buy it.

If the Wings were playing, i would go, but i know my friends would not be interested.

 

[Bench]

I'm going to Vegas next weekend for a bachelor party and the last thing i would want to do while i'm there is go to a hockey game.

There are plenty of other things i would do before i thought about going to a hockey game.

Those millions of tourists probably don't care about hockey in their home state and now suddenly they are going to want to see a hockey game in a city that has 200 other things to do that they can't do at home? I don't buy it.

If the Wings were playing, i would go, but i know my friends would not be interested.

Not sure your Vegas annicdotal evidence means much when you also would say Celine Dion is a waste of time there.

You don't see hockey as a novelty. You're not the tourist who people are expecting to wander in on vacation.

 

[Martinez]

People aren't going to want to watch a terrible expansion team. The franchise needs a loyal fan base.

 

[WingedWheel1987]

Not sure your Vegas annicdotal evidence means much when you also would say Celine Dion is a waste of time there.

You don't see hockey as a novelty. You're not the tourist who people are expecting to wander in on vacation.

Yeah, but i can see hockey in 30 different cities.

I can only see Celine Dion in Vegas.

 

[Bench]

I can only see Celine Dion in Vegas.

I think we've identified the real tragedy here.

 

[Reddwit]

Not sure your Vegas annicdotal evidence means much when you also would say Celine Dion is a waste of time there.

You don't see hockey as a novelty. You're not the tourist who people are expecting to wander in on vacation.

Exactly.

Yeah, but i can see hockey in 30 different cities.

I can only see Celine Dion in Vegas.

Are you going to travel to those different cities? Dallas? St. Louis? Sunrise? Tampa? Buffalo? Winnipeg? Edmonton? Calgary? Columbus? Raleigh? San Jose? Detroit? St. Paul? Glendale?

And if you do travel there, are you going to travel for exclusively drunken entertainment purposes? Or is it for work, layovers, transport to the better tourist attraction 20 miles away?

And if you do travel to X city for entertainment purposes, are you going to be accosted by marketing for the hockey team, given that its the only pro team in the City? Are you going to be overwhelmed by the novelty of seeing a hockey team in an arena that will put a Vegas spin on it, like it does everything else?

Come on. Vegas itself is a city marketed in a way that no other city is in all of North America. Its a playground for adults. Its laws are adapted to that cause like nowhere else. Its marketing is built on exploiting the weakest parts of the human pysche.

Like I said elsewhere, its probably going to be marketed as MMA on skates with gambling opportunities to boot. And after a few days of starting out with a double mimosa binger that parlays into free drinks as you spit 100s at the craps table through the afternoon, hockey will sound like an interesting reprieve.

 

[Reddwit]

People aren't going to want to watch a terrible expansion team. The franchise needs a loyal fan base.

Good god.

This thread should be limited to those who have been to Vegas more than once.

Your drunken ass is going to love the idea of going to a hockey game when its your third night on the strip and you've gone clubbing every night after hitting the buffet.

Its like y'all have either never been to Vegas or think that the hockey games are going to be marketed as some blue-collar bonding event with $8 Miller Lights, reheated pizza, and nothing to do in the intermission but wait to release your piss in a twenty-foot trough.

 

[Electric Eric]

Seattle is just the better market. Hockey is already successful in a city like Seattle. You also have surrounding cities close by that would be willing to go to the games (i.e. Tacoma (1 hour), Portland (3 hours), Tri-Cities (2 hours), Wenatchee (3 hours), and even both Vancouver's (3 hours)). You have many WHL teams in Washington, along with a NAHL team in Wenatchee (who has a beautiful arena). Seattle would have been the smarter choice, IMO. Maybe I am biased towards the NW.

Just a quick correction, Tri-Cities is much about 3 to 4 hours to Seattle. Also in addition you've got Bellevue, Everett, Bellingham, and basically the whole I5 corridor that you could be pulling fans from.

Las Vegas has arena and ownership - Seattle doesn't. So it wasn't an option.

Soon as Seattle gets an arena deal going (and its honestly just a matter of time) the talks of NHL to Seattle will grow FAST. Be very surprised if it was top of the list for next round expansion or relocation. My dream scenario is both Seattle and Portland get an NHL team in the future somehow. Bringing the Cascadian rivalry to the NHL would be awesome.

But as discussed earlier, the league is less concerned with growing the sport than in making their boys' club more opulent. If Honolulu offered a billion dollars for a franchise, Bettman would spin it as a brilliant move.

You're probably right, the NHL is a business after all. Short term goals is bank money, long term is grow the sport to continue making money.

 

[Martinez]

Good god.

This thread should be limited to those who have been to Vegas more than once.

Your drunken ass is going to love the idea of going to a hockey game when its your third night on the strip and you've gone clubbing every night after hitting the buffet.

Its like y'all have either never been to Vegas or think that the hockey games are going to be marketed as some blue-collar bonding event with $8 Miller Lights, reheated pizza, and nothing to do in the intermission but wait to release your piss in a twenty-foot trough.

I just don't like the thought of them having a very small fan base. Most of the people at their games won't be fans of their team. And if they suck for a few years people might not want to see them at all. I'd probably go watch them but not huge hockey fans might pick other shows over them.
Come see the Las Vegas black Knights! They're the worst team in hockey! Big hockey fans, sure they might go, other tourists, nah it doesn't sound as attractive.

 

[Ezekial]

I just don't like the thought of them having a very small fan base. Most of the people at their games won't be fans of their team. And if they suck for a few years people might not want to see them at all. I'd probably go watch them but not huge hockey fans might pick other shows over them.
Come see the Las Vegas black Knights! They're the worst team in hockey! Big hockey fans, sure they might go, other tourists, nah it doesn't sound as attractive.

Some wings fans can convert, you know, they're gonna have a couple top picks in the near future, they'll already be in rebuild mode from the get go for some of you.

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

Who cares? How many hockey fans were projected in Dallas? St. Louis? Any of the Florida or California locations?

Vegas gets about 30M visitors a year. Its the largest tourist destination in the US outside of NYC or DC. And what you do in Vegas? You gamble and see shows. You don't see historical monuments. You don't go to intellectual museums. You don't do outdoorsy activities (or if you do, they last nothing more than half a day). Those are 30M people a year who give ****-all about intellectual/historical activities and want entertainment. And how is the Vegas team going to be marketed? As a combination of a god damn MMA fight on skates (even if the team is packed with skilled prima donnas) and an opportunity to diversify your gambling.

Vegas may have a terrible home-base, but its going to have no problem filling the building with bros who are drunk by noon or people who want a change of scenery after their third night of gambling and then clubbing. At the risk of being heteronormative, every other dude is going to say 'fine, if we have to see Britney/Mariah/BlueMan Group tonight, we're watching hockey tomorrow" to his wife.

I'm stoked to see it. As long as the arena is packed with slot machines, craps and poker tables, and copious amounts of liquor at sub-standard arena prices, its going to be a ****show to play in that arena.

I would've used Thunder from Down Under, but I get your point.

Still, relying on tourists to support an NHL franchise seems like a pretty shaky plan.

 

[taylorjonl]

Las Vegas has arena and ownership - Seattle doesn't. So it wasn't an option.

I heard a native Seattle fan say the reason they don't have a team is they want to have a basketball team also so they can share the arena. Not sure how true this is.

 

[Martinez]

Some wings fans can convert, you know, they're gonna have a couple top picks in the near future, they'll already be in rebuild mode from the get go for some of you.

Right, if we want to see what a full on rebuild looks like here's our chance.

 

[BStinson]

Yeah, but Seattle has actual fans of the game of hockey.

Vegas has plenty of "actual" fans. Vegas is a very interesting location due to the tourism and I know a bunch of my family are going to be planning trips based on when their teams are out here. If you were to go to a game outside of the Joe wouldn't you want to do it in Vegas?

 

[Claypool]

For $500 million bones it's absolutely worth the risk. Pretty sure they already have over 10k season tickets pre sold. Some of y'all are crazy.

 

[BStinson]

For $500 million bones it's absolutely worth the risk. Pretty sure they already have over 10k season tickets pre sold. Some of y'all are crazy.

I checked the season tickets sold back in October of 2015 and it was slightly over 13k and that doesn't count the amount organizations like MGM are going to buy for their high rollers.

 

[Henkka]

I checked the season tickets sold back in October of 2015 and it was slightly over 13k and that doesn't count the amount organizations like MGM are going to buy for their high rollers.

So 13k season tickets holders and 5k tourists, and the house is full? Doesn't sound bad.

Didn't Red Wings, Chicago etc. already have that much fans in Arizona road games? So why not extend the tour on Vegas? Maybe they already did that? Went to visit Vegas and at same trip see a Wings game at Phoenix. Now your hockeytourist can see his own team twice.


I predict Las Vegas will be slam dunk great deal for NHL. It's so exeptional. And it will help the Western conf in travel. Less other costs. Better business.