NHL All Star game in Vegas

[LVIsles*]

I live here in Vegas and cant even begin to describe what this city is like for the All Star game, I have been in citys that had All Star games, Championships and World Series and nothing compares to this,, I understand Vegas is trying to attract a NBA team but regardless I think putting the All Star game here would be a good thing, does anyone know where the All Star game was played a few weeks ago? that is right Dallas but you had to think about it for a few seconds if you knew it at all,, putting a All Star game here would be a good memorable thing, get a NHL version of the NBA Jam Session going where you can get a autograph from Mario Lemieux and Roberto Luongo and get to maybe shoot a puck or ice skate, put a 500 foot photo of Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin hanging over the MGM like it has Gilbert Arenas and Tracy Mcgrady, I know Hockey isnt anywhere near as popular as Basketball, but I think it could get alot of recognition and maybe turn a few people into fans,, I know I was a below average basketball fan and this has definetly bumped me up a few notches...

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[Hawker14]

I live here in Vegas and cant even begin to describe what this city is like for the All Star game, I have been in citys that had All Star games, Championships and World Series and nothing compares to this,, I understand Vegas is trying to attract a NBA team but regardless I think putting the All Star game here would be a good thing, does anyone know where the All Star game was played a few weeks ago? that is right Dallas but you had to think about it for a few seconds if you knew it at all,, putting a All Star game here would be a good memorable thing, get a NHL version of the NBA Jam Session going where you can get a autograph from Mario Lemieux and Roberto Luongo and get to maybe shoot a puck or ice skate, put a 500 foot photo of Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin hanging over the MGM like it has Gilbert Arenas and Tracy Mcgrady, I know Hockey isnt anywhere near as popular as Basketball, but I think it could get alot of recognition and maybe turn a few people into fans,, I know I was a below average basketball fan and this has definetly bumped me up a few notches...

paragraphs and periods are your friends.

I'm guessing 99% or higher of the posters here know the all star game was in dallas. this board is hardcore fans.

but discussing the nba's all star game festivities, i honestly believe that you're either going to like hockey or you're not. no amount of marketing is going to change that. it may sell a few more tickets, but it won't change this basic fact.

 

[KeydGV21]

paragraphs and periods are your friends.

I'm guessing 99% or higher of the posters here know the all star game was in dallas. this board is hardcore fans.

but discussing the nba's all star game festivities, i honestly believe that you're either going to like hockey or you're not. no amount of marketing is going to change that. it may sell a few more tickets, but it won't change this basic fact.

I have to agree with all of this...

BTW I didn't know the all star game was this weekend until on the way home from tonights game when the Sabres postgame merged into ESPN radio... I knew it was coming up but for the most part NBA information goes in one ear and out the other. This is the way most NHL stuff is for non fans so I don't really think the city would have any sort of lasting factor.

 

[BigT2002]

Atlanta should be interesting next year....

Honestly it needs to head back up into New England

 

[OG6ix]

Vegas can't have my Blazers, but they can go get the grizzlies or someone

NHL All Star game needs to be in NY again.

 

[EbencoyE]

All-Star games are supposed to be treats for the local fans where it's held. Las Vegas doesn't have a team - why put an All-Star game there?

There's alot of NHL cities that haven't had one yet and/or would like to have another which are more important than a city that doesn't even have a team.

That said, All-Star games are pointless anyway and there's isn't much of a reason to market it anyway. The NBA can get away with it though because the NBA is all flash and big stars anyway who put themselves above the team. By marketing the all-star game, you're marketing the entire game of basketball.

Hockey all-star games are different though. They're a horrible representation of the sport and since hockey players don't try to entertain the fans anyway they're pretty much pointless.

I'd rather see the all-star break be used as an international break for national team friendlies or club competitions with European teams.

Have the Stanley Cup winner from the past year play the European Champions Cup winner. And have international friendlies which could garner a lot of interest since international teams are rarely seen on TV anymore except for the Olympics and the odd World Cup. USA v.s. Russia in Chicago. Canada v.s. Sweden in Toronto. Czech Republic v.s. Germany in Berlin. All with NHLers. The rights could be sold seperately and networks could bid for rights. ESPN or NBC or even USA or Spike would probably love the chance to show a U.S. v.s. Russia game with NHLers. Since it's only one game they could market it heavily and get decent ratings. Versus could have the SC winner v.s. ECC winner series since most people probably wouldn't care except the SC winner's fans.

 

[pavvento]

I have to agree, it could be a good thing for the game. I work in an italian rest. and they had the nba skills thing on saturday night and EVERYONE in the restaurant was watching, old people, kids. The way the players were being focussed on and marketed, the dunk contest was great, but we all know the NHL skills competition is better. I am not saying change the game to make it grow, but attracting new fans is healthy and what the league needs, and if you can do it without expansion and without rule changes why not? We all saw the All-Star weekend, empty seats? c'mon, Week night? c'mon, Versus? c'mon. I know that some of these things have been mentioned, but when you see what the NBA did with their weekend it completely blows ours out of the water.

 

[jkrdevil]

As long as Rick Toccett is still alive and probably in jail, I doubt you will see the NHL anywhere near Vegas.

 

[Winston Wolf]

I'd love to have the NHL All-Star game here, but screw the NBA and its fans.

I live here in Vegas and cant even begin to describe what this city is like for the All Star game, I have been in citys that had All Star games, Championships and World Series and nothing compares to this,, I understand Vegas is trying to attract a NBA team but regardless I think putting the All Star game here would be a good thing, does anyone know where the All Star game was played a few weeks ago?

Have you seen what it has been like? I am sure you do not work in a casino because you would not be saying this if you did. This has been THE worst crowd I have ever seen since I have lived/worked here and that was echoed by co-workers who have been doing valet for 20 years here.

There have been shootings at the Palms, Caesars, the Flamingo, and other places. Caesars was completely shut down for two hours on Friday! Do you know what the **** has to happen for a casino to completely shut down for two hours!? That is many, many millions of dollars that they are losing and casinos do not take that lightly at all. Huge amounts of gang activity, Crips, Bloods, and tons of other black gangs came in town for this event. More fights in three days at my casino, than in the last month combined. Incidents of guys hitting girls (which is also popular when the Iranians are in town!) have been common according to a security guard I work with. I work at the casino that is hosting everything going on with the All-Star game, except for the actual game itself, which was at the Thomas and Mack. It has been absolute hell for the last three days, thank God Monday is the last day for any All-Star events.

It has been absolute pandemonium. Friday night, Dwayne Wade was making a scheduled appearance at one of the clubs right by our valet entrance. A huge amount of people leave the club at once, so we basically have like 500 people (most drunk and high) mingling in front of where we bring out cars, which slows us down by a significant amount. Glasses are being broken, people are fighting, everyone wants to know where their car is (hey, you're only behind 150 people, but you think it's going to take 5 minutes? ) It was the most chaotic I've ever seen it been and things have gotten pretty chaotic on boxing nights. They actually shut the doors to one of the entrances it was so packed. A business man who was taking a client out to dinner, unknowing of the events, said it looked like downtown Detroit. Empty Hennessy and other assorted bottles everywhere. Many throwing up, of course. Two paddywagons made four trips, (at just this entrance, there is also another one) which is a new record!

Saturday night wasn't as busy for us, which doesn't say much, as Friday was the busiest this casino has ever been in seven years of existence, but it was an even ****ier night. Ludacris was performing at the same club and some basketball players were appearing. Same scene as the night before basically, except this time there was a big fight inside with Crips and Bloods which ended up with the Crips walking across one of the valet drives and walking on top of parked cars and stomping on hoods of $100,000+ cars. ****ing animals. Security just watched them, none of them are dumb enough to try and be the hero and wind up getting shot. Not enough police presence for this type of crowd, to be sure.

Tonight Akon was performing, but I worked dayshift to miss that catastrophe. It was still insanely busy today, as they have events with NBA players all day long. I'm sure something went down tonight, after what happened Saturday, and being that it's the 2nd to last or last night here for most of these people. They are cheap, I have honestly been stiffed more in the last three days than in the last year, no joke. We still get loads of money out of them because when they are desperate to get to the club and we are the only parking left and we decide who valets, the $20s and $100s come out fast.

Believe me, with the type of crowd the NBA draws, Las Vegas is NOT a good city for an NBA All-Star game here again. I feel sorry for the tourists who were here that were not for the NBA All-Star game.

NHL fans >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> NBA fans

 

[Lucky Lager]

I live here in Vegas and cant even begin to describe what this city is like for the All Star game, I have been in citys that had All Star games, Championships and World Series and nothing compares to this,, I understand Vegas is trying to attract a NBA team but regardless I think putting the All Star game here would be a good thing, does anyone know where the All Star game was played a few weeks ago? that is right Dallas but you had to think about it for a few seconds if you knew it at all,, putting a All Star game here would be a good memorable thing, get a NHL version of the NBA Jam Session going where you can get a autograph from Mario Lemieux and Roberto Luongo and get to maybe shoot a puck or ice skate, put a 500 foot photo of Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin hanging over the MGM like it has Gilbert Arenas and Tracy Mcgrady, I know Hockey isnt anywhere near as popular as Basketball, but I think it could get alot of recognition and maybe turn a few people into fans,, I know I was a below average basketball fan and this has definetly bumped me up a few notches...

no thanks... pass on that, hockey can`t survive in that part of your country... dallas being hte exception.

 

[Stone87]

Can't we just get rid of all-star games already...The only reason I would ever really be pumped for one is if they invited a bunch of tough guys and had some sort of a boxing competition. Otherwise I'm going to find something better to do on all-star weekend.

 

[Butch 19]

... I'm going to find something better to do on all-star weekend.

Don't you mean all-star weekday?

 

[Bear of Bad News]

no thanks... pass on that, hockey can`t survive in that part of your country... dallas being hte exception.

What type of globe has Las Vegas and Dallas being in the same part of the country?

 

[Hasbro]

What type of globe has Las Vegas and Dallas being in the same part of the country?

Perhaps he's confusing it with Las vegas, New Mexico

 

[sandman441]

long post

Wow I would feel sorry for the tourists too. That sounded absolutely horrible. Well when I do go back to Vegas I'm definately making sure not to come during a NBA all star game. Though if the NHL all star game did come to Vegas I would definately go.

 

[labatt50]

A business man who was taking a client out to dinner, unknowing of the events, said it looked like downtown Detroit.

I'm not sure what this is supposed to mean. Nothing you describe sounds like downtown Detroit. Detroit has hosted some very big sporting events the past few years and never came close to the chaos you have described. No crowd control? Police? It is a huge problem when a city that has no major league teams, attempts to host a major league sporting event. Vegas for an NHL All Star game, forget it!

 

[krudmonk]

Perhaps he's confusing it with Las vegas, New Mexico

Perhaps he confused himself with a mentally able person. The two are nowhere near each other. In the slightest chance that he was thinking of somewhere in New Mexico, Dallas is in eastern Texas, the second biggest state in the union. That's still quite a distance. I'm constantly amazed when easterners apply their standards of "oh, it's just one city over" to the western half of the country. They say things like "there shouldn't be three teams in California" as if California is the size of NYC metro.

 

[the overrated]

I wouldn't mind if they put a preseason game in Vegas. Or even a random regular season game if the "home" team doesn't mind losing out on a gate.

But like EbencoyE said, the ASG is a treat for the fans of a city that already has a team. They deserve the game more than Vegas.

And if the league was going to give it to a non-NHL city, I'd put the cities that lost teams as priority over Vegas (Winnipeg, Hartford, Quebec, etc).

 

[danaluvsthekings]

I wouldn't mind if they put a preseason game in Vegas. Or even a random regular season game if the "home" team doesn't mind losing out on a gate.

But like EbencoyE said, the ASG is a treat for the fans of a city that already has a team. They deserve the game more than Vegas.

And if the league was going to give it to a non-NHL city, I'd put the cities that lost teams as priority over Vegas (Winnipeg, Hartford, Quebec, etc).

The Kings have been playing a preseason game in Vegas for 10 years now. They call the game Frozen Fury, it takes place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. It's always a fun weekend. They announced tonight the Kings and Avs will play Frozen Fury 10 on Sept 22.

 

[littleD]

snip long post

Are you sure it was insane as you say at all those hotels?

Scoop

 

[Winston Wolf]

Are you sure it was insane as you say at all those hotels?

Yes. Like I said, I work at a hotel and saw it first hand. I have no reason to make this crap up.

Scoop

Ha, that guy doesn't know what the **** he's talking about. Typical of an idiot sportswriter to get away from the real issue and blame it all on racism. I'd put as much stock into this guy on this issue as Michael Wilbon and Stephen A. Smith, two guys who scream racism every chance they get.

For the second part, those numbers in the article are fake. I've even talked to a police officer who told me the released numbers were skewed and not even close to reality. I'm not sure if anyone here knows about the intricate workings of Las Vegas, but the policy is basically to publically minimize any situation that reflects poorly on Las Vegas. People hear about all these negative stories in the media, but then the LVMPD releases some BS statement or number, as well as statements from the mayor and a few casino executives. Hmmmm. I wonder why... It couldn't be because if they say something bad, they might lose money. No, that definitely wouldn't be the reason.

From the NY Times:
The mayor of Las Vegas, Oscar Goodman, was arranging meetings with casino owners yesterday to prepare a compromise proposal on gambling for Stern by March 20. “They’re going to go for it; I feel very confident,†Goodman said of the casino owners.

As for the arrests and misconduct, Goodman said: “You can only be vigilant and prudent. I don’t attribute that to Las Vegas.â€

Joe Maloof, an owner of the Sacramento Kings who also owns the Palms Casino Resort, which housed the players last weekend, said that the hotel tripled security for the players. “We never had one incident at the Palms,†Maloof said. As for incidents elsewhere, he said, “It’s a little disappointing some of the things that happened, but that can happen anywhere.â€

There were 403 arrests made during the four-day weekend — including two for shootings — which was more than an average convention weekend, according to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.

Just to show you how much BS all of these statements are, I'll tell you that there were two major incidents at the Palms over the NBA weekend. What kind of incidents, you ask? One was just a shooting, probably gang related, nothing that was unusual over that weekend. The other? Let's just say that somebody got thrown off the 42nd floor. Incident? No, I guess that doesn't count as an incident to Mr. Maloof. Maloof and Goodman want an NBA team here, so if you think either of them or the police department are saying anything even remotely negative, you better think again.

As for other occurences over the weekend:

Saturday night was a crazy night, as the Wynn kicked everybody off the casino floor and shut everything down because of fighting and gun shots. Same thing at Caesars that night, as well as looting inside the Forums Shops at Caesars. Looting in a Las Vegas casino? They should've shot them. At the MGM, a valet got into a confrontation with a guy, a few minutes later he comes back and runs the valet over. Several shootings at various strip clubs.

On Sunday night they were throwing ashtrays at bartenders at the hotel I work at and as a result, had all of the bar areas closed down. Tons of fights, of course.

Dozens of restaurants closed around the city because tabs were simply not being paid. If you were black and looked like a thug, you weren't getting a cab ride that weekend. I witnessed it all weekend long. Doorman would blow his whistle, cab drives around the waiting line, sees some thugs and just drives off. They were sick of not being paid or robbed in some cases.


Read these articles, unbiased local news:
http://www.klas-tv.com/Global/story.asp?S=6107862&nav=menu102_2
http://www.klas-tv.com/Global/story.asp?S=6109396&nav=menu102_2
http://www.casinocitytimes.com/news/article.cfm?contentID=164296

More good articles:
This one is especially good, but long http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/070220
http://sports.aol.com/whitlock/_a/mayhem-main-event-at-nba-all-star/20070220103009990001

 

[Winston Wolf]

Wow I would feel sorry for the tourists too. That sounded absolutely horrible. Well when I do go back to Vegas I'm definately making sure not to come during a NBA all star game. Though if the NHL all star game did come to Vegas I would definately go.

Yeah, it was horrible for all the other tourists. There were around 300,000 tourists in town that weekend, yet in actuality, only 70,000 or so were here for the NBA All-Star game.

 

[Winston Wolf]

I'm not sure what this is supposed to mean. Nothing you describe sounds like downtown Detroit. Detroit has hosted some very big sporting events the past few years and never came close to the chaos you have described. No crowd control? Police? It is a huge problem when a city that has no major league teams, attempts to host a major league sporting event. Vegas for an NHL All Star game, forget it!

I'm saying it looked extremely ghetto. Las Vegas is too close to L.A. and all of their gangbangers came to town.

 

[labatt50]

I'm saying it looked extremely ghetto. Las Vegas is too close to L.A. and all of their gangbangers came to town.

How open minded of you to equate ghetto with Detroit and completely ignore the large events hosted in the city of Detroit. (SuperBowl - bigger than the NBA All Star game). Where were the police? crowd control? Was the All Star game such a surprise to Las Vegas that they were not prepared? Again, a non sports town trying to host a major sporting event...it just doesn't work.

 

[Clarence Beeks]

I live here in Vegas and cant even begin to describe what this city is like for the All Star game, I have been in citys that had All Star games, Championships and World Series and nothing compares to this,, I understand Vegas is trying to attract a NBA team but regardless I think putting the All Star game here would be a good thing, does anyone know where the All Star game was played a few weeks ago? that is right Dallas but you had to think about it for a few seconds if you knew it at all,, putting a All Star game here would be a good memorable thing, get a NHL version of the NBA Jam Session going where you can get a autograph from Mario Lemieux and Roberto Luongo and get to maybe shoot a puck or ice skate, put a 500 foot photo of Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin hanging over the MGM like it has Gilbert Arenas and Tracy Mcgrady, I know Hockey isnt anywhere near as popular as Basketball, but I think it could get alot of recognition and maybe turn a few people into fans,, I know I was a below average basketball fan and this has definetly bumped me up a few notches...

Are you sure it was in Dallas? I'm pretty sure it was in Halifax, but I could be mistaken.