NHL Vegas wants to buy AHL team and move it to LV

[AintLifeGrand]

no city needs a hockey team, if that was the case, where was SLC and their fanbase not supporting the existing franchise when the business decision was made to return to the ECHL.

Why should the people GAF about ECHL.

it’s a horrible product in a crappy arena in an awful part of town as well

 

[CHRDANHUTCH]

Why should the people GAF about ECHL.

it’s a horrible product in a crappy arena in an awful part of town as well

uh, it's done well and frankly, the AHL was ignored when the Grizzlies were forced into the league the last time around, Cincinnati almost collapsed when Anaheim tried doing that in 2 arenas, history tells you it rarely works, or is successful....Anaheim didn't work in Baltimore because it's a Capitals territory, and then watching the Cyclones and their fanbase fight against Anaheim, it's a wonder the franchise is still there and thriving.

 

[AintLifeGrand]

uh, it's done well and frankly, the AHL was ignored when the Grizzlies were forced into the league the last time around, Cincinnati almost collapsed when Anaheim tried doing that in 2 arenas, history tells you it rarely works, or is successful....Anaheim didn't work in Baltimore because it's a Capitals territory, and then watching the Cyclones and their fanbase fight against Anaheim, it's a wonder the franchise is still there and thriving.

Listen bruh, I'm a big time/big league sports game aficionado . Fam had NHL season tickets for a number of seasons- Therefore I am extremely qualified in judging overall "product" and "atmosphere" and going to a Grizzlies game is akin to going to the County Fair in Pigs Knuckle Arkansas.

If they get an AHL Squad. Put it in Vivint Area, only sell the bottom 2/3rds of the lower section (plus club seating) and market it to the Non Mormon Young Urban Professional Demo (there are alot of us) who lie within 10 miles of DT, it will be a success. Outside of Jazz Games and night skiing, there is literally nothing to do in SLC during the week in the winter

 

[AintLifeGrand]

uh, it's done well and frankly, the AHL was ignored when the Grizzlies were forced into the league the last time around, Cincinnati almost collapsed when Anaheim tried doing that in 2 arenas, history tells you it rarely works, or is successful....Anaheim didn't work in Baltimore because it's a Capitals territory, and then watching the Cyclones and their fanbase fight against Anaheim, it's a wonder the franchise is still there and thriving.

Do you realize how much SLC has changed in the past 5 years, let alone the last 15 or so???

 

[CHRDANHUTCH]

Listen bruh, I'm a big time/big league sports game aficionado . Fam had NHL season tickets for a number of seasons- Therefore I have excellent tastes in judging overall "product" and "atmosphere" and going to a Grizzlies game is akin to going to the County Fair in Pigs Knuckle Arkansas.

If they get an AHL Squad. Put it in Vivint Area, only sell the bottom 2/3rds of the lower section (plus club seating) and market it to the Non Mormon Young Urban Professional Demo (there are alot of us) who lie within 10 miles of DT, it will be a success. Outside of Jazz Games and night skiing, there is literally nothing to do in SLC during the week in the winter

it won't be happening, bruh....why was the Maverik Center built then, other than the Olympics, that's why the Miller trust never pursued another team , that's another Cincinnati and Utah will be gone from hockey within ten years

 

[CHRDANHUTCH]

Do you realize how much SLC has changed in the past 5 years, let alone the last 15 or so???

and why does the AHL Care about SLC? IT HAS shown nothing to reenter there since 2006

 

[GindyDraws]

Oh, goodie. Another purist who's all "ECHL's trash, why does it even exist."

 

[LadyStanley]

Rumor is that Calgary wants its club close enough to an airport that has direct flights to and from Calgary. Right now, a player from Stockton needs a 90 minute ride to SFO to accomplish that feat, even though you can get to Calgary through Vancouver from Sacramento. It is the reason I mentioned the Heat relocating to Chicago and the Knights moving closer. By the way, Alliegent Air has direct flights from Stockton to Vegas. The way Calgary runs their farm teams it may make sense for them to NOT own their farm club. If Vegas did occupy the Stockton Arena, it would not surprise me if they just bought it from the city and made all of the improvements themselves. Vegas always does stuff over-the-top and this would be in line with what it appears to be their business practices. The cross promotion between the Knights and Wolves (or Heat) would be impressive. Maybe they would even try to market the team (what?????) to increase attendance. Plus, being in San Jose's backyard would make the NHL rivalry even better.

Foley (and minority owners) have been willing to invest $$. They bought in to the T Mobile arena (I think); they built the training facility in Summerlin. The city of Henderson recently approved multi-sheet ice facility that VGK/Foley (et al) are doing.

Allegiant has two direct/non-stop afternoon flights (SCK to LAS). That won't get a guy to morning skate; so there would still be that 90 minute drive to catch a flight (or it's 3-4 hours of transit time to fly from SCK to SFO or LAX to go to LAS). (It's nearly a 9 hour drive)

 

[AintLifeGrand]

and why does the AHL Care about SLC? IT HAS shown nothing to reenter there since 2006

No.

We've had Kings Exhibition games for years that draw a healthy 15k crowd

Utah is also the fastest growing state in the country by population... a very educated population, strong economy with alot of disposable income..... Like the polar opposite of California

 

[BKIslandersFan]

Listen bruh, I'm a big time/big league sports game aficionado . Fam had NHL season tickets for a number of seasons- Therefore I am extremely qualified in judging overall "product" and "atmosphere" and going to a Grizzlies game is akin to going to the County Fair in Pigs Knuckle Arkansas.

If they get an AHL Squad. Put it in Vivint Area, only sell the bottom 2/3rds of the lower section (plus club seating) and market it to the Non Mormon Young Urban Professional Demo (there are alot of us) who lie within 10 miles of DT, it will be a success. Outside of Jazz Games and night skiing, there is literally nothing to do in SLC during the week in the winter

I have seen Vivint Arena for hockey and even for basketball specific arena, its AWFUL for hockey.

 

[AintLifeGrand]

There are some zones In the upper bowl that have awful sight lines.

I think the plan would be just to not sell tickets there (directly behind both goals)

you don’t need 17k capacity for an AHL squad

really only need the lower bowl and club sections

 

[Tommy Hawk]

So, after not being able to get back the time I just spent reading this thread, no one really knows what is going to happen with any affiliate. Highly unlikely that the Blackhawks would ever affiliate with the Wolves, highly unlikely the Wolves will be selling their franchise license, and there is nothing that says Vegas in unhappy with the current arrangement.

 

[JMCx4]

So, after not being able to get back the time I just spent reading this thread ...

You shoulda just stayed in the pool with your dog.

 

[DudeWhereIsMakar]

If there are enough teams within that area I imagine Idaho gets an AHL team, but my other question would be if Seattle would go to there instead of Palm Springs and one other team takes over.

 

[CHRDANHUTCH]

If there are enough teams within that area I imagine Idaho gets an AHL team, but my other question would be if Seattle would go to there instead of Palm Springs and one other team takes over.

nope, once Palm Springs was announced, that ended the speculation about Idaho following the Colorado route of switching leagues

 

[Barclay Donaldson]

If there are enough teams within that area I imagine Idaho gets an AHL team, but my other question would be if Seattle would go to there instead of Palm Springs and one other team takes over.

Idaho isn't getting a AHL team. That ship sailed. No team is going to relocate there and the league isn't expanding past 32.

And the second question is an even easier no. NHL Seattle's OVG is plopping down a couple hundred million to build the Palm Springs arena and the location is much more convenient for them than Idaho. OVG is going to make a killing on concerts once it gets up and running, they're in it for the long haul.

The only (extremely flawed) reasons people were going for Boise was the callups and the existing infrastructure. Palm Springs has quick, daily direct flights to Seattle, so there goes the callups advantage, and the existing infrastructure wasn't good enough to support an AHL team anyways so that wasn't going to happen. Plus, why the hell would a team want to have their closest division rival be +10 hours away by bus. AHL teams almost never fly, even today.

 

[royals119]

Plus, why the hell would a team want to have their closest division rival be +10 hours away by bus. AHL teams almost never fly, even today.

I agree, and this is the biggest factor, I believe. The other NHL teams created the western AHL division with two desires in mind. 1 - get their prospects on the west coast so they don't lose a day of travel and cap hit each way on every call-up. 2 - locate most of the teams near enough to each other that they don't spend too much time traveling for games.
It seems unlikely that anyone is going to relocate an AHL team to a location that is both a flight for call-ups and a flight for most of their games. The norm is either most games are within a bus ride ( 22 teams) or the call-up is within a couple hours drive, but they fly for games a lot ( Tuscon, Manitoba, Texas, Colorado, Charlotte). I doubt you will see a new team where there is a flight for callups and a flight for most games. The only current exception to the rule is San Antonio, and that's not a new city for the AHL and they do have Texas nearby.

Palm Springs has advantages for Seattle, but it was probably also a lot easier to get approval from the other owners because of the travel advantages for the other six western division teams.

 

[LadyStanley]

AHL teams almost never fly, even today.

YMMV. As a Sharks fan, I have followed their affiliate for years.

When in Worcester, they bused around New England, and even to Pennsylvania. But did fly to Texas like once a year.

Now in San Jose, they bus to Stockton, Bakersfield and (usually) Ontario; sometimes San Diego (only if they're playing someone else to/from; but if only SD for a weekend, they'll fly). Also fly to Tucson, Texas, etc.

 

[Barclay Donaldson]

YMMV. As a Sharks fan, I have followed their affiliate for years.

When in Worcester, they bused around New England, and even to Pennsylvania. But did fly to Texas like once a year.

Now in San Jose, they bus to Stockton, Bakersfield and (usually) Ontario; sometimes San Diego (only if they're playing someone else to/from; but if only SD for a weekend, they'll fly). Also fly to Tucson, Texas, etc.

The Eastern Conference is nice in that every conference game minus Charlotte is a short to medium length bus trip. Advantageous geography and population distribution is nicely taken advantage of. Many teams have multiple travel partners within a 3 hour drive, to the jealousy of their Western counterparts.

Obviously in the Western Conference it varies, but every team schedules their games to minimize travel of all kinds. Colorado plays near exclusively 2-3 game sets for their entire schedule. Just looking at San José's schedule, they nearly always play the further teams like San Diego as part of a swing with Ontario and sometimes Bakersfield. This will only increase with Palm Springs' addition. The NHL does this as well where teams play both Florida and Tampa on the same trip, and now Eastern Conference teams play Arizona and Vegas in a desert stint. I also notice only one non-divisional match up for the entire season, where they host and travel to Des Moines for 2 separate 2 game stands. to play the Wild. Save for a few extreme outliers like Colorado and San Antonio, Western teams will only hit the tarmac 3-5 times throughout their entire 76 game season.

 

[CHRDANHUTCH]

The Eastern Conference is nice in that every conference game minus Charlotte is a short to medium length bus trip. Advantageous geography and population distribution is nicely taken advantage of. Many teams have multiple travel partners within a 3 hour drive, to the jealousy of their Western counterparts.

Obviously in the Western Conference it varies, but every team schedules their games to minimize travel of all kinds. Colorado plays near exclusively 2-3 game sets for their entire schedule. Just looking at San José's schedule, they nearly always play the further teams like San Diego as part of a swing with Ontario and sometimes Bakersfield. This will only increase with Palm Springs' addition. The NHL does this as well where teams play both Florida and Tampa on the same trip, and now Eastern Conference teams play Arizona and Vegas in a desert stint. I also notice only one non-divisional match up for the entire season, where they host and travel to Des Moines for 2 separate 2 game stands. to play the Wild. Save for a few extreme outliers like Colorado and San Antonio, Western teams will only hit the tarmac 3-5 times throughout their entire 76 game season.

where do posters get 76 from, it was never 76 FOR THE entire league UNTIL 5 YEARS AGO, it was 80, it's decreed that the Pacific was 68, the exceptions were Texas and San Antonio, until 2015/16, when Arizona bought Springfield, which became Tucson, then Colorado was added.

 

[Clinton Comets EHL]

where do posters get 76 from, it was never 76 FOR THE entire league UNTIL 5 YEARS AGO, it was 80, it's decreed that the Pacific was 68, the exceptions were Texas and San Antonio, until 2015/16, when Arizona bought Springfield, which became Tucson, then Colorado was added.

LOL LOL

 

[LadyStanley]

Pacific div plays 68 games.

 

[CHRDANHUTCH]

Pacific div plays 68 games.

the entire league played 80 at one time, not that long ago, then it was 76 becoming the standard until 2014-2015; Texas and San Antonio, until the arrival of Tucson, and later Colorado, still played 76 games while in the Pacific Division alignment

 

[Clinton Comets EHL]

where do posters get 76 from, it was never 76 FOR THE entire league UNTIL 5 YEARS AGO, it was 80, it's decreed that the Pacific was 68, the exceptions were Texas and San Antonio, until 2015/16, when Arizona bought Springfield, which became Tucson, then Colorado was added.

2010-11 was last season of 80 games, 76 started in 2011-12

Pacific teams started 68 in 2015-16

 

[Barclay Donaldson]

where do posters get 76 from, it was never 76 FOR THE entire league UNTIL 5 YEARS AGO, it was 80, it's decreed that the Pacific was 68, the exceptions were Texas and San Antonio, until 2015/16, when Arizona bought Springfield, which became Tucson, then Colorado was added.

The entire league plays 76 games except for the Pacific division apparently. That's where they get the number 76 from. Because the entire league minus a division plays it. Let's not get off on a wild tangent here.

Pacific div plays 68 games.

Semantics. Even if it's off by 4 away games, 3-5 flights total for away 34 games remains a negligible amount. There are a few outliers from the soon to be 32 team league, but even the ones on an island have minimized the time spent in an airport.