What Will the Hockey Atmosphere Be?

[Bart9349]

I was listening to NHL Network radio today. While discussing the recent trade of PK Subban, they mentioned the unique hockey atmosphere of the crowd at the Nashville Predators' arena.

They said that Nashville has a very enthusiastic, loyal, and uniquely festive crowd. It was suggested that some of this passion was alcohol fueled, noting the many local bars within walking distance and the surrounding raucous party atmosphere.

If this is the case, the Las Vegas arena could get insane.

Surprisingly, Nashville has developed a thriving hockey culture. Hopefully, Las Vegas will also erupt with hockey madness.

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[jwhouk]

And yet the guy who was one of the founders of Section 303 works for the Christian missions organization Compassion International.

 

[PerdFan]

The bars actually have very little to do with the atmosphere in Nashville.

College football...SEC college football is king here. These same fans that bring it every Saturday at the religious experience that is SEC football are the ones bringing that "college football" atmosphere into the Bridgestone Arena. That won't be replicated in Vegas or anywhere else for that matter.

The only time that the bars influence the atmosphere in NSH is when Chicago and STL fans show up for a drunken weekend of idiocy in our fair city.

God help Vegas is all I can say when they "visit"...

 

[BattleBorn]

I was listening to NHL Network radio today. While discussing the recent trade of PK Subban, they mentioned the unique hockey atmosphere of the crowd at the Nashville Predators' arena.

They said that Nashville has a very enthusiastic, loyal, and uniquely festive crowd. It was suggested that some of this passion was alcohol fueled, noting the many local bars within walking distance and the surrounding raucous party atmosphere.

If this is the case, the Las Vegas arena could get insane.

Surprisingly, Nashville has developed a thriving hockey culture. Hopefully, Las Vegas will also erupt with hockey madness.

I've had plans of a little cheering section or fan support group since this whole thing was announced. I've been to my share of SEC games, and I'm not afraid the let the liquor do the cheering. I think we'd do just fine here, we were a group of pretty rowdy trolly type folks with the Wranglers, I imagine we could do the same with the NHL team. Assuming the prices don't keep the normal folks out.

Only issue is that I'm using my tickets for myself 30-35 games a year and for business the others. Can't really set myself up in the ultrafan section for those 10 or so games I'm there for business.

I will say this, the people wanting to come to these games after the first couple of years if the team stinks is going to have a lot more to do with the crowd and atmosphere than it will the indoor fireworks or the videos on the scoreboard.

A stupid loud, standing up crowd is going to be huge.

 

[Bart9349]

Watching this video, I have to believe that if the fan enthusiasm isn't (at least partially) alcohol-induced, then there must be something in the water. (See Pierre McGuire at 2:06 mark):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAQGX9cBDQM

 

[calvegas04]

too bad you can't get a soccer style fan section in the NHL, would be pretty awesome

 

[PerdFan]

Watching this video, I have to believe that if the fan enthusiasm isn't (at least partially) alcohol-induced, then there must be something in the water. (See Pierre McGuire at 2:06 mark):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAQGX9cBDQM

You'd be wrong. Nashville fans are literally the loudest fans in the NHL. 117 decibels during the playoffs a few years ago. Alcohol is not sold at SEC games and the crowds are exactly like this. It's not the alcohol and it's not in the water...it's in the DNA.

Watch more Nashville games and you'll see spontaneous 3 minute deafening standing ovations during TV timeouts, crowds so loud that the TV and radio announcers have to yell to be heard and an entire arena chanting at the opposing goalie in unison.
Sat next to some Canuck fans taking in a game in NSH for the first time last season and they said it was hands down the best atmosphere in the NHL and what watching hockey live should be like. By the 3rd period they had bought Pred scarves and caps, knew most of the chants and sang along with the goal song.

Vegas will be interesting...not necessarily like NSH, but definitely unique in its own way.

 

[PerdFan]

too bad you can't get a soccer style fan section in the NHL, would be pretty awesome

https://youtu.be/CHA3c2IN9_o
https://youtu.be/yAFhljvZQzU
https://youtu.be/QrATWqy8lYE

Pred fans are as close to soccer fans as you're gonna to get...enjoy.

 

[BattleBorn]

I'm really fearful that the TMA becomes more LA than Nashville.

I don't want games to be a place to be seen, we really need to get a group of us together to get some chants and stuff going ahead of time versus hoping it develops organically during games.

What do you all think? Iif we've got some P5 STHs here, perhaps we could get us and some of our closest friends to take over a little section and kickstart something. I'm not saying like Cellblock 303 or the Supporters section in Ottawa, but at least some group of people that make a concerted effort to keep energy high and let it go from there.

Bonus points if we can get "Go Knights Go" to stick instead of "Let's Go Knights." Kings fans will complain, but who cares?

 

[calvegas04]

The Kings games are always great crowd wise, the videos of the preds crowd looks cool but nothing different from any other crowd in the playoffs

 

[nobody important]

I'm really fearful that the TMA becomes more LA than Nashville.

I don't want games to be a place to be seen, we really need to get a group of us together to get some chants and stuff going ahead of time versus hoping it develops organically during games.

What do you all think? Iif we've got some P5 STHs here, perhaps we could get us and some of our closest friends to take over a little section and kickstart something. I'm not saying like Cellblock 303 or the Supporters section in Ottawa, but at least some group of people that make a concerted effort to keep energy high and let it go from there.

Bonus points if we can get "Go Knights Go" to stick instead of "Let's Go Knights." Kings fans will complain, but who cares?

And if you do get called the Knights, take the opportunity for a homonymic shoutout during your anthem.

 

[jwhouk]

BTW: Rock and Roll Part 2 is a no-no since Mr. Glitter got nailed for playing with children. Nashville has since gone to "Gold On The Ceiling" for the second part of our goal song - ILIILI is ours forever, no matter what Tim McGraw says.

 

[Bart9349]

I guess part of the atmosphere will depend on the building structure; e.g., low ceilings to capture and amplify the sound.

I haven't been inside T-Mo Arena, yet, but I've heard that every seat is great. Supposedly the acoustics are great for concerts, also.

In contrast, the old Civic Arena in Pittsburgh was horrible for crowd atmosphere. It was cold and cavernous. During the many non-sellouts in the early 80s, the fans were half-asleep. The visiting teams (like the Flyers) could at least hear my taunts across the ice because it was so quiet.

The Kings played at the Forum in Inglewood during the 80s. It was a weird atmosphere. Limos would pull up with both celebrities and wannabes. Wine was sold along with beer. There was a small, but hardcore fan base, however.

 

[BattleBorn]

We'll see how it goes, I think the roof is a little high to keep everything really inside. They've got the club up there, plus the upper level concourse is open right on top of the upper level. There's no walls or anything.

Load that up with SRO and it might be good. I'm really happy there's no vomitoriums up there though, should make for a nice packed look.

 

[Supermassive]

Hopefully the org attracts a lot of visitors with a strong "come cheer our gladiators" campaign. Much like a Medieval Times attitude. Come out, buy some swag, drink, eat, make a lot of noise. I think Vegas can be everyone's team. Hopefully ticket prices aren't too high and the common rowdy fan doesn't get priced out of the arena like they were in Edmonton.

 

[HanSolo]

The Kings games are always great crowd wise, the videos of the preds crowd looks cool but nothing different from any other crowd in the playoffs

I grudgingly admit that LA's crowd is pretty great these days. Anaheim is sadly a better comparison.

 

[Not So Mighty]

You'd be wrong. Nashville fans are literally the loudest fans in the NHL. 117 decibels during the playoffs a few years ago. Alcohol is not sold at SEC games and the crowds are exactly like this. It's not the alcohol and it's not in the water...it's in the DNA.

Watch more Nashville games and you'll see spontaneous 3 minute deafening standing ovations during TV timeouts, crowds so loud that the TV and radio announcers have to yell to be heard and an entire arena chanting at the opposing goalie in unison.
Sat next to some Canuck fans taking in a game in NSH for the first time last season and they said it was hands down the best atmosphere in the NHL and what watching hockey live should be like. By the 3rd period they had bought Pred scarves and caps, knew most of the chants and sang along with the goal song.

Vegas will be interesting...not necessarily like NSH, but definitely unique in its own way.

Not criticizing the NSH atmosphere. They definitely bring it. But you can throw any form of decibel measurement out the window. Building acoustics are unique to each arena. If you bring that exact 117 decibel Nashville crowd to every other arena and get them to cheer exactly as they did that night (impossible as that would be to replicate), the measurement would fluctuate. Sorry but the word literally is being used too liberally here.

Again, I have lots of respect for the Nashville crowd. They have a great environment that I am completely envious of.

 

[DoobeeDoobeeDoo]

As an outsider who constantly says, "Vegas won't work", are there any people here from Vegas who would disagree? What is the buzz around Sin City right now? Is Vegas excited about getting a NHL team, or is it more like "meh"?

 

[BattleBorn]

As an outsider who constantly says, "Vegas won't work", are there any people here from Vegas who would disagree? What is the buzz around Sin City right now? Is Vegas excited about getting a NHL team, or is it more like "meh"?

I think most everyone here will disagree that it wont work. It was a lot easier to have a pessimist's view on Vegas hockey a year and a half ago. If you're not at least on the "meh, it might work" train by now, you're not paying close enough attention.

We're excited as we can be, it was the biggest story on local news for a couple days after the announcement. You have to be an above average hockey person to care about George McPhee, but that was top news as well. Stations going live for the press conference and such.

We'll see how it goes once the team is real, has a logo, has a name, etc. That will be the real test. I think we'll do just fine, though.

 

[HanSolo]

Unfortunately the wait for a name and logo could go as late as mid fall it seems.

 

[Bart9349]

Listening the NHL Network radio today, I was reminded that the makeup of the fan base can determine the spontaneous enthusiasm of the crowd and the hockey atmosphere.

Someone had mentioned that the Sharks crowd was less "corporate" than most. Fans would enthusiastically pack the arena just to watch warm ups.

Early on in the franchise success, the Pens fans were die hard and the decimal level was at its highest. After success was more routine (and the ticket prices had skyrocketed), the fans seemed less passionate and acted more entitled.

So, the question is whether the crowd base in Las Vegas will be "corporate" or more "die hard" fans.

I am not sure who the season ticket owners are, but I worry that the casinos will be passing out tickets to their gambling VIPs who will be rooting for visiting teams or not even following the game.

 

[BattleBorn]

Rest assured that the vast majority of season-ticket holders in the first year at least will be normal private citizens. The season-ticket drive was not open for corporations until about 14,000 deposits.

How many of those people will attend every game versus selling them on the secondary market, I don't know. I would hope that the most of the people that have the deposits will convert the season tickets and attend most of the games. I fully expect to have a great crowd and a very electric atmosphere.

As the years go on and ticket prices start going up and perhaps corporations get more involved that may change, but you're going to have issues like that in any market. The good news is that we have 48 million people coming to town every year and a lot of those people are gonna want to see a game of the times ever get tough. Instead of having middle managers sitting in the seats, we'll have semi drunk tourists in town to have a good time. All things considered I think I'd prefer that.

 

[jwhouk]

Some thing you guys are gonna do will stick to the franchise like glue. Some of it will slide off like oil on Teflon. You gotta go with what works, and ignore the rest.

 

[Trizent]

It will be great when Original 6 plus a couple others come to town.

 

[Senzilla]

too bad you can't get a soccer style fan section in the NHL, would be pretty awesome

Ottawa has actually been experimenting with just that, so Vegas trying it isn't out of the question.