Next expansion team in Las Vegas - How does everyone feel about it?

[PM]

The strategy is to bank on tourists to sell out 41 games a season? Ridiculous. You're not going to have actual fans.

This is akin to the NFL hosting games in London - full time.

NFL is actually pretty popular in the UK and the main draw of expanding to London is another time slot on Sunday mornings before the East Coast games begin. There are also far less home games in the NFL season and each game really matters so I don't think they have trouble filling the stadium all that much. I think it's a much more viable venture than the NHL going to Vegas but that's just the difference between the two leagues right there.

 

[Samuel Culper III]

It's dumb. Who are the season ticket holders in Nevada? Vegas is a tourist town. You're not going to fill a hockey arena with tourists who have other things to choose from, at least not after the novelty of the new team wears off. Seattle or Portland would make a lot more sense.

 

[OnTheFly19]

I'd like to know why this franchise will turn out any better than Arizona.

 

[No Fun Shogun]

Not a Canadian, but that being said if the NHL is as gung-ho about Vegas as I think they are, they've also gotta know that the reaction to putting a team there, north and south of the border, will be overwhelmingly negative for a number of reasons.

If the NHL wanted to win a minor PR battle/reduce the backlash, I'd think that they'd couple the announcement of an expansion to Vegas with the simultaneous announcement of an expansion team being awarded to a certain former NHL market up in Canada. People will knock the NHL moving into Vegas regardless, but if it was announced at the same time as the return of the Nordiques? I'm guessing that positivity about Quebec City would get more press than negativity about Vegas.

 

[Puckclektr]

Makes me mad to the point where I may give up in the nhl and spend all my money on the OhL and watch more midget aaa for free.
This is my problem. I am a leaf fan that hates the organization and all they have done with a passion. I will not support this garbage. I want to support a local team.
That being said. I want to watch NHL. I can A spend an arm and a leg to get a ticket to a leaf game. Tht is if I can get a ticket. Or B drive the two hours to buffalo and get a ticket for a fair price.
I can never get tickets in Toronto yet when I watch the highlights at night I see a half a dozen markets where the seats are empty most nights.
The Golden Horsehoe can def support another team. Same with Quebec.
If the coyotes are indicitive of NHL failure the desert why try again on a city half the size as Phoenix. I know it is a big tourist town with lots of money. But many of those wont be true fans they will be novelty fans with the small percentage that Charles from Montgomery Alabama becomes a hockey fan after watching a game while hammered at a venue cuz he got free tickets from the bellagio. I will tell you this. Casinos try their darnest to keep their customers in their own hotel and casino and try desperately to get more people in. Do you really think they are going to be giving away free tickets to games where the customer will be not spending money at their casino for four hours. I think not.
Not to mention Vegas has been a fast growing city. But it will stop with the water shortage.
I am not saying that seattle isnt a good market. I think it is the best available American market now. But it isn't hockey mad like people are here. And there are two many teams that are not working right now.
I also am a devil fan and haven't really watched many games since the strike.
We cancelled our cable. We have netflix and loads of other opportunities to watch tv. I only had tv for NHL.
I cancelled it and am not paying $80 a month for cable plus $200 a year to watch my team play anymore after the strike.
Many people outside of toronto think this is a leaf town. It isn't. It is an NHL fan. There are about a third of NHL fans in Toronto that are not leaf fans. I bet one in every 8-10 fans is a habs fan. I am not talking about the bandwagon fans that start cheering for the leafs when they make the playoffs. I am talking about true leaf fans. Support them at their worst. There are a lot of supporters of other teams in this city. Another team in Toronto would be a top five profitable franchise in this league within a decade and would be top ten right away.
That's right if Vegas gets a team, I am through.

 

[ManofSteel55]

I wouldn't say Canadians are mad. Well, Quebec City residents might be. Most of us just question the decision. Is Vegas going to be a hockey market? What makes them different than Arizona or Florida?

 

[beowulf]

I'm not, but I'd prefer to see Seattle or Portland get a team before Vegas (or along with, if that's the case). The 14/16 split we have going on limits two expansion slots to the West meaning only four cities can really be chosen from. Quebec City, Toronto, Hamilton, Kitchener/Waterloo, etc are out of luck.

I don't see a Canadian city getting awarded a team unless it's through relocation.

Ya that's the best way to make an expansion decision...

I think it would be a bad move but hey money talks.

 

[DaHabMan]

Doesnt make me mad at all...just going to be funny and pathetic once this all blows up in their faces, again. They should fix their current teams first and then go wih the experimentation causs the league is healthy, which it is not with some teams running jmin the red right now. Stupid business model from an incompetent league brass.

 

[Pinkfloyd]

It's dumb. Who are the season ticket holders in Nevada? Vegas is a tourist town. You're not going to fill a hockey arena with tourists who have other things to choose from, at least not after the novelty of the new team wears off. Seattle or Portland would make a lot more sense.

You think a metro of 2 million plus and growing is solely a tourist town? Seattle and Portland make more sense if they're interested in bringing in a team at the price required and have the arena ready to go. Neither place has all those things going for them. Vegas does.

I'd like to know why this franchise will turn out any better than Arizona.

Two things...Vegas will have one pro team. Phoenix/Arizona has four. The arena location in Glendale is not conducive to either the fan base nor the corporate support. Vegas will at least have a location conducive to corporate support. Is it a slam dunk? Absolutely not. It will take a lot of work and a lot of ownership from the locals getting their first team to make it work. There's a lot riding on this for Vegas as much as there is for the NHL and Foley. And the locals will have to do something they despise in going to the strip but if they want to be perceived as a big league town, this will be their opportunity to put their money where their mouths are.

 

[HanSolo]

Op you could've just gone to the business boards to find out. This thread should be titled on a scale of 1 to tortorella how mad does Vegas make you?

 

[HanSolo]

I'd like to know why this franchise will turn out any better than Arizona.

Tourism, less competition from other major sports, casino industry that could keep it afloat.

 

[Frosty415]

Another USA team in a market that doesn't even know about hockey. A team who will survive from getting subsidy from the more successful Canadian markets? I'm not even mad, it's actually quite hilarious.

Perhaps ten years from now, this Las Vegas team, after they struggle for said ten years, will be relocated in Quebec City and win a cup. That would be justice.

But yeah. I don't even care.

I hate this anti American crap some of you spit out.

I used to live in Canada, im all for even out the west.

 

[YWGF18]

I'm looking forward to a team in Vegas more than anywhere else. It's cheap to fly there, cheap to stay the night, plenty to do around the rink. Tickets will probably more expensive ($100 avg?) but that's the cost of being in Vegas.

Here is hoping the Jets play 2 games in 5 nights there in the middle of Jan or Feb the first year they are in the league

 

[JLo217]

I think it's a great idea and can be what they likely hoped the Coyotes would be.

Many people like going to Vegas already, so it'll be a popular destination to go see games given the surrounding activities.

If they can generate even filling half the stadium with local fans they'll be successful.

 

[SI90]

Vaneks contract is short with MIN.

Las Vegas will sign Vanek and he will become their first captain and franchise leader.

I'd like to see Seattle get a team.

 

[Sens Rule]

Vegas will have no trouble selling out the arena, but actual people in the seats on game day is another story.

Yes, I can see that happening. They sellout every game. 18K a game. 8K-10K in the seats. Hotel Casinos end up owning 60% of the seats and give them away as comps to patrons. Patrons don't end up actually attending the game. Team is a financial success and kind of a sad state for actual fans.

 

[Trap Jesus]

It's such a weird concept. If you put a football team there and only have 8 games a year scheduled on Sundays it would probably work, but hockey is still pretty foreign to a lot of people in that area, and selling tickets to 41 games staggered randomly throughout the year could be a disaster if you're relying so heavily on tourists. How the fans identify with the team is going to be unlike anything we've ever seen before in team sports as well, and not in a good way.

 

[Soundgarden]

Ha, all this stuff that some of you are getting upset about is the same exact stuff you got your panties in a bunch over when Nashville was getting a team. When San Jose, Tampa, Anaheim, Florida, Columbus got teams too, and most of the expansion teams worked out and are on solid footing. The entitlement here is astounding, but the reality is the canadien dollar is down, by the time expansion actually happens the TV contract will almost be up and Quebec will probably wait until relocation instead of ponying up that huge expansion fee.

It's not "Bettman HATES Quebec why isn't there a team there yet!" It's Vegas and Seattle will have the dough for the expansion fee and Quebec will be completely ready for the next team that relocates and that's a smart move.

 

[Sens Rule]

Interesting. If I am "Vegas". I mean the city... Vegas... Or a group of large casinos... Advertise everywhere in North America... Like crazy. I wonder how organized... Or how smart they could market this to visiting cities. Special deal to fly there and stay at ANY of the big hotel casinos for 4 days and 4 nights while your team visits. Blanket local media in New England to sell the package in New England a few months before the Bruins visit. Do it in every NHL market. Could Vegas actually draw tens of thousands of people to the city this way?

 

[OnTheFly19]

Tourism, less competition from other major sports, casino industry that could keep it afloat.

I just don't see that keeping it afloat. Sure less competition from other sports, but really who wants to go to a game when they are in Vegas. They'll have few base fans and it seems like the NHL is assuming they would have a lot of opportunistic attendance (given tickets, went to a game out of the novelty).

Maybe they see it as high risk high reward, but there seems to be better bets elsewhere.

 

[pbgoalie]

Lived in Vegas for a short time.
Obviously, many haven't seen the communities that are not part of the strip.
There is a huge community around Vegas that while dependent on tourism/gambling
in a large part, that community is there and supports a lot of commerce.

Whether enough to support a team or not, I have no idea.

But the chip on the shoulder of cities, or hockey fans in those cities, who feel they deserve a team is kind of astounding.
As much as I believe the NHL is about one thing, revenue, I find it hard to believe that if any major city put up a guarantee of the expansion fee, season tickets/and corporate boxes for (X) years, that the NHL would announce that city as the "new" expansion location.
If it's Vegas, so be it
Hamilton, same difference.
Sorry to say, it's not about how many hockey fans or players you have. It's about what place will put up the dough

 

[Mayor Bee]

I'm not sure why everyone is convinced that a Vegas team would be it, making it a 31-team league for any real period of time.

This isn't the John Ziegler era.

 

[Viqsi]

I think Las Vegas deserve a hockey team more than Quebec. Think about it: Las Vegas has never experienced hockey, whereas Quebec actually has. Don't you want these wonderful people from Nevada to have a chance to see the game we've all grown to love? One-timers, fights, breakaways, diving saves, crushing body checks, advanced tactics, forechecking, bachchecking! Wouldn't you want a fan who is new to hockey to see the 1-3-1 or the neutral zone trap?

Vegas deserves hockey because they don't even know they want or need it in their lives.

This, only (mostly) without the sarcasm. Seeing as though my current obsessions with the NHL are as a direct result of that sort of "growing the game" policy, I legitimately believe in it. Sometimes folks just need that opportunity to see how G-DDAMN ****ING AWESOME hockey is to be able to really get it.

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I'm mad cause Evander Kane will demand a trade there.

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It's dumb. Who are the season ticket holders in Nevada? Vegas is a tourist town. You're not going to fill a hockey arena with tourists who have other things to choose from, at least not after the novelty of the new team wears off. Seattle or Portland would make a lot more sense.

We don't know who they would be, which is why the NHL - being confronted with a guy with lots of money and lots of interest - is basically saying "let's just make sure the population base supports it" first with the season ticket drive study.

It makes perfect sense. Too many fans here seem to assume that the proper way to handle NHL expansion is to think "where are the fans" first, and then figure out the business aspects later. While that sort of thinking is very attractive from the fan perspective for obvious reasons, it's also not a viable business strategy. If there's no willing owners, there's no hope. They'll make a good-faith effort to find those owners in the case of markets that already exist (the most obvious examples being Edmonton, Ottawa, and Arizona, all with somewhat mixed results), but that's it.

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I'd like to know why this franchise will turn out any better than Arizona.

Presumably, more stable ownership. Otherwise I don't think the NHL would have bothered to give this a try to begin with.

 

[Filip Forceberg]

It's dumb. Who are the season ticket holders in Nevada? Vegas is a tourist town. You're not going to fill a hockey arena with tourists who have other things to choose from, at least not after the novelty of the new team wears off. Seattle or Portland would make a lot more sense.

Honest question:

Have you ever been to Las Vegas?

 

[Esq]

If it doesn't work out they'll just move the team in 10 years. I don't see anything wrong with trying this. Certainly a better move than KC or Portland.