-He feels hockey is not a big sport there, and wonders if enough local hockey fans exist. Says this cant be close to tourist reliant, and kind of mockingly says anyone seeing hockey on a Vegas needs a life outside of the sport. Quite simply, he says Vegas is truly one of the only cities in NA where he easily feels there are better entertainment options.
Likely true, there's a lot of other options here. However, when anyone spends more than a week here, you really start to boil the options down. Throwing a $20 in a poker machine isn't as fun, eating at expensive restaurants is less appealing, how many Cirque du Soleil shows can a person really see? Vegas needs real entertainment for the actual residents, who have been there/done that when it comes to the Vegas stuff. Like I always say, once you get off the Strip/Downtown, this is a normal city with normal people doing normal things.
-Questions if Foley will have a fair shake paying that expansion fee. He has followed the business of sports for a long time, so he feels the NHL chased quick money in the past without allowing those first owners a good chance at success.
My biggest concern is right there. That's a huge number and hopefully it will come down a little. Let's be honest, anyone willing to put half a billion into a team not including an arena should be able to put it where ever the hell they want. Laramie Lightninghawks? Got a half billion to give us? You're in.
-He's probably one of the few people on the radio to discuss smartly a lot the arena/stadium situations in sport. Acknowledges we might never find out the terms of Foley's future lease, but is worried of an NHL team being a tenant in the arena's location.
This is where I think the uniqueness of Las Vegas comes in. As I've mentioned in this thread previously, the hockey team won't be the product the arena is selling, the people walking to and from the arena is the product. Get them into the restaurants and casinos surrounding the arena. That's the only reason the arena exists in the first place. Caesars needed a centerpiece for their development that's a lot like The Park thing the MGM is using the arena as a draw for. Caesars idea? Spend a couple hundred million dollars building the world's largest ferris wheel. Again, the wheel isn't the product, getting people into their area is the only goal.
-His line every time when asked by the other people on his show, is that if he had to choose an amount of money to invest in sports in LV, and the only difference being NHL vs NBA, he would drop his money into an NBA team in LV before NHL.
I think people overestimate Las Vegas' desire for basketball. Not to come across too badly using blanket statements, but Vegas didn't like basketball for the weekend we had it. The fans tore stuff up, criminal activity on the Strip and vicinity went up a lot, and the folks at MGM (who are the people using the arena as the centerpiece) publicly stated they lost money on the whole deal. Going back to my point about the arena being a people magnet more than an actual business venture, the hockey demographic is a lot more complimentary to their goals.
-Kinda thinks the NHL is the only league that actually aspires to, and sees LV as a thing. That the NHL sees it as their Everest, while other leagues dont view it in the same light.
The only other possibility for Vegas is the NBA. We're not going to have a football or baseball stadium any time soon, especially after the outrage from the suggestion that we use tax dollars for a soccer stadium plus the fact that the NFL & MLB don't want to touch gaming with a 100 foot pole. Hell, the NFL won't even let the LVCVA purchase Super Bowl commercials promoting Vegas. Haven't you ever noticed how Las Vegas, which has great commercials, is always absent from the biggest commercial event annually? All that to say that this statement is pointless. What he's really saying is that the NBA doesn't value Vegas as much as the NHL, and given MGM's stance on basketball, why would they?
