Me_ Posted August 27, 2014 Share Posted August 27, 2014 I don't think its an either / or, I think putting a team here accomplishes a lot of things for all parties involved. The Casinos get more people sitting at slot machines and fill more rooms, the NHL gets to claim that they were the first major league team into a market with 2 million residents as well as a massive number of weekly visitors seeking entertainment and gambling. Las Vegas area facts: - Population is slightly over 2 million people, roughly 30th largest in US - 15 of the 25 largest hotels in the world are on the Las Vegas Strip and within 5 min cab ride or 30 min walk from the arena - Total room count within the 5 min cab rid or 30 min walk is over 62,000 - Over 25% of the residents of the immediate Las Vegas area work for the casinos and hotels (this means over 125,000 people report for work within that same walk or cab ride distance from where the arena will be. The MGM alone (right across the street) employs 7000 people. - Average hotel occupancy is around 85% on a yearly basis. This means that you have roughly 52,700 rooms a night occupied with one or more people looking for entertainment value, or based on occupancy rates, over 100,000 people. - Casinos continue to import high-profile acts and to subsidize flights to Vegas to fill these rooms and are constantly looking for more ways to do it. A team in Las Vegas is a foregone conclusion. It will happen! No matter how much the NHL is posturing right now, I'm sure they can hardly wait until the building here is done and they can roll a team in here and collect a 200 million+ expansion fee! No pro franchise has ever had success in Las Vegas. That's not going to change. Quebec City, Seattle and T.O.2 makes loads of sense. Green Bay makes more sense than Las Vegas. You said it best, 15 of the 25 biggest hotels are in Las Vegas. To me it screams temporary resident base, mostly tourists. No long term fan support. Worst decision than Florida, Tanpa Bay, Carolina and Kansas City. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avelanch Posted August 27, 2014 Share Posted August 27, 2014 No pro franchise has ever had success in Las Vegas. That's not going to change. Quebec City, Seattle and T.O.2 makes loads of sense. Green Bay makes more sense than Las Vegas. You said it best, 15 of the 25 biggest hotels are in Las Vegas. To me it screams temporary resident base, mostly tourists. No long term fan support. Worst decision than Florida, Tanpa Bay, Carolina and Kansas City. green bay is a tiny town of just over 100,000 and makes no sense at all... Metro Milwaukee's 1.5 million, however... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VegasCanuck Posted August 27, 2014 Share Posted August 27, 2014 i never said it wouldn't. I've been pro vegas for years now. you're arguing for it like i was arguing against it. Sorry, not trying to come across that way. I'm really neutral on it happening, but I will be completely shocked if it doesn't. I think there's too many reasons for them to do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VegasCanuck Posted August 27, 2014 Share Posted August 27, 2014 No pro franchise has ever had success in Las Vegas. That's not going to change. Quebec City, Seattle and T.O.2 makes loads of sense. Green Bay makes more sense than Las Vegas.You said it best, 15 of the 25 biggest hotels are in Las Vegas. To me it screams temporary resident base, mostly tourists. No long term fan support. Worst decision than Florida, Tanpa Bay, Carolina and Kansas City. That is exactly why it will succeed here! It will generate long-term fan support, but it will also attract in a wide range of tourist traffic which is exactly what Las Vegas is looking for. If you're familiar with the layout of the whole Las Vegas and Henderson area down here, 80% of the 2 million people that live here will be within a 15 minute drive of the arena. That coupled with the fact that the casinos will buy up close to 75% of the available tickets on a nightly basis as giveaway and promotions, its hard to see how it would miss. I'm not sure if you've ever been to the arena in Florida, but its also built in the wrong place. You don't get to it without driving. Beautiful building, but there's really nothing else right around it that you could easily walk to. This is all just personal speculation, but I think Quebec will be announced about the same time as Vegas as their building will be ready about the same time. I would love to see a team in Seattle and I really think that will also happen, but not until someone makes a commitment to placing a building there that can accommodate! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peaches5 Posted August 27, 2014 Share Posted August 27, 2014 So. What I want to know is how Toronto and Buffalo can successfully in the past block expansion in the area because of protected markets. But Seattle gets a team in Vancouvers back yard without any questions being asked Seattle is no where near vancouver... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Ambien Posted August 27, 2014 Share Posted August 27, 2014 Putting a team in Las Vegas would likely help save the Arizona franchise. It would create a rivalry between the two cities, and we already know what lengths the league will go to to keep the team in Arizona! You don't think they would fast track a franchise in Las Vegas that is backed by multi billion dollar hotels if they thought it would help the situation in Glendale??? Just so you`re aware, there have been more Red Wings fans over the years attending Coyotes games in Glendale than any other fan base. If that team`s fan base couldn`t help fill the arena in Glendale.. if literally handing out free tickets couldn`t fill that arena, no other team can.. and nothing can. It`s a pointless franchise. Seattle is no where near vancouver... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VegasCanuck Posted August 27, 2014 Share Posted August 27, 2014 Just so you`re aware, there have been more Red Wings fans over the years attending Coyotes games in Glendale than any other fan base. If that team`s fan base couldn`t help fill the arena in Glendale.. if literally handing out free tickets couldn`t fill that arena, no other team can.. and nothing can. It`s a pointless franchise. I think I had another post in here about how badly placed the arena in Glendale is. Its a great facility, but it is really hard to get to and relies on trying to lure people out of Phoenix. When I went to a Canucks game there a couple of years ago ($10.00 per seat for good seats), Canuck jerseys outnumbered Phoenix jerseys at least 4 to 1. I fully expect Phoenix to eventually move, probably to Seattle (if they get a building together) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johngould21 Posted August 27, 2014 Share Posted August 27, 2014 That is exactly why it will succeed here! It will generate long-term fan support, but it will also attract in a wide range of tourist traffic which is exactly what Las Vegas is looking for. If you're familiar with the layout of the whole Las Vegas and Henderson area down here, 80% of the 2 million people that live here will be within a 15 minute drive of the arena. That coupled with the fact that the casinos will buy up close to 75% of the available tickets on a nightly basis as giveaway and promotions, its hard to see how it would miss. I'm not sure if you've ever been to the arena in Florida, but its also built in the wrong place. You don't get to it without driving. Beautiful building, but there's really nothing else right around it that you could easily walk to. This is all just personal speculation, but I think Quebec will be announced about the same time as Vegas as their building will be ready about the same time. I would love to see a team in Seattle and I really think that will also happen, but not until someone makes a commitment to placing a building there that can accommodate! This is exactly why Florida and Phoenix aren't succeeding. The locals haven't any allegiance to the game of hockey, and throw in the fact that 60% of the people that live and work in Vegas are Latinos, doesn't bode well for success. Gary Bettman and his lets put ice hockey on the desert and make it grow. Cacti, yes! hockey no. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VegasCanuck Posted August 27, 2014 Share Posted August 27, 2014 This is exactly why Florida and Phoenix aren't succeeding. The locals haven't any allegiance to the game of hockey, and throw in the fact that 60% of the people that live and work in Vegas are Latinos, doesn't bode well for success. Gary Bettman and his lets put ice hockey on the desert and make it grow. Cacti, yes! hockey no. #1, Florida isn't succeeding because, even if you are visiting, its not that easy to get to. You have to have a car to get around down there, and its a lot of the same issue in Glendale. #2, I'm not sure where you are getting your ethnicity information on Las Vegas, but 70% of the people here are Caucasian! See linked graph here: http://www.clrsearch.com/Demographic?state_id=349377&city_id=330357&place=Las+Vegas%2C+NV&state=Nevada&chart=populationbyrace #3, Vegas doesn't have any of the above problems of having people within easy walking or cab distance from where they are putting the arena. Couple that with the fact that you have all the hotels down here that will buy the tickets and give them away to people staying here or use them for promotional use to lure hockey fans here, and you have a recipe that's completely different from Florida and Glendale. Again though, this is just my opinion! I could be completely full of S$#&!!!! I will tell you though, the Las Vegas Wranglers attract a reasonable crowd to a broken down, way out of date building, and have been doing that as an ECHL team that doesn't have an NHL / AHL affiliation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pears Posted August 27, 2014 Share Posted August 27, 2014 Seattle is no where near vancouver... No where near eh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mustapha Posted August 27, 2014 Share Posted August 27, 2014 Awesome, getting the Nordiques back and a Seattle team Hmm, was hearing Kansas City last couple days, no mention of another TO team. Side note, longest lasting team in Vegas was the IHL's Vegas Thunder, a whopping entire 6 seasons. That's wrong. Vegas has had an ECHL team (Wranglers) since 2003. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GMJB Posted August 27, 2014 Share Posted August 27, 2014 2 team expansion i'm ok with 4 teams not so much. I'm not gonna 100% beleive the expansion talk is true until i see it from like Bob Mckenzie or some one like that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avelanch Posted August 27, 2014 Share Posted August 27, 2014 Side note, longest lasting team in Vegas was the IHL's Vegas Thunder, a whopping entire 6 seasons. (from wikipedia, edited and rearranged a bit) With the Las Vegas Thunder of the International Hockey League folding following the 1998–99 IHL season, the West Coast Hockey League announced their intentions to keep ice hockey in the Las Vegas Valley when they granted expansion rights to the city in 1999, with plans for the team to start competing in the 2000–01 WCHL season. The Wranglers team name and logo were announced shortly before what was supposed to be the franchise's inaugural season in 2000, but the team had to suspend their entrance into the WCHL for three seasons due to the lack of a suitable arena for the team to play in. Deciding to not miss out on another season, the Wranglers announced in October 2002 that they planned to play at the proposed Las Vegas Events Center in Downtown Las Vegas and share the arena with the Community College of Southern Nevada's men's and women's basketball teams. The Events Center was to be paid for and operated by a non-profit organization that was supported by Las Vegas mayor Oscar Goodman. With no progress on the proposed Events Center, the franchise announced in September 2002 that they were moving to the Orleans Arena that was under construction at The Orleans Hotel and Casino. The Orleans Arena became the home of the Wranglers beginning with the 2003–04 WCHL season. Later in September 2002, a planned merger between the WCHL and the East Coast Hockey League was announced that would have the WCHL's six active franchises and three expansion franchises (including the Wranglers) join the ECHL for the 2003–04 season. From 2003 to 2014, the Wranglers played their home games on the west side of the city at the Orleans Arena. Because its lease at Orleans Arena was not renewed, the team has suspended operations for the 2014-15 season to allow more time to find a new permanent arena. seeing as they just broke ground on the NHL ready building in may (http://kings.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=717664) which will be ready in 2016, I'm guessing the wranglers may be dead in the water, suspend operations, and reemerge as an NHL team in the 2016-17 season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KingAlex Posted August 27, 2014 Share Posted August 27, 2014 One thing is certain, The owner of Las Vegas will know absolutely nothing about hockey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theminister Posted August 27, 2014 Share Posted August 27, 2014 One thing is certain, The owner of Las Vegas will know absolutely nothing about hockey. But they'll know a lot about entertainment and business operations. Which is actually much more important. You can hire hockey guys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VegasCanuck Posted August 27, 2014 Share Posted August 27, 2014 One thing is certain, The owner of Las Vegas will know absolutely nothing about hockey. Might surprise you how many people who live here come from hockey cities. I know a number of people from Canada, Chicago, New York etc. There's a number of people here who will hop over to Anaheim, Los Angeles and Phoenix for games whenever the team they grew up supporting comes in to those markets. The last time I went to Glendale to watch the Canucks, I rented a Mustang Convertible for the drive. Everything including grabbing dinner down there was still cheaper than seeing the Canucks play in Vancouver, saved about 25%. 2 tickets to watch the Canucks play in Phoenix were less than parking at Rogers Arena! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caboose Posted August 28, 2014 Share Posted August 28, 2014 So. What I want to know is how Toronto and Buffalo can successfully in the past block expansion in the area because of protected markets. But Seattle gets a team in Vancouvers back yard without any questions being asked Look at a map before you jump on the conspiri-tard train. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisbanks Posted August 28, 2014 Share Posted August 28, 2014 Imagine if Seattle won the cup before us... I can also imagine them ripping of the seahawks 7th man thing to garner more support.if they came back as the mets they could hang a banner... haha ony way we could combat that is to fully change back to the millionaires and hang one of our own.... and canucks have already tried that pethetic 7th man thing... we have a banner in the rafters for it too.. im pretty sure cbj uses the "we are the 5th line" slogan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
awalk Posted August 28, 2014 Share Posted August 28, 2014 One thing is certain, The owner of Las Vegas will know absolutely nothing about hockey. Vegas is actually one of the more hockey popular areas in the US...it's just that inline is prevalent there moreso than ice hockey atm. Willing to bet Buttman and his cronies have paid for a lot more market research and analysis than anyone on this board has personally done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dral Posted August 28, 2014 Share Posted August 28, 2014 I would think Vegas would succeed on it's tourism alone - If I knew several months in advance I was taking a trip to Vegas, I'd definitely try to snag tickets if my home town team was playing and even plan my trip around that. Also - I'd totally be down with not protecting the Sedins if they were UFAs and came back after 1 year to retire as Canucks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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