Bill Sikes Posted June 15, 2015 Share Posted June 15, 2015 The 2 million plus residents of Las Vegas area say Hi! Apparently, you haven't spent any real time in the Las Vegas area. There is a thriving community off the strip, 90% of which are people who have come from strong hockey communities like Chicago, New York, Boston, Toronto and Vancouver. There are a lot of hockey fans in this community and that's reflected in the number of deposits that they managed to get, without any firm commitment of a team. Yes, Quebec, Seattle and a lot of other destinations are good choices for hockey, and I believe Quebec should get a team fairly quickly as well. The only thing stopping Seattle from getting a team is someone agreeing where the arena is going to be put. Unlike a lot of other communities who have relied on the Government putting public funds into buildings, Las Vegas group just wrote a check for 375 million to get an arena built on spec of getting a team here. They have the funds and the resources to fill the building every night. Which means you run into the same problem you have in Arizona, Flordia, etc, they go when those teams are in town, rest of the time the building is a ghost town. It will only work if you can get them to play 41 home games against Detroit, Chicago, New York and Toronto Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VegasCanuck Posted June 15, 2015 Share Posted June 15, 2015 Also Vegas is a city that works 24/7. At any given time 1/3 of the population is sleeping. so say 2.1 million, is now 1.4 million. Do the Las Vegas Wranglers ring a bell? The Wranglers couldn't even fill the building and it was an ECHL team! The Wranglers had okay attendance for a ECHL team playing in a really old location. They would still be playing in Las Vegas if not for the problem with the lease at the New Orleans. From your argument, I'm guessing that you haven't spent much time in Vegas? If you think its just the strip, then you haven't gotten off the strip and explored. I've lived in Vegas for 4 years. The fan to support a team is here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VegasCanuck Posted June 15, 2015 Share Posted June 15, 2015 Which means you run into the same problem you have in Arizona, Flordia, etc, they go when those teams are in town, rest of the time the building is a ghost town. It will only work if you can get them to play 41 home games against Detroit, Chicago, New York and Toronto They will have an average attendance that will be above the league average. I'm not telling you they will sell out every night, but they will have strong attendance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neko Posted June 15, 2015 Share Posted June 15, 2015 The 2 million plus residents of Las Vegas area say Hi! Apparently, you haven't spent any real time in the Las Vegas area. There is a thriving community off the strip, 90% of which are people who have come from strong hockey communities like Chicago, New York, Boston, Toronto and Vancouver. I go to Vegas every year (May or Oct). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theminister Posted June 15, 2015 Share Posted June 15, 2015 Are there even owners ready and willing to bring a new team into those places though? Is there NHL ready arenas? What about geographical roadblocks, like TO not wanting another NHL team in their area? I dont see the sense in being negative before we even see how it works out. Maybe it goes well like some of the Cali teams (are doing now) or Nashville, and the desert dwellers embrace the team and get the beautiful gift of hockey. Personally I love seeing hockey being given a chance in places were it doesnt have the deepest of roots, cause I want to see new people and fans getting to have the same immense enjoyment from hockey as I do. Arizona doesn't need a new owner. They need a new location. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McBackup Posted June 15, 2015 Share Posted June 15, 2015 Quebec has had less chances than Atlanta. What's with the Quebec City hate? I'm not really in favor of Seattle either, but try and look at Quebec from beyond the perspective of how diehard the fanbase is. They have a city population of 500,000 and a metro population of 750,000. That's nothing. They have very little in the way of corporate and business influence in the area (same issue Ottawa has, with it being a mostly government town). There is also the lack of an ability to attract marquee names and endorsements. You think players don't want to play in Edmonton/Winnipeg? They'll jump at those places over Quebec City. The fanbase is rabid and would support the team, obviously. But there are a lot more factors that go into a team thriving than how excited the fanbase is to have it. If Quebec gets a team I wish them all the best, but I can't help but suspect the team would be in trouble again if the dollar takes a massive dive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Provost Posted June 15, 2015 Share Posted June 15, 2015 The Wranglers had okay attendance for a ECHL team playing in a really old location. They would still be playing in Las Vegas if not for the problem with the lease at the New Orleans. From your argument, I'm guessing that you haven't spent much time in Vegas? If you think its just the strip, then you haven't gotten off the strip and explored. I've lived in Vegas for 4 years. The fan to support a team is here. I think that is really in question. I think a team can survive there, mainly because it is chump change for the casinos to support luxury boxes and corporate advertising. What I do question is whether Joe the plumber is going to come in from Henderson and brave the traffic on the strip on a weekend evening to catch a game. It is a tough spot, you need the arena on the strip in order to attract the transient fans and casino dollars, but it will deter local fans from going to games. If you put the arena in the suburbs, a lot of the premium corporate dollars go away. My bet is that it settles to become a slightly below average NHL market, which is a lot better than some we have now. I will be interested to see if the ownership really takes a page from Nashville and effectively sponsors an entire generation of kids to play hockey. That is where the sustainability happens. Your kids plays hockey, starts idolizing NHL players and demanding you go to big league games. At the same time, you learn about hockey watching your kid play it and start appreciating the game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squamfan Posted June 15, 2015 Share Posted June 15, 2015 Las Vegas is going to be a epic fail like Arizona. 11000 sold in months and Winnipeg sold out in 5 months. This should show people that Sun Belt states should get more teams but Buttman is a dumb*** for not realizing it or he just hates Canada. Where was this much Support for Quebec and Winnipeg when they were in trouble. If a Canadian team got into trouble they would have moved to the states. I bet you that Quebec would sell out in 5 min not in 3 months like Vegas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Sikes Posted June 15, 2015 Share Posted June 15, 2015 They will have an average attendance that will be above the league average. I'm not telling you they will sell out every night, but they will have strong attendance. They will have decent attendance for a few years, then the novelty wears off and it becomes another Arizona/Florida Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Sikes Posted June 15, 2015 Share Posted June 15, 2015 Las Vegas is going to be a epic fail like Arizona. 11000 sold in months and Winnipeg sold out in 5 months. This should show people that Sun Belt states should get more teams but Buttman is a dumb*** for not realizing it or he just hates Canada. Where was this much Support for Quebec and Winnipeg when they were in trouble. If a Canadian team got into trouble they would have moved to the states. I bet you that Quebec would sell out in 5 min not in 3 months like Vegas. Las Vegas is going to be a epic fail like Arizona. 11000 sold in months and Winnipeg sold out in 5 months. This should show people that Sun Belt states should get more teams but Buttman is a dumb*** for not realizing it or he just hates Canada. Where was this much Support for Quebec and Winnipeg when they were in trouble. If a Canadian team got into trouble they would have moved to the states. I bet you that Quebec would sell out in 5 min not in 3 months like Vegas. Winnipeg sold out in more like 5 minutes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChuckNORRIS4Cup Posted June 15, 2015 Share Posted June 15, 2015 Winnipeg sold out in more like 5 minutes lol turns out it was 2 mins Winnipeg's new NHL team has reached its goal of selling 13,000 season tickets. The number was made on Saturday, just minutes after tickets went on sale to the general public at noon local time. "Officially Sold out! Reached our goal within 17 minutes of noon. THANK YOU!!!!" said a post on the ticket campaign's official Twitter account. Organizers said later that the online queue for purchasing tickets was actually full in two minutes, with the remaining 15 minutes required to process the sales.http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/winnipeg-s-nhl-season-tickets-sold-out-1.999140 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-Money Posted June 15, 2015 Share Posted June 15, 2015 NHL will attract more casual fans in Vegas. People from all over will come to town, and look to go to shows (because that's what lots of us do when we go to Vegas). Every game there will be people who never bothered or had the chance to see live NHL hockey. Since the game is ten times more impressive live, they will likely make new fans every game. The only question is if home games will feel like home games for the team that's there, but that doesn't matter too much. New Jersey won many playoff series with 75% of the people attending their home games cheering for the Rangers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monty Posted June 15, 2015 Share Posted June 15, 2015 lol turns out it was 2 mins Not to be "that guy", but I've always taken issue with the "Winnipeg sold out in 2 minutes". Mostly because it's a downright lie. How do I know this? Back in 2011 when I purchased my season ticket (since got into a group with much, much, much, much better seats), I got it at 12:19PM. The tickets went on sale at 12pm. After leaving work about 10 minutes later, I found out that they were now sold out. I didn't log in to purchase my tickets until about 12:17, and then purchased my ticket very quickly. Now it's still an impressive feat. But that report was and always has been false. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Provost Posted June 15, 2015 Share Posted June 15, 2015 lol turns out it was 2 mins There is a significant difference in that Winnipeg sold their tickets to corporate interests and advanced deposits first. Vegas purposefully held off selling to casinos to gauge how much individual interest there was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Sikes Posted June 15, 2015 Share Posted June 15, 2015 NHL will attract more casual fans in Vegas. People from all over will come to town, and look to go to shows (because that's what lots of us do when we go to Vegas). Every game there will be people who never bothered or had the chance to see live NHL hockey. Since the game is ten times more impressive live, they will likely make new fans every game. The only question is if home games will feel like home games for the team that's there, but that doesn't matter too much. New Jersey won many playoff series with 75% of the people attending their home games cheering for the Rangers. Well if you're gonna dream dream big Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neko Posted June 16, 2015 Share Posted June 16, 2015 I don't see why people are against Seattle, WA has strong hockey culture and would be fantastic rivalry for Vancouver just like the Battle of the Albertas. Las Vegas is going to be a epic fail like Arizona. 11000 sold in months and Winnipeg sold out in 5 months. This should show people that Sun Belt states should get more teams but Buttman is a dumb*** for not realizing it or he just hates Canada. Where was this much Support for Quebec and Winnipeg when they were in trouble. If a Canadian team got into trouble they would have moved to the states. I bet you that Quebec would sell out in 5 min not in 3 months like Vegas. IIRC Winnipeg sold out every single seat for season tickets the first year they came back within minutes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VegasCanuck Posted June 16, 2015 Share Posted June 16, 2015 I think that is really in question. I think a team can survive there, mainly because it is chump change for the casinos to support luxury boxes and corporate advertising. What I do question is whether Joe the plumber is going to come in from Henderson and brave the traffic on the strip on a weekend evening to catch a game. It is a tough spot, you need the arena on the strip in order to attract the transient fans and casino dollars, but it will deter local fans from going to games. If you put the arena in the suburbs, a lot of the premium corporate dollars go away. My bet is that it settles to become a slightly below average NHL market, which is a lot better than some we have now. I will be interested to see if the ownership really takes a page from Nashville and effectively sponsors an entire generation of kids to play hockey. That is where the sustainability happens. Your kids plays hockey, starts idolizing NHL players and demanding you go to big league games. At the same time, you learn about hockey watching your kid play it and start appreciating the game. Not sure when you last drove around in Vegas, there really isn't any traffic. Las Vegas idea of heavy traffic is a 5 min delay. From the Strip, you can be to any corner of the valley that makes up Greater Las Vegas in 30 min or less. The arena is going in behind the New York, New York which means you don't actually have to deal with strip traffic. You have tons of parking within a 10 min walk of the front doors. The main guy driving the bus, Bill Foley, CEO of Fidelity National Mortgage is a billionaire who moved to Vegas from Florida, just to meet NHL prerequisite of local ownership. Everyone needs to stop questioning if this is happening, because the NHL is going to look really stupid to a lot of very wealthy people if they don't move ahead at this point. People also need to stop aligning this bid with any potential franchises awarded to Quebec or Seattle, because there is no reason that all can't happen. I believe that Quebec gets a franchise as soon as the NHL is satisfied that the Canadian dollar won't continue to slide, and Seattle, as soon as someone figures out where to put the building! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Bookie Posted December 12, 2015 Share Posted December 12, 2015 I couldn't find the more recent Vegas thread, but here's a bump with a new update on Mike Halford Verified account @HalfordPHT Latest numbers from Vegas expansion bid: -- More than 13,500 full season ticket deposits secured -- 100 percent of luxury suites sold Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alflives Posted December 12, 2015 Share Posted December 12, 2015 1 minute ago, The Bookie said: I couldn't find the more recent Vegas thread, but here's a bump with a new update on Mike Halford Verified account @HalfordPHT Latest numbers from Vegas expansion bid: -- More than 13,500 full season ticket deposits secured -- 100 percent of luxury suites sold That's excellent! Why should the KHL be the only hockey league with Mobsters? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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