BETWEEN THE LINES IN VEGAS SCRIPT
The NHL’s expansion love affair with Sin City can be complicated . . . we’re here to help
In 2009, Patrick LaForge, then president of the Edmonton Oilers, told his local paper that he thought hockey in Las Vegas was “a really tough sell,” and that, “people go to Vegas for a reason — gambling and maybe golf and a few hours by the pool.” He thought the National Hockey League could work, but that it would take work. The league seems set to find out, with its board of governors reportedly scheduled to approve Las Vegas expansion plans at a June 22 meeting. Below, the Star attempts to answer some key questions, including this one: Las Vegas?
LAS VEGAS?
Major sports organizations have been flirting with Las Vegas for years. In 2007, the NBA used the city as a glitzy host for its all-star game, but then-commissioner David Stern was sure to point out the league was only staying for a visit. Gambling, he told the New York Times, was the stumbling block: “It has to be off the books for consideration.” In less than a decade, especially with the advent of daily fantasy, concerns over gambling seem to have faded. (In 2014, Adam Silver, Stern’s successor, argued in an opinion piece in the Times that sports betting should be legalized.) Las Vegas has a metropolitan population of more than two million. According to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, the city drew more than 42 million visitors last year, breaking its previous record of 41.1 million.
WHO IS BILL FOLEY?
In 1967, the year the Toronto Maple Leafs claimed their last Stanley Cup title, William P. Foley II earned an engineering degree at the United States Military Academy. (It is worth remembering: The school’s teams are known as the Black Knights.) He is chairman of Fidelity National Financial, a U.S.-based insurance giant. Foley is also involved in restaurants and wineries from California to New Zealand. Last year, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported he had purchased a home in the upscale Summerlin area, and that he was looking for a home for his nascent hockey team’s business offices. How would he run the team, widely reported to be named the Black Knights? He told the Review-Journal he “would know what’s going on at all times.” “I’m not going to let anyone screw things up,” he told the paper. “I know what I know. But whoever we would hire can certainly convince me of things.”
WHERE WILL THEY PLAY?
T-Mobile Arena opened in April, a 10-minute drive from the airport, nestled into the part of the Las Vegas Strip that you see on television commercials. It was privately funded — split between MGM Resorts International and Anschutz Entertainment Group — at a cost of $375 million U.S. It can seat 17,500 for hockey. The Anschutz group is partowner of the Los Angeles Kings, and the team is scheduled to play a pair of pre-season games in Las Vegas this fall. The Kings will host Dallas on Oct. 7, and they will host Colorado the following day. The Los Angeles Lakers will host two NBA pre-season games the following week. Some of the other acts set to appear that month: Kanye West, The Rolling Stones and country star Keith Urban. According to the Las Vegas Sun, the south side of the arena includes parking space for a Zamboni.
WHAT ABOUT QUEBEC CITY?
Earlier this month, former prime minister Brian Mulroney, now chair of communications giant Quebecor, suggested that Quebec City stakeholders did not have their hopes pinned on this round of expansion. In an interview with La Presse, he said the sagging loonie did not help matters. Like Las Vegas, Quebec also has an arena up and running with the Videotron Centre. In a TSN translation of the interview, Mulroney said that if NHL commissioner Gary Bettman were to call, the group would “be ready to react quickly.” React quickly to what? A relocation offer, perhaps. Peter Karmanos Jr., who owns the Carolina Hurricanes, has been on record saying he was looking for a local ownership partner. He is also facing a $105-million lawsuit filed by his three sons, further fueling relocation speculation.
WILL LAS VEGAS BE UNFAIR?
In 2009, as the NHL was preparing to host its awards gala in Las Vegas for the first time, young Vancouver Canucks forward Ryan Kesler was asked about the city’s potential as a full-time hockey market: “Their home record would be amazing, 41-0.” Las Vegas has amenities that might distract a young millionaire with a bit of free time, is what he meant. As Wally Backman, manager of the local Triple-A baseball team, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal this week, his main challenge is “making sure you keep your players out of trouble.” He told the paper that players have to learn their limitations: “My whole thing here is if I can get the players through the first three weeks of the season, they’ve had all of the fun they probably want to have.”