VEGAS, BABY! SIN CITY SECURING A SPORTY FUTURE
NHL’s there, NFL surely seems on the way for entertainment capital of North America
BULLS OF THE WEEK
Bell versus Rogers is quickly becoming a telecom and media company rivalry reminiscent of the Coke versus Pepsi soft drink wars and the Molson versus Labatt or Bud versus Miller of beer pong.
It plays out nationally in the form of competition for major league sport television and radio rights deals. It is also a compelling storyline regionally in the battle for local team rights deals, as it was this week when Rogers swooped in late in the game and poached the local radio rights to the Vancouver Canucks from Bell-owned TSN 1040.
The break in TSN’s 11-year run as Canucks rights holder will almost certainly result in another sports radio station in Canada’s second largest English-language market and only heighten the competition between TSN and Rogers Sportsnet across the country. There isn’t another rivalry more important today in the business of sport in Canada.
Elsewhere, Hamilton began the countdown to its second straight year of hosting the Vanier Cup, the Saskatchewan Roughriders made headlines on both sides of the border by signing former Heisman Trophy winner Vince Young, and Rugby Sevens continued its dynamic upward trajectory as B.C. Place Stadium prepared to host another soldout event this weekend.
Yet, there was no more bullish market than Las Vegas, where the Golden Knights signed their first player contract and the Oakland Raiders unveiled a refurbished US$1.9-billion NFL stadium proposal financed by Bank of America. With the new stadium plan in place, it made it increasingly likely that the Raiders will relocate to the gambling and entertainment capital of North America as early as 2019.
It will only add to the 45 million tourists who visit Vegas every year, surely giving each of the other major pro sports leagues pause for how Sin City figures into their plans in the future. A good barometer will be Golden Knights and Raiders merchandise sales. Expect them to be at or near the top of their respective leagues in very short order.
BEARS OF THE WEEK
Despite the buzz around hockey in Vegas, the NHL is in tough on several fronts.
The concussion lawsuit continues to expose the league’s reluctance to get with the science connecting brain trauma with CTE and is giving the NHL unwelcome political attention, especially in the U.S.
The league also appeared rather small this week when first indications were that the NHL Expansion Draft will not include published lists of unprotected players, a short-sighted and insecure approach to the Vegas launch and certainly a missed promotional opportunity in this era of fantasy sports and social media.
In neighbouring Arizona, the sport business soap opera in the desert reared its ugly head yet again with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman urging state lawmakers to fast-track public funding for a new arena for the Coyotes, who are still without a long-term business horizon in suburban Glendale.
Meanwhile, the NHL is also getting close to the point of no return on participation in the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics.
There’s plenty of blame to go around the league, the NHLPA, the IIHF and especially the IOC for letting the issue slide to within 11 months of the actual Games in South Korea but, ultimately, it will be global hockey fans who lose out if a solution isn’t forthcoming.