ICE IN THE DESERT
Billionaire joins brothers in venture
The Maloofs want to bring an NHL franchise to Las Vegas, Nev.
Albuquerque natives Joe and Gavin Maloof are making their best pitches to again get back into pro sports — and finally get the city of Las Vegas, Nev., into them, as well.
Reports out of Las Vegas tie the Maloof family with billionaire businessman Bill Foley in hopes of luring an NHL franchise to the Entertainment Capital of the World.
On Friday, Joe Maloof told the Journal that — per NHL instructions — he and Gavin cannot grant media interviews about a possible franchise.
The Maloofs, however, have been allowed to talk to the public about season ticket sales.
In a story by the Las Vegas Review Journal, Gavin Maloof — just prior to the Chicago Blackhawks-Los Angeles Kings hockey game Wednesday night — stepped behind the long bar at Brando’s Sports Bar in Las Vegas, took a megaphone and asked hockey fans to get behind the movement to bring a team to Vegas.
“Stop by our desk to sign up for tickets,” Maloof told the fans, according to the newspaper’s story. “This is a historic event. We are trying to get the first major league sports team in the 150 years of the state of Nevada. And it will be at the finest arena in the world.”
Gavin also told the Journal he could not comment.
Reports say that the possible franchise — which the NHL has said little about — would play in the arena under construction behind New York New York on the Strip. The arena is being built by MGM Resorts International and Los Angeles-based AEG. It is scheduled to open in April 2016.
According to the ReviewJournal, Foley would serve as the team’s managing general partner and the Maloofs would also have ownership in the team. Foley is chairman of Fidelity National Financial, a Jacksonville, Fla.-based company that provides title insurance and mortgage services.
The Maloofs owned the Sacramento Kings from 1998-2013 and the WNBA’s Sacramento Monarchs from 1998-2009. The Kings went to the playoffs eight straight seasons and got as far as the Western Conference finals in 2002, losing in seven games to the LA Lakers. The Monarchs won the WNBA title in 2005.
The Maloofs sold the Kings in 2013 for more than $585 million, which was then a record for an NBA team.
The Maloofs’ father, George Maloof Sr., owned the NBA’s Houston Rockets in 1979 and left the franchise to Gavin upon his death in 1980. The Rockets lost to the Boston Celtics in six games of the 1981 NBA Finals, and the family sold the team later that year.
The Maloofs got back into sports as owners of the World League of American Football’s Birmingham Fire in 1991 and 1992.
While the Maloofs have not been able to grant interviews, Foley has talked about a possible NHL franchise, and the Maloofs.
In December, Foley said he is marching in step with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman.
“I’m an ex-Army guy. I follow orders,” Foley told The Canadian Press by phone over the weekend from his home in Northern California. “We’ve been very careful in our meetings with the NHL administrative staff, just trying to make sure that we do things in the proper fashion. We’re not pushy; we’re not demanding.”
Foley also told The Associated Press that the Maloofs are “very honest, trustworthy people.” He said Joe and Gavin Maloof first approached him about a sports investment about two years ago.
According to Street & Smith Sports Business Daily, Foley and the Maloofs will launch a season-ticket drive Feb. 10.
Bettman has given Foley permission to conduct a season-ticket drive to gauge fan interest in the city, and the Foley-Maloof team is trying to generate at least 10,000 seasonticket deposits to show the NHL that Las Vegas is a viable big league hockey market.
The city has never had a franchise in the big four pro sports — NFL, NBA, Major League Baseball or the NHL. Fans are being asked to pay a 10 percent deposit on season tickets, with the cheapest deposit being $150.
“If we sell the 10,000 tickets, we’ll be amazed if we don’t get a franchise,” Foley told the Review-Journal. “It would be a shock.”