LAS VEGAS WAS LOGICAL CHOICE
NHL team in city gives league major boost
Billionaire businessman Bill Foley views the NHL’s decision to allow him to launch a franchise in Las Vegas as a safe bet.
“I’m convinced we are going to be full every night,” Foley said.
He has taken deposits for 14,500 season tickets, and he said his office took in another 400 ticket requests last week when word began to spread the NHL executive committee had recommended that Las Vegas be awarded a franchise for $500 million.
The NHL board of governors unanimously approved expanding to Las Vegas while deferring a decision on Quebec City, the only other applicant.
Commissioner Gary Bettman said the NHL liked Quebec’s passion for the game, the proposed ownership and the arena. But the league has concerns about the declining value of the Canadian dollar. Plus, geography hurt Quebec. The NHL has 16 teams in the Eastern Conference and 14 in the Western Conference.
Bettman said fans shouldn’t count on Quebec City being a landing spot for a relocation because he had no expectation of any team moving. But situations change, and the NHL isn’t going to go another 16 years without expanding.
Las Vegas, in close proximity to the Arizona Coyotes and the two Southern California teams, is a better geographic fit. Also, the NHL wanted to add only one team in this round.
The bottom line: Las Vegas is a sexier choice because it allows the NHL to be the first major pro sports franchise in the city. Lately, there has been talk of the NFL’s Oakland Raiders relocating to Las Vegas.
Las Vegas is not a major U.S. television market, but it has high visibility. The city attracts visitors from around the world. Having a team in Las Vegas is like having
1. Hockey in the desert is a tough sell: You don’t need to look any further than the Arizona Coyotes to see how hard it is to launch a franchise in markets that don’t already have a strong interest in hockey.
In 1996, the NHL relocated the Winnipeg Jets to Phoenix, and the trouble hasn’t really stopped for the Coyotes. The team has been beset by financial woes, poor attendance and arena troubles.
The NHL hasn’t really found a good solution to fixing the Coyotes, but that’s not stopping it from trying again in Vegas.
2. There’s no built-in fan base: Who is going to watch hockey there, and can the Vegas team sustain a fan base? The numbers don’t look good.
According to Bloomberg, Vegas has seen a huge uptick in
free international marketing.
The city also has a hockey tradition. Minor league hockey was
3. People don’t go to Vegas to watch hockey games: People go to Vegas to drink, gamble, maybe see a Cirque Du Soleil show and eat at a restaurant made famous by a Food Network chef.
While people initially might be attracted to the novelty of an NHL team in Sin City, maintaining that interest will be difficult. There’s a lot of competition for tourist dollars in the area, and how many people are going to be willing to spend a night of their vacation freezing in an arena?
4. Games will take place on the Strip: On the surface, it makes sense to have the games in a central location (T-Mobile Arena) that fans can easily access. Sure, there’s the potential of foot traffic from people who
played there, and Minnesota Wild forward Jason Zucker played youth hockey in Las Vegas. Youth
5. An NFL team coming to Vegas: If the NFL shows up, forget it. Oakland Raiders owner Mark Davis has pledged $500 million toward building a stadium near McCarran Airport and a few blocks from the Strip. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell basically has said he won’t stand in the way of the Raiders moving.
An NFL team in Vegas is an idea that’s several years away. But if it does happen, it could kill interest in a nascent NHL team.
Hemal Jhaveri
hockey has grown 37% there in the last decade.
The NHL has had success in non-traditional markets. The Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers are the best teams in the Atlantic Division. The Los Angeles Kings won Stanley Cups in 2012 and 2014, and the Anaheim Ducks won in 2007. The San Jose Sharks were in the Stanley Cup Final this month.
The league trusts Foley, a former West Pointer who has a military approach to the way he does business. He likes things done in an orderly fashion, with a clear chain of command, much like Bettman does.
Sixteen months ago, Foley invited Bettman to attend a news conference to launch a seasonticket drive for his proposed NHL team. He told Bettman he simply wanted to gauge the temperature for his plan to bring the NHL to the gambling capital of the world.
“Today the temperature in this market is about 115 degrees,” Bettman said. “Which means the prospects of Las Vegas hosting an outdoor game aren’t too favorable. But they are in great shape when it comes to indoor games.”
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