By "terrible atmosphere for the home team," I mean a relatively low percentage of attendees who are diehard fans for the home team... compared to, say, Winnipeg, Calgary, etc..... or St. Louis, for that matter. I can image, for example, a team like the Rangers coming into town and having more fans there than the home team.JMC-STL wrote:The Las Vegas ECHL team drew over 4,500 per game for 8 of their 11 seasons, including their final two years, so 5K locals for an NHL team wouldn't be much of a stretch. Not sure what you'd characterize as a "terrible atmosphere for the home team," as an NHL game experience in most cities these days is more show than hockey anyway.insideout wrote:... You'd bring in perhaps 5,000 (if that) local hockey fans to each game and easily fill the rest of the building with people in town on business or leisure. Terrible atmosphere for the home team, but from an economic standpoint, I think they could pull if off.
Re: Hockey in Vegas
27Good point. Though what home team wouldn't be inspired after a rousing rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" by a parade of Elvis impersonators?insideout wrote:By "terrible atmosphere for the home team," I mean a relatively low percentage of attendees who are diehard fans for the home team... compared to, say, Winnipeg, Calgary, etc..... or St. Louis, for that matter. I can image, for example, a team like the Rangers coming into town and having more fans there than the home team.
Re: Hockey in Vegas
28The Orleans arena, where the LV Wranglers played, only had a capacity of about 6k. but the fans would pack it in pretty well when i lived in LV, i was a STH for the wranglers and enjoyed the atmosphere. LV will support hockey, especially with t he arena in a prime location on the strip.JMC-STL wrote:The Las Vegas ECHL team drew over 4,500 per game for 8 of their 11 seasons, including their final two years, so 5K locals for an NHL team wouldn't be much of a stretch. Not sure what you'd characterize as a "terrible atmosphere for the home team," as an NHL game experience in most cities these days is more show than hockey anyway.insideout wrote:... You'd bring in perhaps 5,000 (if that) local hockey fans to each game and easily fill the rest of the building with people in town on business or leisure. Terrible atmosphere for the home team, but from an economic standpoint, I think they could pull if off.
Re: Hockey in Vegas
29Exactly right. A lot of fans would find Vegas a fun place to travel to see their team play. Why would I travel to Columbus? I'd see the game and then what? Hard to imagine it NOT being successful in Vegas.insideout wrote:You're right in terms of local fan base, but they can easily fill an arena 41 nights a year in Las Vegas. Millions of square feet of convention space between Las Vegas Convention Center and Sands Convention Center alone. Plus pretty much every major property on the Strip has its own conference space. Tens (sometimes hundreds) of thousands of people attending conventions every day, most of whom looking to fill their evenings. Corporations taking care of their clients..... Casinos comping high rollers.... Millions of tourists always looking for entertainment at night.... Billions of dollars being thrown around.... Tickets for top shows start at >$100. You'd bring in perhaps 5,000 (if that) local hockey fans to each game and easily fill the rest of the building with people in town on business or leisure. Terrible atmosphere for the home team, but from an economic standpoint, I think they could pull if off.UMSLBlues12 wrote:I just don't know who is going to attend games in Vegas. I was reading a population study about Vegas compared to other major cities and there are just huge differences between their population and other cities. Most notably with regards to sports, most of the population of Vegas works at night, significantly more than most other cities. If they're working during the games who is going to be at the arena?
Re: Hockey in Vegas
30You're probably not that far off on the Elvis impersonators. I guarantee they'd have something over the top. They'd find a way to do it Vegas-style.JMC-STL wrote:Good point. Though what home team wouldn't be inspired after a rousing rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" by a parade of Elvis impersonators?insideout wrote:By "terrible atmosphere for the home team," I mean a relatively low percentage of attendees who are diehard fans for the home team... compared to, say, Winnipeg, Calgary, etc..... or St. Louis, for that matter. I can image, for example, a team like the Rangers coming into town and having more fans there than the home team.
Re: Hockey in Vegas
31And I bet the other leagues are more than happy to let them be the crash test dummy.NHLTIM wrote:Well....they have an owner with huge dollars that will pay the expansion fee, they have an arena already going up, but the most important reason is that the NHL wants to break the barrier and be the first pro sports team to call Vegas home.ratonmono wrote:More hockey in the fucking desert that no one will care about. Hooray....Meanwhile great potential hockey markets like Quebec, Southern Ontario, Hartford, Seattle, Portland remain without a team. No idea why Vegas is even on the table.
Re: Hockey in Vegas
32I don't believe leagues have stayed away from Las Vegas because of any concern over whether the market can support them. It has been a gambling issue.... especially for the NFL. Adam Silver is not hostile toward betting, so it wouldn't surprise me if the NBA found their way to Vegas. Of course if PASPA falls, then you've got legalized sports betting all over the place, and that changes everything.Man in the box wrote:And I bet the other leagues are more than happy to let them be the crash test dummy.NHLTIM wrote:Well....they have an owner with huge dollars that will pay the expansion fee, they have an arena already going up, but the most important reason is that the NHL wants to break the barrier and be the first pro sports team to call Vegas home.ratonmono wrote:More hockey in the fucking desert that no one will care about. Hooray....