Canucks Army Roundtable: Viva Las Vegas!

7 years ago

It seems as though the NHL is going to take the gamble, and slot a team into Las Vegas for the 2017-18 season. Las Vegas is typically full of excitement with shows, gambling, and enough alcohol to fill an inflatable pool. Will a pro sports franchise work? The NHL seems to think so, as future owner Bill Foley has done many market tests and has over 13,000 season ticket deposits in place. Does a team in Vegas excite you? Our writers discuss in this week’s edition of the Canucks Army Roundtable.

Question: With the NHL looking like a done deal in Las Vegas, does the prospect of a team there excite you, and do you see it working for more than a few years?

Always90Four

As the first professional team in Vegas, it is very exciting! The NHL needs to add wow factor again and I think this is a great step forward. That being said, it is a novelty to start but I think if there is a decent expansion roster, they’ll be credible. With every team getting to play them, the excitement from the players getting a scheduled vegas trip adds to it. You have to believe they’re excited and hopefully, it paves the way for the Seattle’s and the Quebec’s as well. Just so we’re clear, I know there aren’t multiple Seattle’s or Quebec’s.

At the end of the day, it’s another city to boo when they come to town.

Hopefully, they have a cool name and sharp jerseys. Merchandise alone will be big from day 1. Actually, they could just use the Jets draft day jerseys as their logo. That’s what I do here, I solve problems.

Ryan Biech

Yes, the idea of a team in Las Vegas is exciting.

I did a trip to L.A. and Anaheim a couple of years ago and had an absolute blast – was able to also take in the Anaheim and Arizona game a couple of days before. Las Vegas having a team is a good excuse to make a weekend of it, check out a game or two and enjoy the sights and sounds.

For the team to work – they need to be competitive and quickly. I don’t think the market would sustain a losing team for very long, like Ottawa and San Jose did when they got expansion teams. The expansion rules are set-up to help them out in that aspect, so as long as there is a good and smart management team, they should be competitive in the Pacific Division quickly.

With that being said – we will learn very quickly what the market bares when the Carolina Hurricanes are in town in January on a Tuesday night.

Tyler Horsfall

The prospect of any new team always excites me. Las Vegas excites me even more because the NHL is the first of the main four-sport leagues to expand there and can get a solid foothold in the market before another major sports team gets there.

I think the franchise will succeed long-term. As long as the right hockey operations group is in place, the team should be able to succeed on-ice very quickly due to the expansion draft rules. Also hockey, as a whole, has been gaining traction on the south-west coast. There are a lot of positive factors heading into the expansion, such as the recent success of the California hockey teams and the growth of the sport in Arizona between Tucson getting an AHL team, Auston Matthews being a top pick at this year’s draft, and ASU getting a NCAA hockey team.

Overall, any move that helps expand the hockey market and grow and develop the game is one that I can get behind, and Las Vegas is one of those.

Jackson McDonald

Vegas has never interested me as a vacation spot. I like my thrills to be a bit more on the cheap side. That being said, I’m really excited to see what the roster looks like. The salary cap is going to make things very interesting. I’m expecting a rag-tag group of overpaid misfits, but I think Vegas can ice a competitive team sooner rather than later- the expansion rules will see to that.

As far as whether or not they can be a success, there are so many factors at play that I hesitate to give a firm yes or no. Will the market support a losing team? Will snowbirds alone be enough to sustain a team in Vegas if it struggles financially? How long until the novelty wears off? Will the team be competitive by then? These are all questions that need to be answered before we’ll really have any idea how Vegas is going to work out. It doesn’t exactly seem like a natural fit, but if Gary Bettman can make it work, he’s going to come out of this looking like a genius.

As long as they take Luca Sbisa in the expansion draft, I’ll be happy.

Taylor Perry

Am I excited about a team in Las Vegas? I think, specifically, I would be excited at adding the prospect of a potential hockey game to a Vegas getaway. I’m sure I’m not alone in that regard! From a hockey perspective, I probably would have been more excited about a possible Quebec City team – if only because, as a hockey fan, I understand how important hockey is in Canada and the province of Quebec.

Will it work? Now that’s a more interesting question. Southern and non-traditional American markets have often demonstrated decent support for successful teams (see Tampa, San Jose) and have turned to other activities when the team’s fortunes sag (Carolina, Phoenix, Atlanta [RIP]). Sometimes, the same is true in Canada. So the key for the NHL would be to implement an expansion process that permits the new Las Vegas franchise to be competitive as soon as possible. Once the novelty effect wears off, Las Vegas cannot rely on a large proportion of snowbirds and tourists to sustain the franchise. It will need to cultivate a local fanbase that can drive season ticket sales and a strong television viewership (and thus, increase demand revenue for local TV rights). If a Vegas organization can be competitive soon after inception – and then sustain it – there is a good chance it could work.

Petbugs

Jeff Veillette

Hockey in Las Vegas is very exciting, but we’re not terribly excited about the cost of expansion. $500,000,000 is a lot of money. I brought in a buddy who is an expert on professional sports expansion, and after looking at the condition of your league, we’ll give you $45.

Dylan Kirkby

Am I excited about it? Sure. The expansion draft and process will be fun, it’ll be interesting to see how long the team takes to become competitive, and getting one step closer to balancing the conferences at 16 teams apiece will help my inner perfectionist. But I would be just as excited for an expansion team anywhere – the fact that it’s in Las Vegas isn’t particularly exciting or me.

Do I think it will work? Doubtful. It makes a great destination for a road trip to watch your team play, but I think if the game plan is attracting road fans, the ceiling for the financial success of the team will be quite low. It’s possible that there’s enough interest from Las Vegas residents to make it work, but the lack of any major sports team there suggests that there likely won’t be.

Matt Henderson

Personally, I am really excited about a franchise moving to Las Vegas. For the NHL to be the first team in a market is crucial for the health and stability of the team, so long as they ice a respectable roster off the bat. With the current expansion rules starting to get set in stone, it seems the team will be able to put together a fairly solid team, assuming they avoid the easy traps of household names that are past their best before date. As far as longevity goes, it seems they have done their research and feel a team can sustain the long run. I agree with Taylor, in that they can’t rely on snowbirds and tourists (especially hotel toss in’s which will just result in empty seats.) If they can build up a fanbase, form a rivalry with one of their Pacific Division foes and keep the on and off-ice product enjoyable, this project could be a huge success.