Las Vegas Nevada, Sin City, home to the mob, casinos, showgirls and...hockey? No, you have had too many complementary cocktails, the NHL is setting up shop in Nevada. Starting in the 2017-18 season the city will see it's first major franchise settle in among the bright lights.
Logically it would have made a lot more sense to move the financial black hole that is the Coyotes out of Arizona but the $500 million dollar expansion fee the league was able to charge changed minds quicker than your paycheck vanishing at Caesar's Palace. Money talks, and few cities know this better, but the fact is the league isn't necessarily better off for it. Sure they've added a lot of money in the short term by doing so, and can pat themselves on the back for being the first major professional franchise in Vegas but what happens when nobody cares anymore?
Vegas has seen a ton of shows in its day and plenty of them close early. Is the NHL destined to follow? Sure it's shiny and new now and they've sold a lot of tickets up front but is this sustainable? Is there enough of a local fan base to keep the seats stuffed? How many of these tickets will just be handed out as a promotional tool or gift for patrons who couldn't care less, or may just not go at all? How much interest is there in hockey in one of the entertainment capitals of the world? Will it get lost among the proverbial shuffle (Fitting as it would be here) And perhaps the biggest question is what happens if there's competition from oh, say a little league we like to call the NFL! The biggest thing in American sport is looking to set up stakes in the desert (possibly relocating the nomadic Oakland Raiders) and if that happens hockey will be pushed well into the background.
The NHL will have an expansion draft after next season and while the league has instituted some new rules to help ensure the team will not be totally devoid of talent, if it's not competitive is it really going to stick? And does the league have the pucks to admit it's wrong if it doesn't? Gary Bettman has made it his mission to expand into new, 'non-traditional' hockey markets and the results have hardly hit the jackpot. The league has numerous franchises losing money in these markets and if they're not careful all they've done is dumped more fuel on that fire. The tentative name for the Vegas team is the Black Knights, here's hoping they don't have to fall on their own sword...
