I'll admit it; originally I was not a fan of the idea of NHL hockey in Las Vegas.
Why put an NHL team in the biggest gambling, party city in North America? It just didn't seem to make an ounce of sense to me.
I thought, if success in the market was possible, why hadn't the NFL, NBA, or MLB already pounced and attempted to operate a team there? Was it really a feasible idea?
I don't think I was alone in this opinion. Most sports media personalities spent countless hours bashing the entire idea, referring to the NHL as standing for “Not Having Logic” for even considering the “ridiculous” venture.
After all, there are several other markets – Quebec City, Ontario, Seattle, Kansas City – that might be better suited for an NHL expansion franchise; places where a team would almost be guaranteed to succeed.
These thoughts swirled around in my head for a while, with me completely disgusted at the idea that a Las Vegas Gamblers NHL squad could exist.
Then my mindset changed, and instead of thinking of reasons why the team wouldn't work, I started to think of reasons why it could.
Las Vegas is already one of the most popular tourist destinations in the entire world. Millions upon millions of people travel there every year. The city prides itself as being “The Entertainment Capital of the World.” The people are there and the money is there, which means fans are there.
Sure the fan base will be nowhere near that of a typical hockey team, but that doesn't mean it couldn't support it. What does it matter if most of the tickets are bought by casinos and businesses and tourists on their vacation? It is still going to be one heck of a crazy, party-like atmosphere.
The city has also shown it can support professional hockey, successfully backing two other professional hockey teams that have called the city home.
The International Hockey League's Las Vegas Thunder resided in Vegas from 1993 to 1999; icing teams with the likes of Curtis Joseph, Alexei Yashin and Brent Gretzky. The team was eventually forced out of town after UNLV officials refused to renew the team's lease at the university's arena.
Pro hockey came back to the city in 2003 in the form of the ECHL's Las Vegas Wranglers and has been there ever since. The Wranglers have enjoyed huge on-ice successful notching back-to-back-to-back 100-point seasons.
After getting knocked out of the playoffs earlier this month, the Wranglers announced that they would be back in action for the 2015-16 season.
With this in mind, doesn't the possibly of an NHL team succeeding in Las Vegas look a little more possible?
You have the fans, the economy, and past success. What more do you want? Are you looking for commitment from a fan base that proves they would actually support an NHL team? If so, you are in luck.
The prospective ownership group Hockey Vision Las Vegas launched a season-ticket drive last week to gauge interest around the idea of a team coming to the city.
Over 5,000 season-seat deposits had been placed less than 48-hours after they became available, which excited prospective owner Bill Foley.
“We are off to a great start,” said Foley in a statement. “ It is our hope that the Las Vegas community will continue to rally around this incredible initiative. We've seen an outpouring of support and we know Southern Nevadans will continue to place deposits to help us demonstrate that Las Vegas can support its first major-league sports franchise.”
Many notable names were among those who placed deposits on seats, with reports saying that UFC president Dana White, superstar boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Canadian poker star Daniel Negreanu all committed to tickets.
Although the goal of 10,000 season-seat deposits will not guarantee an NHL team, it will give the ownership group plenty of ammo when trying to convince the NHL board of governors to award them a franchise.
Things are looking up for a NHL team to enter Nevada and while I still feel there are other, better locations to place a new NHL team, I am no longer against seeing a team attempt to break through in Vegas.
