Las Vegas’ hockey honeymoon must be precursor to a lasting marriage

By John Katsilometes

Sunday, June 19, 2016 | 2 a.m.

This week I was a guest on a radio show in Regina, Saskatchewan, which is not so out of the ordinary when you cover the scene so aggressively in Las Vegas.

The hosts wanted to talk pucks, NHL specifically, and the league’s reported intention to expand to Nevada for the 2017-18 season. This is expected to be made official when the NHL Board of Governors meets June 22 at Encore Las Vegas.

This discussion led to many questions natural for anyone interested in NHL expansion who lives outside of Las Vegas. “Will you be able to bet on these games? Where is the arena? Can the Las Vegas market support a major-league sports team?”

That last question is the magic one, sports fans. This is what I am asked about most often in my regular canvassing of the city. Can we support this team?

As I said to our Canadian friends: Yes, in Season 1. Yes, in Season 2. Season 3 is the real test.

Novelty is fickle, and Las Vegas is a fickle city. This is especially true for locals and tourists figuring out how to spend their entertainment dollar. Las Vegas is unique not only as the largest metropolitan outpost in North America without a major-league franchise, but as a destination with so many different entertainment options.

Is it the Las Vegas Black Knights — the name most often attached to the NHL team — or a Cirque show? Hockey or Celine? Pucks or dinner at Wolfgang Puck? Nowhere else do people with disposable income face such impressive options. And you can’t do it all. The city’s contracting entertainment market has led to the closing of a popular stage show, “Jersey Boys” at Paris Las Vegas, in September. Nothing is in line to replace it, and I’m sensing that even more ticketed production shows won’t be around by the end of this year. If you expect that an NHL team won’t further challenge Vegas resident shows, or even the subscription business at such venues as downtown’s Smith Center for the Performing Arts, you’d be mistaken.

Still, from my conversations over the past couple of years with tourism officials and those familiar with how professional expansion teams perform, I am confident of early momentum for the Las Vegas team.

The city long ago exceeded the 10,000 minimum season-ticket deposits required by the league in its expansion search. That figure is now an impressive 14,000. Crucial to the financial model of how those tickets will be used: We’ll likely see multitudes of tourists buying tickets on the secondary market (online platforms such as StubHub) for the unique thrill of watching their home squads playing on the Strip. Expect T-Mobile to be a real events destination when Las Vegas begins the 2017-18 NHL season.

For long-term success, it would help greatly for the team to be a playoff contender. But expansion teams in any pro league typically need time to become competitive, and the talent base for NHL-caliber players is hardly infinite. An intelligent early marketing move would be to promote the entire hockey experience in Las Vegas, not just the opportunity to see this new home team. Local fans would be wise to be patient for this franchise to become a competitive force.

But optimism for success is already prevalent among some of our more animated public officials. County Commissioner Steve Sisolak, showing some restraint as the league has yet to make it official, nonetheless told the Associated Press, “I’m excited, but I’m waiting for the official announcement from the NHL. Las Vegas has been waiting for this for decades. We’re a major-league city. We deserve major-league sports. I can’t wait to see that first championship parade down the Las Vegas Strip!”

That will take time. So will the city’s response to thousands of hockey fans pouring into T-Mobile for 41 regular-season dates. The booking of nearby arenas is made far easier with the NHL in play. MGM Resorts has to be relieved that it will not face filling all those open dates at the venue. And the team’s schedule should ease the booking burden at nearby MGM Grand Garden Arena and Mandalay Bay Events Center, as resort officials can present headliners in either of those facilities around T-Mobile’s NHL games.

But this is my hunch: A two-year honeymoon for these Black Knights. In that time, we can establish a real, long-term commitment, and ensure our relationship will never be on thin ice.