Bill Foley, chairman, Fidelity National Financial, Inc., Black Knight and FIS addresses the crowd on hand during the “Let’s Bring Hockey to Las Vegas!” press conference at the MGM Grand Ballroom on Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2015.
Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2015 | 2 a.m.
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Here’s a scenario bound to happen if Las Vegas gets a professional hockey franchise:
A group of buddies who are Boston Bruins supporters and live in the New England area notice the Bruins are playing their annual road game in Las Vegas on a Saturday night in January. They decide to make a weekend out of it, living one of those “What Happens in Las Vegas, Stays in Las Vegas” weekends on the Strip that includes a few hours of hockey.
Drinking, gambling, chasing women and hockey. Sounds like a perfect two days, right?
They’ll likely be joined in the arena, the state-of-the-art, $350 million MGM/AEG project on the Strip scheduled to open in April 2016, by transplant Las Vegans who are also Bruins fans.
The fear is Las Vegas would feel like the road team every night because when they played at home, there would be more fans for the other team. Well, maybe not.
“They’ll have to find a ticket,” says Bill Foley, the billionaire teaming with the Maloof brothers in trying to bring an NHL franchise to Las Vegas. “My goal would be to make it real difficult for them to find a ticket — 100 percent local, that’s what I want.”
Once the novelty of having a team wears off, the only way for hockey to thrive and sustain is for locals to be on board. It has to be our team; not a team for visitors or another amenity on the Strip.
The good news, something I’ve learned from meeting with Foley the past two days, is he gets it. He’s sincere in bringing a team to Las Vegas for Las Vegas, and not for tourists.
He’s also one of us — a Las Vegan. Foley and his and wife, Carol, have a house in the ritzy Ridges neighborhood of Summerlin in escrow pending Las Vegas getting the blessing from the NHL for an expansion franchise.
“Las Vegas, it is a community not just about the Strip and gambling,” Foley said. “There are software companies, law firms, distribution companies. Las Vegas has a lot going for it. My job is to get a basic person living in Las Vegas to come to games and buy tickets.”
Time will tell if locals believe in Foley’s vision. A season-ticket deposit drive launched Tuesday with the goal of getting commitment money for at least 10,000 seats. If the campaign clears that threshold, Foley believes a team would be granted.
A who’s who of locals — business owners, politicians, hotel industry executives and others — were front-and-center Tuesday at the MGM Grand for a rally to start the deposit campaign. It shows that Foley has quickly gone from an outsider to someone prominent locals support. They too believe hockey can work here.
I’m not sure if it’s sustainable, but I’m definitely hopeful. This is my city — I’m born and raised, and proudly raising my family here — and any athlete wearing Las Vegas across his chest has my support.
Ray Brewer can be reached at 702-990-2662 or [email protected]. Follow Ray on Twitter at twitter.com/raybrewer21
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