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Leagues and Governing Bodies

With NHL's Blessing, Foley Eyes February To Start NHL Season-Ticket Drive In Las Vegas

Fidelity National Financial Chair William Foley yesterday said that he "hopes to launch a ticket reservation drive in February as the first step toward showing the NHL that Las Vegas is a viable market" for an expansion franchise, according to Alan Snel of the LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL. Foley said, "We want to demonstrate to the NHL that there is a lot of interest in Las Vegas. Las Vegas is a sports town. If we can deliver the right product on the ice, people will support it." Foley "was given the green light by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman this week to explore Las Vegas as a potential market to play host to a NHL franchise." As part of the potential ownership group, Foley "is joining forces with the Maloof family," which formerly owned the NBA Kings. Foley: "They contacted me, and we like each other and trust each other." Snel reports the Foley-Maloof group, which is going by the name Las Vegas Hockey Vision, "does not know what an NHL expansion fee would be, but reports indicate it would be" in the $400M range. Foley said that LVHV "wants to take ticket reservations, names and emails from local residents as part of a ticket drive and also provide a website that would provide seat map technology to show sight lines from seats, suites and club areas to the ice." Foley said that the NHL-ready, AEG/MGM Resorts Int'l arena that is being built on the Las Vegas Strip "is a major factor behind wanting to launch an NHL team" (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 12/10). The CP's Stephen Whyno wrote a "mythical ticket drive -- with no fans actually committing to buying -- is unprecedented in the NHL." The Jets "needed to show they could support a team" before the NHL BOG approved the Thrashers' relocation, but this "is something different" (CP, 12/9).

INSIDE THE BOARDROOM: ESPN.com's Pierre LeBrun reported NHL BOG members "need to learn a lot more about the Vegas market through this season-ticket drive the league has authorized before they feel comfortable enough to move forward." Blues Owner Tom Stillman said, "I would characterize myself as watching with great interest. I don’t know much about the details of the demographics, so I think it’s certainly worth looking into." Canucks President of Hockey Operations Trevor Linden: "There’s a lot of questions. Vegas has been the one place where nobody really knows how real that is. This is a real litmus test of what that possibility looks like." NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said the league is sit with Foley's group in the coming weeks and "give them our thoughts and share thoughts and see what they have in mind." Bettman said Foley is "going to probably at least have some guidance from us on what we think makes sense and doesn’t make sense, and frankly he wants to make sure that he is not going to do anything that we are not uncomfortable with." Bettman: "This is his ticket drive. If he just wants people to sign a piece of paper and say I am interested, I’m not sure that is the same as somebody taking a deposit." LeBrun noted before there ever is an expansion vote, the league "has to feel out the governors for the green light to actually begin the expansion discussion in an official manner." This still "hasn't happened yet despite the buzz from the Vegas season-ticket drive." Daly said, "We’re a couple board meetings ahead of any vote being taken on anything" (ESPN.com, 12/9). Sportsnet's Sean Reynolds noted the ticket drive "can’t be the best of news for hopeful hockey fans in Quebec City." While a team in Las Vegas is "far from reality, the NHL has shown it’s open to a courtship." But Sportsnet's Damien Cox said, “I don’t think everybody loves the idea of doing it.” Sportsnet’s Nick Kypreos said “it’s a real split situation.” Kypreos: “There’s a real gamble here on the NHL going” (SPORTSNET.ca, 12/9).

HEDGING HIS BETTS: ESPN.com's Craig Custance wrote Bettman is a "realist" when it comes to Vegas, despite the fact that he has been "intrigued for years about the potential" in the market. He "wants concrete proof that the market has enough local fans interested in spending on hockey to take the plunge." If this season-ticket drive "flops, the NHL can move along without any harm done, and re-focus the expansion efforts on markets where they know hockey fans are eager for a team." There is no need to "do a season-ticket drive in Quebec City or even Seattle," where the fans "are waiting" (ESPN.com, 12/9). YAHOO SPORTS' Nicholas Cotsonika wrote there "is no rush" to expand to Vegas, nor should there be, even if an expansion fee would bring in as much as $500M, "to use the highest estimate batted around by some of the governors themselves." The arena will not be ready until the '16-17 season, so if the NHL is "going to put a team in there, it better be darn sure there will be people in the seats for years to come" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 12/9).

BUILT-IN COMPETITION
: In Las Vegas, Steve Carp writes no matter how hard the NHL "tries in Las Vegas, it will have competition from the casinos for the discretionary dollar of local residents." The money that "could go toward a hockey ticket on a Tuesday night will be vying with a video poker machine at a bar or a slot machine in a casino." ECHL Wranglers President & COO Billy Johnson said, "The thing we couldn’t overcome ... was the competitiveness of the casino. People thought we were part of the casino. And it will be a challenge for the NHL team to overcome that as well." Still, Johnson said that the NHL’s credibility "works to its advantage." Carp notes if the NHL is "indeed the first major sports league to plant its flag permanently in Las Vegas, it will endear itself to the sports fans of the city" (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 12/10).

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