The season-ticket drive for the prospective NHL expansion club in Las Vegas does not start until Tuesday, but the potential owners have already "bet big on Las Vegas, and they think they are already well on their way to showing there is enough demand for the NHL on the Strip," according to Nicholas Cotsonika of YAHOO SPORTS. Fidelity National Financial Chair William Foley, the lead investor, said he and former NBA Kings co-Owners Joe and Gavin Maloof probably will have spent $2.5M "by the time we’re all done through the end of March." Cotsonika noted the ownership group "paid for consultants and market studies," as well as "a PR and marketing firm and a social media agency," plus sales staff and more. Their market research "showed 130,000 potential ticket-buyers in the Las Vegas area -- 75,000 avid hockey fans, plus 55,000 others interested in seeing a game." There are "six price points" for tickets. The "lowest estimated ticket price is $20 to $40 per game, the highest $150 to $220 per game." Foley said that the "overall average would be about $60, near the NHL average." The potential owners "started with the idea of a Founding 50 -- 50 people who would commit to buying or finding buyers for 60 season tickets each." They now "have a Founding 75 that is actually a Founding 83." If those founders come through, that is "almost 5,000 season tickets right there." The arena will "have 44 suites, plus eight bunker suites near the ice." Half of the 44 suites have "already been sold and the eight bunker suites have been sold out -- all with multi-year commitments." Foley said, “I’m not cocky, but it’s going pretty well. And we haven’t started" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 2/5). Gavin Maloof said, "If we don’t succeed with this, with the NHL, guess what? We’re not going to get another professional team here. The NBA won’t come; baseball won’t come. We have to be successful. We cannot fail" (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 2/6). The ownership group has launched a website called VegasWantsHockey.com detailing the season-ticket drive (THE DAILY).
