Golden Knights Owner Bill Foley said that he is "not seeking to bring on any minority investors at this time," refuting an ESPN.com report last week that mentioned Patriots TE Rob Gronkowski, Blue Jays RF Jose Bautista and former NHLer Alexei Yashin as minority owners, according to Steve Carp of the LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL. Foley said, "Someone approached me, I won’t say who, about investing in the team. I told that person right now we’re not looking to add investors right now. What I think happened was that person knows the people who were mentioned in the ESPN article. But I can tell you that we’re not bringing in anyone else. Even if we did, that person would have to go through a long vetting process, and that’s not happening" (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 11/27). ESPN.com's Darren Rovell on Wednesday reported in addition to Gronkowski, Bautista and Yashin, former NHLer Mark Recchi, Jaguars CB Prince Amukamara and former supermodel Carol Alt would join the team's ownership group (TWITTER.com, 11/23).
TAKING IN A SHOW: In Buffalo, Mike Harrington wrote a place as "unique as Las Vegas should come out with something unique for its first team in professional sports," which is what Foley did with the Vegas "show-like announcement outside T-Mobile Arena" last Tuesday night. Though a video "glitched and didn't play when it was supposed to," the name and logo are "catchy." There is a "huge buzz about the NHL's new team just over 10 months before it plays its first regular-season game" (BUFFALO NEWS, 11/26). ESPN.com's Scott Burnside noted the final versions of both the logo and jerseys "weren't settled on until 21/2 weeks ago." Foley "pointed out the changes that had been undertaken even since September, including a band of red on both the jerseys and socks that was initially white." Foley "incorporated some of the color schemes and elements that he'd envisioned for a Black Knights team with the Golden Knights" That includes "metallic gold embroidery, a slate-gray medieval-themed helmet, crossed swords over a stylized star with a dab of red that approximates the star in the iconic Las Vegas city sign" (ESPN.com, 11/24). But in Boston, Christopher Gasper wrote this is an expansion team, "not a new big box store selling renaissance fair supplies." The logo and the team name "are about as prosaic, sterile, and banal as it gets" (BOSTON GLOBE, 11/24).
WHAT'S IN A NAME? In Las Vegas, Ray Brewer wrote fans should not linger on whether the Vegas Golden Knights name "alienates Las Vegans expected to support the team because it’s missing the 'Las.'" Brewer: "Look at the big picture: We have a team, finally." What is "lost in the argument is that Foley plans on selling massive quantities of memorabilia to tourists and will flip that money into building a first-class, winning franchise." Everyone will have "plenty to disagree about moving forward," but disputing the name is a "waste of time." Brewer: "It takes away from what’s really important, the fact we have a team" (LAS VEGAS SUN, 11/27). ESPN.com's Pierre LeBrun jokingly wrote he "can't wait for the first game versus the Angeles Kings" (ESPN.com, 11/23). Meanwhile, in N.Y., Larry Brooks wrote the "unveiling of the NHL’s 31st franchise’s name and logo replete with technical malfunctions was almost charming in an amateur-hour type of way" (N.Y. POST, 11/27).
