When CBS Radio in Las Vegas lost a bidding war to broadcast Golden Knights games, the station said that it would be "shutting them out" of coverage, but it "turns out the radio station will indeed acknowledge the Golden Knights after all," according to Daniel Rapaport of SI.com. CBS "lost a bidding war to Lotus Broadcasting for the Golden Knights' radio rights," and KLAS-CBS sports anchor Ron Futrell "speculates that the Golden Knights have not bought advertising on CBS." A rep for CBS Radio Las Vegas GM Tony Perlongo in a statement said that the initial move was an "error in judgement" on the part of the station and they "deeply regret it." CBS Radio in Las Vegas "initially tried to totally disregard the existence of the city's only professional sports franchise." CBS Radio Operations Manager, J.B. King, sent an email last week to employees with "explicit instructions to completely ignore" the Golden Knights (SI.com, 8/16). YAHOO SPORTS' Greg Wyshynski wrote the swift reversal of policy "speaks to three things." Ignoring a local team, "especially one with that new car smell, is bad business." Public "shaming for said idiocy is a handy way to affect change." Lastly, hockey fans should "take a lesson from this and realize that if you aren’t happy with the amount of coverage your sport gets from a given station in a given market, let your voices be heard" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 8/16).
WINNING OVER BIG SKY COUNTRY: In Montana, Joseph Terry noted the Golden Knights this week are on a "four-state goodwill tour in an effort to drum up support." Several players and Golden Knights Senior VP Murray Craven on Tuesday took part in an hour-long clinic in Whitefish, Mont., where Craven and team Owner Bill Foley are from. The hope is that "outreach programs like this will help grow a fanbase in a region that has been largely ignored by the league in the past." Craven said, "Las Vegas isn't New York City, it's not Los Angeles, it's not Chicago. We have 2.2 million people. The rest of the state is pretty empty. A lot of the territories we're in are not heavily populated. We want to grab as many people as we can, as far as people in Montana, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, and grab them and pull them into our vortex" (DAILY INTER LAKE, 8/16). The team also stopped in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, on Tuesday, and Golden Knights G Calvin Pickard said, "If anyone had told me last August I'd be in Coeur d'Alene representing an NHL team in Vegas I'd have thought they were crazy." However, he added, "Words can't describe being part of an expansion team and the chance to be the face of hockey for a generation of new fans" (Spokane SPOKESMAN-REVIEW, 8/16). The Golden Knights are slated to visit Deer Lodge, Mont., today and Bozeman, Mont., tomorrow before concluding the tour Saturday in Salt Lake City (THE DAILY).
