Golden Knights players paid tribute to fans for selling out every home game this seasonGETTY IMAGES
With the Capitals clinching the Stanley Cup on Thursday night, "time ran out" on the Golden Knights' "magical first season that seemed surreal at times in terms of its unprecedented success and journey to the Stanley Cup Finals," according to Alan Snel of LVSPORTSBIZ.com. The season was a "financial success for the inaugural Golden Knights, generating large revenues from ticket, merchandise and sponsorship sales." The Golden Knights jersey was the NHL's "top seller" and the team was "top five" in gate revenues. Fans from 90 nations "bought licensed Golden Knights logo gear" and Game 1 of the Cup Final "yielded a stunning $600,000 in merch sales inside T-Mobile Arena" (LVSPORTSBIZ.com, 6/7). In Las Vegas, Jesse Granger writes the city's viability as a hockey market was "doubted, but the fans sold out T-Mobile Arena for every single home game, set new records for ticket prices in the playoffs, and wrapped lines around the building, waiting hours for a chance to see the team run a 20-minute morning skate." No opposing team’s building in the "entire playoff run held a candle to T-Mobile Arena." The 18,000-strong "screaming at the top of their lungs, waiving battle towels above their heads made Las Vegas a nightmare for opposing teams all season long" (LAS VEGAS SUN, 6/8). NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman prior to Game 5 said, "We believed that this would be a great market. ... The fans' support here, the corporate support has been incredible. We never worried about the success of the team off the ice. On the ice, the goal was to make them competitive. I guess we were successful" ("Stanley Cup Final Game 5," NBC, 6/7).
INSTANT IMPACT: In Las Vegas, John Katsilometes writes the Golden Knights "did more than reach the Stanley Cup Final, and were more than just the most successful expansion franchise ever in pro sports." The team’s "impact on the community, the way it electrified the community as a single entity, simply can’t be underestimated." Katsilometes: "Ever since this team took the ice, it has been the primary topic of conversation in every social event, show opening, fundraising gala, dinner party and lounge performance I have attended since last fall" (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 6/8). Also in Las Vegas, Ed Graney notes the Raiders and the NFL "will arrive" in '20, and the city as a "sports community will change forever, but never will Southern Nevada experience the sort of journey a hockey team took it on the past nine months" (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 6/8). THE ATHLETIC's Pierre LeBrun writes the Golden Knights have "made the NHL a better place." Their inaugural season "won’t ever be forgotten" (THEATHLETIC.com, 6/8). The AP's Tim Dahlberg notes the temperature in Las Vegas was "close to 100 degrees for Game 5 but hockey worked in the desert" (AP, 6/8). USA TODAY's Martin Rogers: "Make no mistake -- this is a hockey town now" (USA TODAY, 6/8).
THE SIGN OF A TRUE NHL MARKET: Despite it being the Golden Knights' first season, fans booed Bettman when he hit the ice Thursday night for the championship celebration. ESPN’s Steve Levy said, “There was some question would Gary Bettman be booed like he is every place. What do the Vegas people have to boo Gary Bettman about?” ESPN’s Barry Melrose: “They should be giving him high fives and saying, ‘Thank you Gary. Thank you Gary for putting a team here and giving us all these great young players’” (“SportsCenter,” ESPN, 6/7).
