Triple-A PCL Las Vegas 51s Dir of Media Relations Jim Gemma said that the announcement of the team's new name "will come soon, possibly in the next week," with the Aviators as a "leading option," according to Ramona Giwargis of the LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL. Gemma said that the club will also "get a new parent team" after ending a six-year affiliation with the Mets (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 9/4). The 51s said that their final game at Cashman Field yesterday drew 5,353 fans. The USL Las Vegas Lights FC will make the ballpark their home, and Lights Owner Brett Lashbrook wants to "add permanent grass to the Cashman field surface and take down the right field to build more seating and VIP hospitality areas to complete a horseshoe-shaped seat configuration." While Howard Hughes Corp. is building a $150M ballpark in its Downtown Summerlin district, Lashbrook believes the soccer team’s improvements to Cashman Field can "convert it into the Wrigley Field/Fenway Park of professional soccer in this country" (LVSPORTSBIZ.com, 9/3).
GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY: LVSPORTSBIZ.com's Alan Snel noted the 51s on Saturday gave away free jerseys that had a Golden Knights "V" logo on the front as part of the team's "Fan Appreciation Day festivities." The 51s had 2,500 jerseys to "hand out to a monster season-high sellout crowd of 12,512." 51s President & COO Don Logan said that some fans who came early and got their tickets stamped in order to "pick up the baseball novelty item came away disappointed when there were not enough of the free thin-textured jerseys to hand out." He added that the team will "likely order some more Golden Knights-themed 51s jerseys for fans who had tickets stamped for the item but did not receive it" (LVSPORTSBIZ.com, 9/1).
