Exclusive: Golden Knights Open Third Team Store at Airport, Look to Have More Retail Sites on Strip
By ALAN SNEL
The Vegas Golden Knights just opened a third team store at McCarran International Airport this week and are talking with MGM Resorts International and other Strip properties about opening more retail locations.
The Golden Knights brand is red-hot after the first-year NHL team started its season with three consecutive wins and received high praise for a stirring emotional pre-game tribute at T-Mobile Arena Tuesday night to honor the victims, survivors and first responders from the devastating Oct. 1 mass shooting on the Strip that claimed 58 lives and included nearly 500 injured.
The Golden Knights have team stores at T-Mobile Arena (The Armory) and at City National Arena (The Arsenal). City National Arena is the team’s two-rink training center and headquarters in Summerlin. (Today, City National Arena is abuzz with police hockey teams playing games.)
The Golden Knights’ McCarran store is located in Terminal 1, Gate D, said Brian Killingsworth, Golden Knights chief marketing officer.
Killingsworth said the airport site made business sense in light of the 42 million annual visitors who are moving through the facility.
“We want people to take a piece of Vegas home with them and we want their first choice to be Golden Knights gear,” Killingsworth told LVSportsBiz.com today.
The Golden Knights are also talking with MGM Resorts International, the biggest hotel-casino owner on the Strip, about opening team stores in its properties along the Strip, Killingsworth said. The team is also discussing team store sites in other Strip hotel-casinos, he noted.
The Golden Knights have also sold out twice of their “VegasStrong” T-shirts and plan to team up with Cirque du Suleil, UFC and Blue Man Group to partner on the VegasStrong T-shirts with logos of those entertainment brands on the shirt, Killingsworth said.
The Golden Knights’ VegasStrong shirts are selling for $20 each and the team is giving the money from T-shirt sales to the Oct. 1 victims fund.
Contact LVSportsBiz.com founder/writer Alan Snel at asnel@LVSportsBiz.com
