By ALAN SNEL
LVSportsBiz.com
I have a hunch — and it’s only a hunch — that the Golden Knights business guys with offices overlooking the team’s practice rink in Summerlin are brewing up a plan to get more fans with Golden Knights jerseys into T-Mobile Arena for the playoffs.
The Golden Knights’ inaugural season ends April 7 in Calgary and then the pursuit of the Stanley Cup begins.
The first-year team has played a historic rookie season, shattering most records for an NHL team in its inaugural year. It appears the Golden Knights are destined for post-season play.
But there have so many games at T-Mobile Arena when the stands were half-filled with fans wearing the jerseys of visiting teams.
That happened more than just when the Red Wings and Blackhawks visited Las Vegas. Fans rooting for the Pittsburgh Penguins, Edmonton Oilers, Philadelphia Flyers and Los Angeles Kings — for example — filled many rows when those teams visited T-Mobile Arena.
Fans of visiting teams at T-Mobile Arena easily got a hold of Golden Knights game tickets because VGK season ticket holders sold their game tickets via the Stub Hubs of the world. There are 14,000 Golden Knights season ticket equivalents.
Golden Knights President Kerry Bubolz has welcomed visiting teams into T-Mobile Arena, continuing Las Vegas’ tradition of world-class hospitality.
Bubolz’s observation that the Golden Knights enjoyed hosting visiting fans while taking two points from their team was good for laughs.
And the red jersey-clad groups of Red Wings and Blackhawks fans roaming T-Mobile Arena were written off as Detroit and Chicago fans travel everywhere.
But the Golden Knights’ home wins piled up and Vegas fans rejoiced. During intermissions and breaks, Golden Knights fans enjoyed everything from Cirque du Soleil and fan weddings to the high tech-costumed Drumbots and Blue Man Group.
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And they still roared with excitement over the schmaltzy, over-the-top, rock-in-sword intro ceremony months after the season began.
Who cared if half the crowd were Penguins, Oilers or Flyers fans? Who cared if Anaheim Ducks fans rumbled with Golden Knights fans or Oilers fans mouthed off at VGK rooters. Golden Knights fans soaked up the good times.
Well, in a month you should care.
The playoffs start in April and it’s time for Bubolz and his ticket staff to work at drawing as many Golden Knights fans to home post-season games.
The NHL post-season is a whole different animal than the regular season.
The games become more physical with so much at stake. Those free-wheeling 7-4 games become intense 2-1 nail-biters.
The Golden Knights players are pros and many of them have played in international competitions where the crowd composition is a blend of fans from both teams on the ice. They’re used to split crowds and cheers on every play.
But the playoffs mean business and it’s where teams and players author their legacies.
I suggest the Golden Knights take a page from the Nashville Predators’ business book and give first preference to Golden Knights fans in the team’s market after the playoff ticket pre sales to season ticket holders are complete. Stage a strong campaign to sell playoff tickets to Golden Knights fans first. And only when that’s done, open up sales to the general fan population.
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Nashville Predators President Sean Henry said his team doesn’t have a plan to not sell playoff tickets to opposing fans.
Instead, Henry said, “Our plan is to first offer tickets within our market to our fans first. If we have playoff tickets available for sale after our season ticket holder ‘pre-sales’ are done, then we offer them in our market first and if there are any left we open them up for general sales.”
“We have been doing this for about 7 years now,” added Henry, whose team made it to the Stanley Cup Finals last season.
LVSportsBiz.com reached out to team owner Bill Foley and Bubolz to see if the Golden Knights have a playoff ticket sale plan. We didn’t hear back.
But I hope they do and I recommend they do. If you think it stung for Vegas fans when the Golden Knights lost a home game during the regular season, you’re in for quite a downer when your home team loses in the playoffs — and you hear fans for the other team cheering in your building.
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