As Golden Knights Mania Sweeps Las Vegas, Other LV Teams Look To Draw Spotlight Too

 

By ALAN SNEL

LVSportsBiz.com

 

The Vegas Golden Knights’ Round 1 sweep of the Los Angeles Kings and their push into the Stanley Cup Playoffs’ Round 2 have sucked many Las Vegas businesses into the Golden Knights’ vortex of fan mania.

 

For example, The+Source dispensary, offering 30 different strains of cannabis, has a discount deal every time the Golden Knights wins a playoff game. Golden Night pure cartridges will be $45 and Golden Night distillate cartridges will be $55 after each playoff win —  a $5 savings on each deal.

 

Jin Ju Chocolate here in Las Vegas created a customized chocolate with the Golden Knights helmet on it.

 

Even “Knight” the K9 is hitting the local TV studio circuit.

 

It’s Golden Knights mania every place you turn in Las Vegas, which brings us to our friends at MGM Resorts International.

 

MGM Resorts, which built and owns a healthy share of the Golden Knights’ home arena, T-Mobile Arena, are undoubtedly thrilled with the Golden Knights’ success. MGM Resorts’ property, Bellagio, in fact, showcased a statue of star goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury made out of chocolate.

 

And MGM Resorts would also like a piece of the expanding sports market here in Las Vegas for its own new sports property — the re-branded Las Vegas Aces. The Aces are a WNBA team MGM purchased after the club suffered through a last-place season in San Antonio last year.

 

Like the market’s other teams such as the Las Vegas Lights FC soccer club and the Triple A Las Vegas 51s baseball team, MGM Resorts face the challenge of creating a buzz about the Aces’ upcoming season in the face of Golden Knights-mania.

 

It’s conceivable that if the Golden Knights defeat the San Jose Sharks in Round 2 and then win the Western Conference Finals for a berth in the Stanley Cup Finals, the Aces’ start of the regular season (May 20 at the Connecticut Sun) could overlap with the Golden Knights’ postseason.

 

MGM Resorts are using everything from radio spots to their properties’ large marquees to promote the Aces after staging a season ticket holder seat selection event in early February.

 

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Meanwhile, the Lights of the second division United Soccer League are using billboards and their partnership with Zappos to promote Lights games. The Lights play Friday in between Golden Knights’ Games 1 (Thursday) and 2 (probably Saturday) at T-Mobile Arena.

And the 51s are on the road this week in Albuquerque.

 

The one thing to remember is that the price of admission for Aces, Lights and 51s games will be a fraction of the ticket cost for these Golden Knights playoff games. So, while the Golden Knights are attracting the media spotlight, the other teams do provide a financially less-painful alternative to getting into the building.

 

Lights’ tickets start at $15, while 51s tickets are even less at $11 or $12. Meanwhile, LVSportsBiz.com reported that the average Golden Knights ticket on the secondary market was selling for $691 for Game 1 at T-Mobile Arena Thursday.

 

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Media Notes

 

— It’s been Twitter by committee ever since the Golden Knights’ main Twitter man, Dan Marrazza, left the team a few months ago. Several communications staff members are chipping in with the tweets these days.

 

— Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman hit the radio waves to declare the color teal is banned and off-limits in the city of Las Vegas during the duration of the Golden Knights-Sharks Round 2 series.

 

— It’s just not right that the Golden Knights’ superb TV voice, Dave Goucher, will not be able to do the TV play-by-play for the Round 2 Golden Knights-Sharks series because the games will be on NBCSN. But what’s cool is that Goucher was enlisted for national radio play-by-play of Game 7 between the Bruins and Maple Leafs in Boston Wednesday evening. It’s only appropriate since Goucher was the radio voice for the Bruins for many years.

 

Following the national broadcasts of the Vegas Golden Knights games during the playoffs, fans can watch AT&T SportsNet for a live 30-minute postgame show featuring Goucher, Shane Hnidy, Eric Lacroix, Gary Lawless, Aly Lozoff and Conor McGahey.

 

And game day info at the arena plaza starting 4:30 pm Thursday:

-Barber shaving Vegas Golden Knights logos

-Tattoo artist tattooing free Vegas Golden Knights logos (up to a certain size)

-Airbrush artist

-Face and hair painters

-Corn toss

-Shooting cage

-Ice sculptures

-Pop up Vegas Golden Knights shop

The March to the Fortress will begin at 5:45 p.m. outside New York-New York and conclude at approximately 6 p.m. in Toshiba Plaza.

Fans in attendance will receive a battle towel at their seat presented by PandA.

 

 

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