With Golden Knights Ruling Las Vegas, Other Sports Resort To Luring Fans With Money, Swimming Pool, All-you-can-eat Nachos/Hot Dogs

By ALAN SNEL

LVSportsBiz.com

 

Nobody expected the Vegas Golden Knights to make a miracle run to the Stanley Cup Finals, become a national story and spawn a varied cast of celebrity fans that range from a Jack Russell terrier to a young girl in a VGK ballcap to a retired Air Force veteran who looks like the Wolverine character.

 

When you’re the toast of the sports world, you can ask a lot of money for individual game tickets, suites, corporate partnerships and any sponsorships that would include logos on the ice. It’s typical in sports marketing for teams that enjoyed unprecedented success during a season to cash in during the follow season — and that’s exactly what the Golden Knights are doing right now.

 

The fact is the Golden Knights — not the Raiders — are the current big dogs of the Las Vegas sports market. That might change after the Raiders christen their new palatial stadium in 2020.

 

And with the Knights ruling Las Vegas’ sports kingdom, all those smaller dogs trying to yap for your sports dollar attention are trying just about any promotion you can think of to lure a local fan to their sports event.

 

In the case of the Las Vegas Lights FC, it’s money.

 

The first-year United Soccer League team is using the lure of free cash to get fans excited about a soccer club struggling mightily in the standings.

 

The Lights are holding what they’re describing as the “wildest halftime promotional competition of the 2018 season” when the soccer team hires a helicopter to drop $5,000 for 200 fans to battle over at halftime of the Lights-LA Galaxy II game at Cashman Field Sept. 8.

 

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On the very same night, the UNLV football team kicks off its home schedule against the UTEP Miners. It’s the first game that UNLV fans can enjoy an “Eat All You Can” ticket deal that includes all the hot dogs, nachos, soda and popcorn you can eat.

 

On the following weekend, the major league of car racing comes to Las Vegas when Las Vegas Motor Speedway hosts its second NASCAR event of 2018 — the South Point 400.

 

Some of the ways the Speedway will try and get fans to make the trek to the track north of the city is to install as many water misters as humanly possible at the venue and have a pool at a “Turn 4 Turn Up” gathering on the concourse level at Turn 4 during the Sept. 14-16 South Point 400 weekend. The Speedway is even throwing in a Ferris wheel into the Turn 4 social spot.

 

Then, there’s our friends at the Las Vegas 51s, the Triple A baseball team saying good-bye to Cashman Field with their trusty dollar beer night promotion Thursday and a free jersey giveaway Saturday that shows the Vegas Golden Knights “V” logo on the jersey front.

 

That’s how big the Golden Knights have become — even the 51s are paying tribute to the Golden Knights on their last Saturday night ballgame at Cashman Field before they move to a new $150 million ball yard in Downtown Summerlin for the 2019 season.

 

September does bring Las Vegas a boxing match that can go toe-to-toe with the Golden Knights. Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin will have a mega-fight rematch at T-Mobile Arena Sept. 15.

 

Fight promoters won’t need to give away free cash or provide a swimming pool for that sports event. That should be the hottest sports ticket in Las Vegas in September.

 

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