Golden Knights Drop Home Game to Division Rival San Jose, 3-2
By ALAN SNEL
LVSportsBiz.com
LVSportsBiz.com photos by J. Tyge O’Donnell
Shaquille O’Neal watched a Vegas Golden Knights game from here.
Sometimes, VGK TV broadcaster Shane Hnidy hangs out here during games at T-Mobile Arena.
And there are some games — like tonight when the San Jose Sharks visited the big ice house on the Strip – when four fans are sitting here and watching from a spot between two benches.
The quartet of seats just might be the best seats in the house to watch the Golden Knights — two seats on the glass and two others right behind at the bottom of an aisle between sections five and six sandwiched between the Golden Knights bench and the visiting team’s bench.
For national TV broadcasts, the space has to be clear of fans to make way for a TV commentator, said Kerry Bubolz, the Golden Knights president.
He said the prime foursome of seats is sold to fans about half the time, with the starting price at $500 per seat, so it’s a minimum of $2,000 for the set of four. Remember, that’s the lowest price for those seats.
Sometimes, the seats are offered as auction items by the Golden Knights and the highest auction price was $2,500 per seat — or $10,000, Bubolz said.
Tonight’s four fans were among a big crowd of 18,367 who watched the Golden Knights lose to the San Jose Sharks, 3-2, after the Golden Knights grabbed a 2-1 lead in the third period thanks to the first goal of the season by defenseman Jon Merrill.
The loss snapped the VGK seven game winning streak.
The building attendees included NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly who were in town for the big CES show, which gave Bettman the chance to attend VGK games Tuesday and Thursday nights.
Bubolz said the premier seats are sometimes reserved for major celebrities like O’Neal. In O’Neal’s case, the former NBA star and seven-foot-plus celebrity is so tall that other fans complained that he blocked their views by merely sitting in one of the four seats, Bubolz said.
The next Golden Knights home game is Jan. 19, when the Pittsburgh Penguins visit T-Mobile Arena for a Saturday evening game at 7 p.m.
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