Las Vegas Lights Return to Preseason Pitch Saturday for Second Year of Wacky Promotions and More Stable Roster

 

By ALAN SNEL

LVSportsBiz.com

 

Las Vegas’ zany professional soccer team promises to return the helicopter cash drop during halftime of a game at Cashman Field, a wider beer selection when the club gains control of food/beverage concessions later in the season and a more stable roster so that fans can connect with players better in Season 2.

 

Las Vegas Lights FC’s maiden season in the United Soccer League (the Triple A league of professional soccer one tier below Major League Soccer) proved to be a success off the field with attendance of just less than 7,000 fans a game and wacky, headline-grabbing promotions that drew lots of free publicity in year one of the soccer team that is based in downtown Las Vegas.

 

But the off-field jollies and fun times contrasted with the team’s sorry performance on the field, where the Lights won only eight of 34 games and finished a dismal 15th out of 17 teams in the USL’s Group B.

 

Many of the nearly 40 players came and went in the club’s rookie season so it was a challenge to keep up with the many roster changes. And even the head coach came and went, too, as former Jose Luis Sanchez Sola (“El Chelis”) left his job as technical director before the 2018 season ended.

 

The Lights return to Cashman Field Saturday with 22 players under contract (there are 30 players in camp) led by technical director and head coach Eric Wynalda, a U.S. soccer icon.

 

In fact, a Wynalda robo call told a couple thousand Las Vegas soccer fans this week that the Lights were playing Toronto FC of MLS Saturday at 2 p.m. in the first of two preseason games. The second preseason game is 2 p.m. Feb. 16 when the Major League Soccer Colorado Rapids visit Cashman Field before the Lights play their regular season home-opener March 9 at 7:30 p.m. against Austin.

 

The 2019 regular season games will start 30 minutes earlier at 7:30 p.m., and the team’s unconventional sponsors such as the local Paiute tribe’s NuWu Cannabis Marketplace dispensary will return for the second season, said Brett Lashbrook, the team’s owner.

 

He noted Zappos the giant downtown online clothing and footwear retailer will be a main sponsor, with Zappos’ two llamas also making their game appearances. And even Zappos leader Tony Hsieh is expected to attend a few games like he did in 2018, Lashbrook said.

 

 

 

 

 

 

As of Friday, the Lights are still considered the secondary tenant at Cashman Field because Howard Hughes Corporation, the owner of the former 51s/newly-rebranded Aviators minor league baseball team, has not given notice to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (Cashman’s landlord) that it has left Cashman, Lashbrook said.

 

That means it’s conceivable that Big League Weekend, when two Major League Baseball teams play weekend preseason games in Las Vegas in March, could play each other at Cashman Field next month, Lashbrook said. Nobody officially knows in the public because Howard Hughes Corporation doesn’t talk much in public. Howard Hughes Corp. says opening day for the new Summerlin ballpark where the Aviators will play is April 9.

 

Sixty days after Howard Hughes Corp. gives notice at Cashman Field, the Lights can officially have the run of Cashman and even pick its own concessions sellers, so new craft, domestic and Mexican beer choices could be available by June, Lashbrook said.

 

The much-publicized helicopter cash drop from season one is returning in 2019, Lashbrook said. “We knew it wasn’t going to be dangerous,” the team owner noted.

 

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Lashbrook said the team will keep Cashman Field’s outfield fences still up in season two even if there’s no baseball games during the year. The fences are used to display sponsor signs.

 

The team has three local born and raised Las Vegas players and the roster includes players from eight countries, Lashbrook said.

 

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