Golden Knights Popularity Extends to Homemade VGK Crafts at Downtown Summerlin Farmers Market

By Alan Snel

LVSportsBiz.com

 

It’s called a farmer’s market, though it seemed there were more Vegas Golden Knights crafts being sold than carrots, lettuce and broccoli.

The weekly Saturday morning gathering of vendors in Downtown Summerlin — the business district of the sprawling Las Vegas western suburb — included many weekend craft warriors who sold lots of homemade hummus in flavors like roasted chipotle plus older folks bitten by both the entrepreneurial bug and Golden Knights fever.

One older couple sold dog coats with the Golden Knights “V” logo.

There was a senior woman selling homemade fanny packs in Golden Knights logo material and even a water bottle holder with the VGK logo that included a strap that goes over your shoulder.

One older gentleman who said he was retired from the construction industry fashioned pens in the Golden Knights colors and sold them as VGK-theme writing instruments.

 

 

The two-year-old Golden Knights have turned Las Vegas into a money geyser of hockey goods, spouting golden VGK logo gear from T-Mobile Arena on the Strip to the VGK training center and headquarters in Downtown Summerlin.

There are the obvious money-makers — the hockey players. These are NHL players who were hardly even known to casual fans before the VGK expansion draft in June 2017 like William Karlsson, Alex Tuch, Shea Theodore and Nate Schmidt who have cashed in big-time with long-term contracts. Everyone in Las Vegas knows them now. Especially Karlsson, who just signed an eight-year deal to stick around Las Vegas, averaging $5.9 million a year.

 

The Golden Knights logo and name — initially ridiculed for having no intrinsic connection to Las Vegas except for perhaps the Excalibur hotel-casino on the Strip — is on licensed products sold to fans in 110 nations around the globe. LVSportsBiz.com recently talked with VGK Chief Marketing Officer Brian Killingsworth during a podcast to discuss the far commercial reach of VGK logo gear. The Knights also have a fan program called VGK Worldwide  to sell memberships for $120 to gain global reach with their mark.

In fact, the Golden Knights sweater is already the top-selling NHL team jersey, Killingsworth noted during the podcast. And it’s hardly the only VGK item that sells.

“We have had such an amazing reaction to different types of products with the VGK logo on them. Our fans are avid collectors of some of the more unique items that we have introduced like Golden Knights wine, cigars, onesies, robes, and chocolates. But, I might draw the line when it comes to VGK Diapers,” Killingsworth told LVSportsBiz.com in a previous interview on the power of the Golden Knights brand.

And now the Golden Knights “V” logo is showing up everywhere on homemade crafts, even at “farmers markets” in Summerlin where you can buy an apron and pot holders with the Golden Knights symbol.

 

The logo has been showing up on all types of products way before the farmers market. LVSB reported a story nearly a year ago on the Golden Knights sending a cease-and-desist letter to a Las Vegas gun store that was selling a glock with the VGK logo and mark on it.

Killingsworth has received dozens of inquiries from people wanting the Knights to sell their products at the team’s two official retail stores, with items ranging from books to fan gear.

“We are constantly getting inquiries and pitched on different items from vendors and fans that want to partner with us. We are always looking to innovate and more often than not, the crazier the idea, the better,” Killingsworth said in a previous Q and A.

Anything with Golden Knights mentions — even the free game posters displaying players’ photographs — have been showing up in eBay and fetching top prices.

How did we get here?

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At Golden Knights home games, I watch fans and talk with them as much as I watch players on the ice.

In fact, if you were parachuted into a game at T-Mobile Arena and only watched people at their seats and saw the yelling, the jumping and the fervor in all forms of expression, you would think you were witnessing an evangelical religious service.

For some of the most intense followers, they may think Fleury saves more than Jesus. Indeed, for some believers, especially the born-again sports fan, the Golden Knights hold more mystical powers than religion.

It’s this deep depth of faith, of belief, of commitment to the Golden Knights brand — and the emotion it evokes in Las Vegas locals — that pave the financial path from VGK vendor to the fan’s wallet. The bond between believer and team runs deeper in Las Vegas than most connections I’ve seen in sports markets around the country.

And that’s why the VGK themed item is showing up on folding tables at a Downtown Summerlin farmers market.

 

Hallelujah! That doggie jacket with the Golden Knights “V” will be $38. Will that be cash or credit?

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