By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
The first home games for the Vegas Golden Knights in mid-January were surreal when the NHL’s 56-game pandemic season began. By 7PM when the games started, darkness had enveloped the exterior of T-Mobile Arena and there was not a soul in sight on the plaza leading to the venue.
In fact, metal barriers ran along the perimeter of the arena plaza. The atmosphere outside the arena was more spooky and depressing than anything else, exhibiting the life existence of a nuclear winter. There was not a person to be seen except maybe another media member coming to the game, or leaving the building. That’s a pandemic for you.
The one lasting image I have of leaving VGK games in January was Channel 3 sports anchor Bryan Salmond, a lone figure on the vast plaza outside the arena doing a post-game remote. See this story’s lead photo.
Inside the sports venue, there was not a single fan in any of the 17,367 fixed seats for NHL games. Instead, just red and gold seat wraps draped on every single seat.
Not having fans didn’t stop the VGK game-production folks from cranking up the volume (and base) for the in-game music, though. And arena hosts Mark Shunock and Katie Marie Jones still did their pre-game welcome-to-the-VGK-game schticks even without the fans because the mere traces of a game entertainment atmosphere could trigger Golden Knights players to have that extra burst of energy on the ice to perhaps score that game-winning goal or block a shot. Hey, you never know.
Such was the life of live Vegas Golden Knights games starting Jan. 14 and even in February as America struggled with a pandemic and started the march of vaccination shots across the nation.
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On March 1, the Golden Knights welcomed the first fans back into the arena.
LVSportsBiz.com reported on all eight Las Vegas Raiders home games at Allegiant Stadium without fans in 2020.
And we also reported from all the Golden Knights home games in January and February without fans.
Our conclusion is that major league sports without fans are essentially high-powered, glorified, elite pick-up games with players who are the world’s best athletes competing in some of the planet’s nicest sports venues and wearing impressive uniforms. Sports without fans are a different entertainment genre. There’s a different mojo to the sports product when fans aren’t around in the venue.
The emotionality of the collective experience was missing.
You might as well play Strat-O-Matic or video games that simulate sports games.
The emotional juice was not there.
That all changed at T-Mobile Arena on March 1 when 2,605 fans showed up for a hockey game between the Vegas Golden Knights and the Minnesota Wild. The Knights defeated the Wild, 5-4, in overtime. (Talk about foreshadowing.)
For the first time in 363 days, there were human beings in those arena hockey seats.
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There is no disputing the simple fact that as more and more Americans were vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus while still wearing face coverings, less and less Americans were dying from the novel coronavirus.
As vaccinations increased and COVID-19 cases dropped, stadiums and arenas opened their doors to more and more fans.
Drawing 2,605 fans per game (or 15 percent of capacity) in the month of March, the Golden Knights had permission from Clark County to host more fans as the months progressed.
In April, attendance was increased to 3,950 a game, or 22 percent of capacity.
Life was returning to the five-year-old sports and entertainment building off the Strip.
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By May 7, VGK attendance in the arena had reached 7,567.
And when the Knights hosted the first game of the Stanley Cup playoffs on May 16, attendance hit 50 percent of capacity — 8,683. Perhaps you recall Minnesota defeating the Golden Knights, 1-0, in overtime on that Sunday.
The Golden Knights needed seven games to dispatch nemesis Minnesota. In Games 5 and 7 against the Wild, the Knights had 12,156 fans in the arena, or 70 percent of capacity. On May 28, the VGK defeated Minnesota, 6-2, in Game 7 to clinch a playoff series for the first time at T-Mobile Arena.
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The Golden Knights moved on to play two games against the Colorado Avalanche in Denver in a much-anticipated round two match-up between the two teams with the most points during the abbreviated regular season. The VGK lost both and returned to T-Mobile Arena and a packed house of 17,504 for Game 3 Friday.
When the Golden Knights pulled out a stirring 3-2 comeback win against Colorado thanks to two goals 45 seconds apart by Jonathan Marchessault and Max Pacioretty, the massive crowd at T-Mobile Arena erupted in a primal roar that rivaled the noise levels of any VGK home game during the franchise’s four years at T-Mobile Arena.
Game 4 is Sunday at 5:30PM Vegas time.
Expect another 17,500 insane fans in the building that was ghostly silent just outside its doors a mere five months ago.
So, what happened to all those red and gold seat coverings?
Well, the Golden Knights are selling them for 10 bucks apiece.
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