Happy Birthday, LVSportsBiz.com: Five Years Old Never Looked So Grateful
By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
A Chevrolet Cruze is a compact car with a low bumper.
So when Dennis Brophy drove his Chevy Cruze into the rear of the bicycle I was riding in Florida March 7, 2017, I flew backwards into the car’s windshield before I tumbled off the car hood and was eventually hauled to the closest hospital ICU. If it was a GMC Yukon or one of those pickup trucks with the common goliath-sized front ends, I would have been pitched forward, run over and likely killed.
Instead, I was merely knocked out on Old Dixie Highway in St. Lucie County three hours north of Miami.
And alive.
I did not know it at the time, but there would be a symbolic arm reaching out to help me get up off the pavement from so many amazing people in just a few months in Las Vegas.
That was Fort Pierce, Florida in March 2017. In Las Vegas, Nevada on June 4, 2017 — slightly less than three months later — LVSportsBiz.com went live with the first stories on the business/marketing/development of the Las Vegas sports and stadium industry. It was a gamble to launch a site with such a specific and narrow focus — the business of the sports scene in Las Vegas. I gambled on myself.
Here we are on June 4, 2022 marking the fifth birthday of a news site that has delivered Las Vegas sports-business news to more than a million readers since launch.
*
The beauty about living a good life is that you give and help others without even knowing you are doing exactly that.
So many people supported my recovery, and then the launch of LVSportsBiz.com without even knowing how much a gesture or a word helped me move forward.
But I knew. And I was grateful — and always will be.
I was a career newspaper writer before LVSportsBiz.com published its first batch of stories five years ago today.
In Denver about 25 years ago, I began reporting on the convergence of sports, government, business and politics when the Denver Broncos wanted a subsidized football stadium. Reporting on this fascinating news intersection took me to different newspapers and media outlets in South Florida, Seattle, New York, Tampa and eventually Las Vegas.
The concept of LVSportsBiz.com was hatched by a former Denver Post colleague, Mark Obmascik, who visited me at my Vero Beach home in April 2017 when I was recovering. He suggested I return to Las Vegas to create my own website on the sports-biz topics I covered at the Las Vegas Review-Journal from 2012-16.
I then called former sports team owner Joe Maloof, a cool guy who thought outside the box, and I asked him if he could become LVSportsBiz.com’s first advertiser. Joe, a Golden Knights founding partner who helped create the NHL expansion franchise, was in.
Then my Las Vegas friend, Liz Bash, said her friend, Dawn Anderson, needed a house sitter to watch her central Las Vegas home for June and July 2017. And thus, LVSportsBiz.com had a headquarters for its first two months.
In August 2017, I asked a talented photographer, Daniel Clark, if he’d like to accompany me at a laborers union picnic in North Las Vegas that supported the construction of the Raiders’ football stadium just off the Strip. Daniel snapped this beauty of a photo of the state’s future governor in a Derek Carr jersey chatting it up with the Laborers Local 872 guys.
Daniel’s photos during LVSportsBiz.com’s first year helped show readers we were legit.
In June 2018, the NHL granted Daniel a special roaming photographer credential to cover the Vegas Golden Knights in the Stanley Cup Finals at T-Mobile Arena. Daniel delivered, allowing LVSportsBiz.com to publish beautiful pictures of a year-long sports story that still makes many Las Vegans sentimental and even teary-eyed.
*
LVSportsBiz.com opened the door to friendships with boxing/MMA/Aces writer Cassandra Cousineau and photographer J. Tyge O’Donnell.
Cassandra is one of the best combat sports writers in the country. Period. And because Cassandra is in the marketing business, she’s adroit at reporting UFC events, boxing title bouts and Aces games through the prism of marketing, business and sales.
Cassandra is also a mom to the next generation of two budding Sportsnistas, so watch out.
Tyge has covered everything for LVSportsBiz.com from the Golden Knights, Aviators and Aces to UNLV hoops, NASCAR and the PGA in Las Vegas. By the way, Tyge has a rich portfolio of photos of Golden Knights team president Kerry Bubolz. That’s for sure.
In fact, Tyge’s photos for LVSportsBiz.com helped him get a job with the Raiders as a photographer on game days.
I value my friendships with Cassandra and Tyge. Thank you, guys.
*
When it was created, LVSportsBiz.com hitched its wagon to two monster Las Vegas sports-biz storylines in 2017 — the launch of the NHL Vegas Golden Knights and the construction of the NFL Las Vegas Raiders’ football stadium.
My first assignment after returning to Las Vegas in early June 2017 was covering a Golden Knights sponsorship deal with The D/Circa owner Derek Stevens at a stage at the Fremont Street Experience.
I saw former Review-Journal colleague Steve Carp, who was covering the VGK then. Just seeing Steve gave me a sense that I was back. Check out the sponsorship story from June 13, 2017.
I’m grateful to another ex-RJ co-worker, Ed Graney, for allowing me to talk sports-biz news on his ESPN 1100AM morning radio program during the LVSportsBiz.com’s first year.
I also chatted about LVSportsBiz.com topics with Bryan Feldman on his FOX 1340AM sports radio program on Sunday mornings.
I enjoy chopping it up on sports-biz stories with radio broadcaster T.C. Martin on his show at 1400AM and with Dana Lane and Steve Carp, who also share a show on 1400AM. And thanks to radio show host Brian Shapiro, too, who allowed me to discuss LVSportsBiz.com on his program.
I value the friendships of three local TV sports directors in this market — Chris Maathuis at Channel 8, Bryan Salmond at Channel 3 and Kevin Bolinger at Channel 5. In fact, I spoke about the book I wrote, Long Road Back to Las Vegas, which detailed my recovery and launch of LVSportsBiz.com, with Bryan on his Channel 3 sports show in 2019.
I chatted about my second book, Bicycle Man: Life of Journeys, which was written in 2020, with both Chris and Kevin on their sports shows. Like Bryan, they’re local TV pros.
Talking about LVSportsBiz.com stories on air gave me a sense of direction with the news site and gave the site a sense of identity.
They were among those who extended their arms to help me rise off the pavement from that March 2017 day.
In June 2017 when I reported on Golden Knights owner Bill Foley’s reveal of the VGK adidas hockey sweater, I snapped this photo of Foley at the display locker during a media event. It was here where I saw Foley for the first time since my Review-Journal days. I literally grabbed him by the arm and strolled with him to the Golden Knights jersey.
It was a scoop to get this pic with Foley at the VGK display locker. The rush I felt about breaking this news told me I was emotionally in the right mental place, even if LVSportsBiz.com was only a mere few weeks old in June 2017. That Golden Knights jersey turned out to be a popular piece of licensed merchandise.
*
Interviewing Foley right after I launched LVSportsBiz.com in June 2017 helped ground me in returning to Las Vegas.
I also chat with Mark Davis, owner of the Raiders and Aces.
Davis sits courtside at Aces games and I casually greet him before Aces games for LVSportsBiz.com stories on his teams.
Las Vegas’ two major league sports teams are a study in cultural contrasts, something I wrote about two years ago.
In 2020 when major league sports teams were struggling to figure out how to address the racial strife and social tensions in our country, the Golden Knights and Raiders followed divergent paths. LVSportsBiz.com covered this topic head-on.
*
LVSportsBiz.com also covers venue construction intensely.
Just a few weeks ago, LVSportsBiz.com took a tour of the MSG Sphere construction site near the Venetian and reported on the venue’s partnership with the Formula One grand prix race along the Strip in November 2023.
The 18,500-seat MSG Sphere is privately-funded. Our venue coverage always includes info on whether it’s publicly or privately funded. I’m an old-school government reporter. Thus, LVSportsBiz.com’s story criteria and content will always be shaped by how sports and their growth in Las Vegas affect the public and fans against the backdrop of a market that’s struggling with health care resources and education performance.
Our site’s home page includes a right column showing how the ticket prices of the Raiders and Golden Knights rank in their respective leagues.
LVSportsBiz.com sees fans as customers of the sports industry and we believe it’s important their views are part of our stories. We value our friendships with VGK fans like Christopher Green, Lan Beyster, Jason Griego and so many others who were part of LVSportsBiz.com’s first year. I’m glad we have remained friends through the years.
*
Now that we’re chugging past the five-year mark, LVSportsBiz.com’s Dan Behringer will continue with his Monday Morning Gambler sports betting column and we have new writer Randy Cannon to report on the Formula One race in Las Vegas.
LVSportsBiz.com even has an unofficial copy editor, Amy Young, who is a pro at catching many typos and missing words.
The truth is many people have helped LVSportsBiz.com during our five years. In doing so, they were extending a helping hand to a guy allowing him to get off the pavement back in March 2017.
I’m so grateful. Thank you.
PSA
