By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
It’s one of Bill Foley’s many assets in his diverse portfolio. It’s the arena in Henderson, the off-Strip venue in the Green Valley suburban setting that the Vegas Golden Knights owner manages.
The city of Henderson may technically own The Dollar Loan Center arena, but Foley receives the lion’s share of the revenues from the arena that opened about a half-year ago.
Its programming taps into the minor leagues of sports like his Henderson Silver Knights team, the farm club for Foley’s big league VGK.
One of those niche sports products is the Indoor Football League’s Vegas Knight Hawks, which completed their first season in the arena. The team that plays in the Henderson-based arena but geographically includes Vegas in its team name is part of the 14-club Indoor Football League.
The league winds up its season with its title game — a championship contest that will be played in The DLC on Saturday at 5 PM.
On Friday, the league, working with Foley’s PR staff, held a media day at the arena.
The game pits a team from Iowa called the Quad City Steamwheelers (9-7) against the North Arizona Wranglers (12-4) from Prescott Valley, Arizona. The Dollar Loan Center is part of the game’s official title: The Dollar Loan Center IFL National Championship.
The players in this arena league are chasing their dreams of playing in the NFL. The very next day here in Las Vegas, the Raiders are hosting the Minnesota Vikings at Allegiant Stadium Sunday.
The team from Northern Arizona played in the Knight Hawks’ first game ever in the arena, with the Vegas team (playing in Henderson) coming away with an inaugural game on March 18.
Somehow, those Wranglers were able to overcome that setback and arrive in the Super Bowl of this league.
It may seem odd that a 14-team league, which is basically a minor league football league, has a neutral site venue for its championship game, forcing the fans of both of the clubs to travel to metro Las Vegas to watch their teams.
There are plenty of tickets for seats at the $84 million arena for Saturday’s game. The city of Henderson and Foley each spent $42 million to build the venue that has about 5,600 fixed seats. This game is just the first game of a three-year deal where the Indoor Football League title game will be played at the arena in Henderson.
The tickets start at $48 plus fee costs.
Las Vegas is the king of the one-off sports event, hosting everything from college basketball conference and flying disc golf tournaments to billiards and darts championships. Other interesting title games are the Pacific Coast League and International Triple-A baseball championship games set for the Aviators’ ballpark in Summerlin on Sept. 30 and Oct. 1. The winners of those two games will play each other in the Triple-A ultimate title game on Oct. 2.
And the National Invitation Tournament college basketball event selected Las Vegas to host the 2023 NIT semifinals and championship and Indianapolis to host the 2024 event.