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By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz.com Publisher-Writer
Only Las Vegas could create this week’s confluence of a MLB stadium bill debate for a proposed ballpark on the Strip with the local NHL team a mere victory from hoisting the Stanley Cup trophy at an arena on the aforementioned Strip.
Leave it to Nevada Assemblyman Steve Yeager to tie the two strands of Athletics stadium legislation and Golden Knights Stanley Cup into a very amusing social media bow Monday.
After “The Stanley Cup” tweeted “I’ll be in the building on Tuesday,” Assembly Speaker Yeager responded, “Same. Except it will be the #NVLeg building. #vegasborn.”
Indeed on Tuesday, the Vegas Golden Knights will seek a Stanley Cup title against the Florida Panthers in Game 5 at T-Mobile Arena, which happens to be a privately-built arena. Meanwhile on Tuesday, the Athletics will be in Carson City asking the state Assembly to approve a state bill authorizing $380 million in government assistance to help build a baseball stadium on the Tropicana hotel site on the Strip.
The intersection of VGK and A’s this week has put the differences between the two franchises in a bright spotlight, too.
That is, the Golden Knights are a homegrown major league sports franchise playing in a privately-funded venue, while the A’s would migrate from the Bay area to play in a publicly-subsidized venue. The Golden Knights have worked hard at giving back to the community, while the Athletics have done nothing but ask the state of Nevada for $380 million in government aid.
Tweeted columnist and writer Ann Killion today, “would be ironic if A’s get their boondoggle on the same day Golden Knights win the Stanley Cup in a privately built arena, with an owner Bill Foley who said this about taxpayer $ going to sports teams: ‘We can better spend that money on firefighters, teachers, and policeman.’ ”
LVSportsBiz,com covered the Golden Knights practice where the NHL limited the number of fans inside the practice rink to 250 Monday.
VGK star center Jack Eichel talked about the connection between the Knights and Vegas. “Our team has done a good job of getting out in the community and trying to get more people involved in hockey.”
In a city of transplants, the Golden Knights’ #vegasborn identity is the secret sauce behind a major league sports team’s emotional bond with a fan base in a diverse market with so many fans who have previous allegiances to other teams.
That emotional tie also opens people’s wallets and bank accounts, which explains why the Golden Knights are one of the top revenue-generating teams in the National Hockey League.
And if you want to buy a ticket for Tuesday’s potential Stanley Cup-clinching Game 5, you better have a few bucks in your account.
Jesse Lawrence of secondary ticket market app TicketIQ told LVSportsBiz.com today, “The get-in price for the game is now $837 for Hyde Lounge SRO tickets, which is up 36 percent since the start of the series when the get-in price was $615.
“The least expensive assigned seat is $1,480, also up 36% since the beginning of the series. Much of these increases have occurred in the last 24 hours. Ticket prices for the game go as high as $14,968 for a seat in section 14, Row GS1.”
The Athletics’ attempt at a “ram and jam” stadium bill passage has received brutal reviews nationally.
Here’s just one on a sports business site called, Front Office Sports.
Front Office Sports site blistered the Athletics: “To be fair, even their attempts at public money seem hastily slapped together, with renderings that don’t necessarily fit on the nine acres allotted to them by Bally’s and projections that strain credulity, including that 405,000 people would travel to Las Vegas every year to see them who otherwise would not have come, and that the team would create 10,000 permanent jobs (currently 670 people say they are employed by the team on LinkedIn).”
During today’s Stanley Cup presser, Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy was asked about the passionate Las Vegas sports fans and their connection to the NHL team.
Cassidy put it simply, “First professional franchise.”
And that homegrown franchise has managed to generate among the highest arena capacity attendance percentages in the league since it’s start in 2017-18 while generating impressive revenues in a privately-funded sports venue. The Knights normally fill their arena to 104 percent of capacity, typically about 18,000 per game in a venue with fixed seating of 17,367.
We shall see both scenarios play out this week — the Golden Knights pursuing their Stanley Cup and the Athletics pursuing their publicly-subsidized stadium (As Assembly Speaker Yeager informed us in a humorous way this morning.)
Who do you think the Vegas sharps are betting on this week?