What A Week: LVSportsBiz.com’s Top 10 SportsBiz Items In Las Vegas
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz.com Publisher-Writer
One: Well, it’s officially official now. That’s because the U.S. Senate’s passage of a resolution honoring the Vegas Golden Knights for their Stanley Cup championship means the NHL title passes into the official Congressional Record. Nevada’s two U.S. senators, Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen, got the job done on that one.
No word on whether William Karlsson’s “This effen guy” speech will be recognized and pass into the official Congressional Record as well.
*
Two: It’s cash-in time for the Vegas Golden Knights. Everyone is selling the VGK Stanley Cup swag, from T-shirts and ballcaps showing literary tidbits of Karlsson’s rollicking speech to pucks with the 2023 Stanley Cup championship on it to jewelry.
It’s an age-old truth that teams see a nice spike in revenues in the season following winning a title. For example, the WNBA Las Vegas Aces have already experienced some big crowds in the early season compared to attendance early in the season a year ago.
The Golden Knights already do so well in revenues, operating income and ticket sales that the Stanley Cup championship will likely put the Vegas franchise even closer to the league lead in the team revenues and merch sales.
*
Three: NHL players today are having an inclusion coalition panel with the Nashville Predators Creating Opportunities for Racial Equality (CORE) youth hockey program — which is a good thing.
That’s only a day after the National Hockey League banned players from wearing Pride and other cause-themed jerseys during pregame warmups because some players did not participate in warmups because they refused to wear the Pride jerseys.
NHL Commissioners Gary Bettman called the players refusing to wear Pride pregame jerseys a “distraction,” so the league took care of that issue by deciding to scrap all special theme-night jerseys. The theme-night jerseys were often auctioned off, with the money donated to the various causes.
*
Four: The merch is in for the F1 promoters who are putting on the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Nov. 16-18.
*
Five: Not only is the Las Vegas Grand Prix selling tickets.
The F1 race is also looking for 600 race marshals to help on the Las Vegas Grand Prix event Nov. 15-18.
Here’s the info:
*
Six: The Las Vegas Aces have won 11 of their first dozen games and have a bobblehead giveaway set for Monday’s Aces vs Indiana Fever game at Michelob Ultra Arena at Mandalay Bay. The free bobblehead is for the first 5,000 fans.
The bobblehead is none other than point “gawd” Chelsea Gray, the 2022 WNBA postseason MVP.
*
Seven: The NBA Summer League schedule is out. It’s 76 games in 11 days at Thomas & Mack Center and Cox Pavilion at the UNLV campus. Take a look.
*
Eight: Hockey great and Las Vegas Devil Dogs indoor lacrosse team part-owner Wayne Gretzky will be at the Circa hotel-casino in downtown Las Vegas to unveil a commemorative value-note on June 28.
Memorabilia brand Top Legends created the Gretzky value-note.
*
Nine: The Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign will go orange to celebrate the tip-off of the WNBA All-Star Game festivities in a ceremony slated for Monday, July 10 at 8PM. The 2023 AT&T WNBA All-Star Game will be played in Las Vegas at Michelob ULTRA Arena, home of the defending WNBA Champion Las Vegas Aces, on July 15. This marks the third time Las Vegas will host the WNBA’s midseason showcase, most recently having done so in 2021.
*
Ten: Tune in tonight, Friday, on FOX Sports radio at 11:15 PM when I talk with Bernie Fratto about the Athletics baseball stadium situation in Las Vegas.
*
Ten Plus: Buy Alan Snel’s book, Bicycle Man: Life of Journeys, to help support this news site. The book costs only $20.
*
