By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz.com Publisher-Writer
They helped bring the National Hockey League to Las Vegas, making field trips to New York City to sell NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman on the idea that the league should plant its flag in Las Vegas.
Then they hooked up with a Texas-born businessman with a West Point background to launch the Vegas Golden Knights.
And on Thursday, the Knights announced the Maloof brothers — Joe, Gavin, George and Phil — have cashed out their minority interests in the franchise to VGK owner Bill Foley.
Early in the team’s history, LVSportsBiz.com spelled out how the Maloofs worked on the early marketing of the team with Foley to recruit the first 75 fans to commit to paying for tickets for a future NHL team.
Foley offered this statement in a Vegas Golden Knights press release: “They were helpful in bringing NHL hockey to Las Vegas and had a belief and commitment to our city as a viable major professional sports market.”
While Joe, Gavin, George and Phil sold their VGK interests to Foley, sister Adrienne Maloof will continue as an indirect owner and as a new limited partner of the NHL team.
The Maloofs and Foley were an odd couple of sorts. The Maloofs were the former owners of the NBA Sacramento Kings, while Foley was the founder and chairman of Fidelity National Financial, a title insurance company powerhouse. Foley also had a small empire of wineries and even restaurants.
With the Maloofs’ NBA background and arena builder Tim Leiweke looking to build an NBA arena as part of a hotel-casino project at Las Vegas Boulevard and Blue Diamond Road, it’s reasonable to wonder whether the Maloofs could be a partner in an NBA team in Las Vegas. LeBron James is not shy about expressing his interest in owning an NBA franchise in the Vegas market.