Las Vegas NHL Expansion

[Sport]

A tourist economy with a high transplant population with an unusually large percentage of full time residents who work nighttime hours in a desert in a water crisis in a city very susceptible to the ebbs of a recession competing for entertainment dollars from tourists with dozens of other acts and shows, playing in an arena in a location locals don't like to visit, and playing the least popular of the big 4 sports with the possibility that the most popular of the big 4 sports could move in and snatch up would be season ticket holders - WHAT COULD GO WRONG.

 

On top of that they're going to name themselves the Desert Knights. Excuse me for not being excited about the Las Vegas NHL team. I'd be more excited about the Quebec Nordiques 2.0 

[Oso]

Crazy question here but has Gary Bettman or an NHL exec ever gone on record as saying the team could not use anything resembling a gambling themed name? Is it entirely possible these red herring garbage names are all a gigantic troll job by Foley and come announcement day, he'll reveal the name so many seem to want?

[rams80]

2 hours ago, Oso said:

Crazy question here but has Gary Bettman or an NHL exec ever gone on record as saying the team could not use anything resembling a gambling themed name? Is it entirely possible these red herring garbage names are all a gigantic troll job by Foley and come announcement day, he'll reveal the name so many seem to want?

 

0% due to a combination of nobody in the NHL being able to pull off such a long con and the fact you still need to have the USPTO filing.

[BrianLion]

5 hours ago, McCarthy said:

A tourist economy with a high transplant population with an unusually large percentage of full time residents who work nighttime hours in a desert in a water crisis in a city very susceptible to the ebbs of a recession competing for entertainment dollars from tourists with dozens of other acts and shows, playing in an arena in a location locals don't like to visit, and playing the least popular of the big 4 sports with the possibility that the most popular of the big 4 sports could move in and snatch up would be season ticket holders - WHAT COULD GO WRONG.

 

 

But the Kings have been a successful franchise for 50 years at this point, what are you....

 

Oh you meant Las Vegas, didn't you? 

 

 I'd be more excited about the Quebec Nordiques 2.0 

 

yes a revival of a historically TERRIBLE NHL franchise in a City that anglo players HATED playing in (see Lindros, Eric) in a tiny, Eastern Canadian market that's already hockey saturated as is, and with a growing negative exchange rate - WHAT COULD GO WRONG

 

see you can do this for almost any market. 

[rams80]

4 minutes ago, BrianLion said:

 

But the Kings have been a successful franchise for 50 years at this point, what are you....

 

Oh you meant Las Vegas, didnt you? 

 

1.  Greater Los Angeles is 9 times the size of Las Vegas.

2.  The Kings' situation was downright dire prior to Gretzky going there with awful attendance.  Their survival probably can be attributed to them being owned with the Lakers in a package deal (and playing in the Forum) until Bruce McNail bought them in the tail end of the 80s.

[The_Admiral]

The Kings always would have been fine; the league was going to make sure they had a flag planted in Los Angeles, as well they should, for Los Angeles is the second-largest metropolitan area in the country and the capital of the entertainment industry. If Las Vegas were such a great idea, someone would have had it already -- someone smarter than our merry band of idiots in the NHL.

 

The Nordiques were only truly terrible for a few years, and even when they were, attendance was fine, doubly impressive for a building that didn't have central air conditioning.

[BrianLion]

14 minutes ago, rams80 said:

 

1.  Greater Los Angeles is 9 times the size of Las Vegas.

2.  The Kings' situation was downright dire prior to Gretzky going there with awful attendance.  Their survival probably can be attributed to them being owned with the Lakers in a package deal (and playing in the Forum) until Bruce McNail bought them in the tail end of the 80s.

 

I realize both of those, you're just being a little too literal. All the factors he listed, outside of desert, could describe any number of warm weather touristy cities, some of which successfully house NHL teams which was my point. 

[BrianLion]

3 minutes ago, the admiral said:

 If Las Vegas were such a great idea, someone would have had it already -- someone smarter than our merry band of idiots in the NHL.

 

 

By that logic you'd never expand to a new city.  You and I both know why Las Vegas didn't already have a pro team....gambling.  It's no coincidence that they're getting one now as attitudes on sports betting in the US are changing.  

[spartacat_12]

The more that I've thought about it, the more I like the name Las Vegas Jokers. I know it's probably too closely related to gambling to be considered, but it's a great fit. With the Kings as a division rival conjures up all kinds of great imagery, especially since Vegas is where many Los Angelenos go to be entertained. They'd also be embracing the fact that this franchise is a joke to many traditional hockey fans.

 

Also, who doesn't love this logo/uniform (minus the ads of course):

[BBTV]

1 hour ago, BrianLion said:

 

By that logic you'd never expand to a new city.  You and I both know why Las Vegas didn't already have a pro team....gambling.  It's no coincidence that they're getting one now as attitudes on sports betting in the US are changing.  

 

Theres better reasons than gambling that LV doesn't have a pro team. 

[lahaye7]

3 hours ago, spartacat_12 said:

The more that I've thought about it, the more I like the name Las Vegas Jokers. I know it's probably too closely related to gambling to be considered, but it's a great fit. With the Kings as a division rival conjures up all kinds of great imagery, especially since Vegas is where many Los Angelenos go to be entertained. They'd also be embracing the fact that this franchise is a joke to many traditional hockey fans.

 

Also, who doesn't love this logo/uniform (minus the ads of course):

I too like Jokers as a nickname. 

 

[worcat]

Can we get back on topic to branding Las Vegas. K thanks.

[PrimalCookie]

10 hours ago, McCarthy said:

A tourist economy with a high transplant population with an unusually large percentage of full time residents who work nighttime hours in a desert in a water crisis in a city very susceptible to the ebbs of a recession competing for entertainment dollars from tourists with dozens of other acts and shows, playing in an arena in a location locals don't like to visit, and playing the least popular of the big 4 sports with the possibility that the most popular of the big 4 sports could move in and snatch up would be season ticket holders - WHAT COULD GO WRONG.

 

This same argument could be made for Orlando (where the Citrus Bowl and OC Stadium are is the ghetto neighborhood of Orlando), except for the "middle in the desert with a water crisis" part. However, you could replace that with "currently being blasted by a hurricane", which in case you didn't know, it's not fun to be in a hurricane.

[ColeJ]

Why are we talking about Orlando in a hockey thread? Did I miss something?

 

Anyway, a reason not to like Aces or Flamingos... Both have negative hockey connotations. Black Aces is the term commonly used to describe regular healthy scratches that just sort of professionally practice, but never play NHL or AHL games... Flamingos are what we used to call defensemen that don't really have their heart in. Think of it like the term floaters on offense. The kind of guys that lift their legs up in the air to avoid blocking shots when standing in a shooting lane.

 

Flamingos would be a really cool and unique team name, but when two of your team name possibilities translate to mean "scrubs" and "wusses" in hockey vernacular, it's probably not the best.

 

Honestly speaking, almost no team name is going to make me, or anyone else, happy. This team's drawn out, public, and dramatic effort to simply name itself is already turning me off to the franchise.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

Aren't flamingos more of a Florida thing anyways?

 

Here's a list of Fauna of Nevada:

 

]

Ferruginous Hawk

 

Black bear

 

Desert tortoise

 

Giant hairy scoprion

 

New world vulture

 

Goshawk

 

And finally, the state animal:

Desert bighorn sheep

 

Las Vegas Bighorns sounds pretty great, and could have really cool uniforms. There's my vote.

 

[Morgan33]

Bighorns sounds great.  Las Vegas Vultures has a nice ring to it as well, though it'd be hard to create an attractive brand from it.

[BBTV]

57 minutes ago, ColeJ said:

Flamingos would be a really cool and unique team name, but when two of your team name possibilities translate to mean "scrubs" and "wusses" in hockey vernacular, it's probably not the best.

 

I used to be a huge hockey fan when I was younger - thought I knew everything about it - and I've never heard any of this.  Is this one of those things that you have to actually play ice hockey to get?  I can't imagine I'm alone in not being familiar with those terms.

[2001mark]

Las Vegas Nordiques

[ColeJ]

2 hours ago, BringBackTheVet said:

 

I used to be a huge hockey fan when I was younger - thought I knew everything about it - and I've never heard any of this.  Is this one of those things that you have to actually play ice hockey to get?  I can't imagine I'm alone in not being familiar with those terms.

 

it's hard for me to say. i feel like i've always been aware of these two terms, and the majority of my hockey playing career happened in the early 2000's, though i've recently started getting back into playing as a useless fat old guy.

 

i don't mean to come across as one of those "insider slang" guys... i just immediately associated flamingo with a defenseman avoiding a blocked shot, and "aces" as a complete team of healthy scratches (though as an expansion team, that may not be the worst concept since they are getting the cast-offs from the established teams.)

 

i'm sure the average person those names wouldn't have any negative connotations, i just wonder if the people in the league would make a connection there and nix the name.

[CreamSoda]

I've played hockey since I was a kid and I have never heard of Black Aces or Flamingos.  Think you may be tranfeering your locale knowledge as a known universal fact.  

 

I think Vegas Voltures is my new favorite name.