Today was dubbed by most as a historic day as the NFL approved the Raiders move from Oakland to Las Vegas. The Raiders are set to begin playing in Las Vegas in 2020. The Vegas Golden Knights, Vegas’ major first professional sports franchise, put out a statement shortly after the news went public.
“On behalf of the entire Vegas Golden Knights family, I would like to welcome and congratulate Mark Davis and the Oakland Raiders on their relocation to the great city of Las Vegas. It truly is an exciting time to be from Las Vegas. There is only a select group of cities in North America that are home to both an NHL and an NFL franchise and Vegas is now one of them. This alone should be a great source of pride for our community and our fans. Las Vegas has always been one of the most popular destination cities in the world and it is now emerging as a premier location for major league professional sports. -The Creator
That’s the politically correct version. Let’s just put it this way, The Creator was a bit more honest and forthcoming on a must-hear interview with The Vegas Hockey Hotline on KSHP 1400 (embedded below).
“If I had complete control, I would have rather the Raiders would not have been here. But I didn’t, so welcome. Bring em on.” -Foley
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) March 27, 2017
And that was just the beginning.
“I felt like there are a lot better ways to spend $750 mil than bringing the Raiders to Las Vegas.”
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) March 27, 2017
“Thought we could spend it on police and schools, and make them the best in the country. Instead I guess we’re getting a football stadium”
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) March 27, 2017
It may sound salty, but think of it this way. Imagine if you spent a large sum of money to open a McDonald’s in a city that’s never has high quality popular fast food before. You do it with 100% private money. Then, nine months later, the city decides to help fund a Wendy’s directly across the street from your McDonald’s. You wouldn’t be thrilled.
Now, your McDonald’s will probably still do very well. But there’s no debating that being the only store in town would have been better. That’s what happened here, and it’s great to see The Creator isn’t afraid to face it head on rather than going with the politically correct answer.
The fact of the matter is though, the Raiders are coming and there’s nothing the Golden Knights can do about it. So, they need to up their game a bit, something The Creator appears committed to doing.
“I have never said I’m going to be patient about winning. I’ve always said my goal is playoffs in 3 and Stanley Cup in 6.” -Foley
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) March 27, 2017
Only time will tell what effect the Raiders will have on the Golden Knights, but one this is for sure, it can all be solved incredibly simply…
Just Win Baby!
Michael
It was nice of Foley to leave the ‘Las Vegas’ brand for the Raiders, either way. I am sure they will appreciate that!
RJ
I swear to god if the Raiders go ‘Vegas Raiders’ I’m moving.
PhiSig 150
Vegas Silver Raiders??
Ken Boehlke
They’ve already trademarked Las Vegas Raiders.
Phisig150
Mark Davis must not know locals prefer Vegas to Las Vegas and team names are 1000 times better when you throw in a color adjective. He’ll learn.
PhiSig 150
Maybe this will light a fire under the team’s ass and get them to finally start properly promoting this team. They essentially blew 8 months now the clock is officially ticking. The Raiders may be here as soon as 2018. If I was Foley I would put building my global brand on the back burner and worry more about locking up the local fanbase. Sell (Las) Vegas Knights are for locals and the Raiders are for tourists. Make the case he didn’t ask a dime from the community vs. Raiders stole 750 million from our police, schools, and infrastructure. Spin that the NFL is an evil giant corporate conglomerate vs. hockey is the perennial underdog with a small but fun and fanatical following. Make the Knights more grassroots with a home grown feel and a real part of the local community vs. the behemoth that is the NFL.
I hope Foley keeps attacking and we should all join him. We’re near the bottom in this country in spending per student yet we found nearly a billion dollars in corporate welfare to help billionaires build a damn stadium AND we didn’t even get to vote on it. Let that sink in for minute. Foley sucks picking out names but at least he didn’t ask for a handout. Puck the Raiders Viva VGK!
PhiSig 150
Anyone else think this whole excalibur idea is lame as hell? Is that really why he picked the name because he wants to do Medieval Times on Ice? Will the Knight have to slay an evil wizard before the start of the third period? Although jousting on ice could be pretty damn cool I guess (on Zamboni not horseback. Thanks a lot PETA).
RJ
Honestly the Raiders coming to town might give Foley the opportunity to rebrand while saving face. Lots of cities have multiple teams with common colors. Phillies and Flyers are Orange, Penguins and Steelers are Black and Yellow, Falcons and Hawks are Black and Red, Blue Jays and Leafs are both Blue. Even the LA Kings original colors were Lakers Purple and Gold! Let’s make Las Vegas sports Silver and Black!
Phisig150
So we can look just like the Kings? Who coincedentally switched to silver and black to mimic the Raiders. I still like referring to Lakers purple as forum blue. Telling he didn’t mention the color red in the interview.
APhillyFan
The Phillies are Red.., Philly is one of the few cities that doesn’t do this.
You could argue the Sixers and Phillies are both red, white, and blue.
Mickey B
Personally, I’m not on board with all the salt. Show some class, welcome them to town like you did and then go on about your business. I’m not saying Billy Boy has to be happy about it, but don’t broadcast that your pissed – do all of your talking by making this team first class. Create the marketing buzz that everyone still seems to be waiting on. Get in the community at some point in the near future and start developing relationships. Make this city love this team. Start getting your affairs in order and deliver a top notch product. To me, that is the way to do it. Anything else looks foolish, petty and unprofessional, especially from someone who is as well off as he is.
OK, you didn’t get 750M for your team and the Raiders did. Move on. My brother got the looks in my family instead of me – should I hate him for it? I don’t have the money Foley does and have busted my ass working all my life for what I have – can I complain too? You finally achieved your dream and own an NHL team and you still seem bitter. Take care of what you can take care of and stop gawking at what the neighbors have. Actions, not words. And like PhiSig said, they have burned 8 months and have done squat. Get your ass in gear!
Phisig150
I hate that we’re using public funding to help finance a stadium for a billionaire especially after time and time again it’s been shown that stadiums are poor return on investment for cities. So I like Foley popping off a bit. He didn’t ask for a dime so he has every right to bust the Raiders balls. With that said I agree wholeheartedly with the rest of your post. Time to go full board after the rest of your fan base. 16000 is cute but now the NFL is coming to town. Not sure why he seems content to rest on his laurels after the tickets have been sold. There’s a market primed and ready as shown by the name reveal and the open house Foley just has to go after it. Why do us converts have to keep begging for our club to reach out to the rest of the masses?
Mickey B
Phisig, I’m with you too on the 750M. Should be used for anything else but what it’s about to be used for. But, it’s difficult to listen to a very wealthy guy who just became very fortunate to earn the right to own an NHL franchise bitch and moan about, well, anything. Life ain’t fair as we all know and we carry on if we don’t get our way. Bill has a lot to be thankful for and this display of his acting like he isn’t gonna play nice is not the right approach. He should see it as a challenge, meet it head on, hopefully succeed wildly and keep his yap buttoned while doing it. Like a professional.
Also agree with you that it’s irritating that the team seems to be treading water on a lot of fronts. What is the holdup?
PhiSig 150
I appreciate Foley’s honesty. He doesn’t want the Raiders to come to town. Lying about it won’t make him anymore successful. The Raiders bottom line won’t be affected one iota by anything Foley says but Foley might win some new fans who either A) Hate the Raiders B) Hate publicly financed stadiums (I fall into both camps). He needs to start selling this team hard to locals and position the Raiders as the team for tourists. I think the Knights could thrive if it was sold as the team for locals first and foremost. If we ever land a superstar or win a cup then you can worry about expanding your fanbase into China or whatever. I’d love to see Foley adapt a Knights against the World and the Raiders and anybody else trying to get in our way can go F@#$ themselves attitude. Foley unfortunately seems to have jumped the gun and thinks we’re already the world’s team with visions of jerseys sold in airports dancing around his head. Build the unifying city pride with this team that Las Vegas has lacked since the glory days of Tark first, then go set out and conquer the world.
Michael
One more thing about the Raiders – they will be screaming and crying for stadium upgrades in 7-10 years, whining that they are lagging behind the rest of the NFL, owing to continued technological advances that will no doubt take place in that time frame. The people that are happy to see them come are only thinking of the present.
Ken Boehlke
Oh I wouldn’t worry about that. The NFL has a long history of “doing whatever necessary” to make sure teams do not have to move. It RARELY, almost NEVER, happens. I mean seriously, tell me the last time an NFL team left their city?
Therefore, I choose to believe every word Marc Davis and Roger Goodell say, no reason to believe otherwise.