It’s the league’s fault. Sometimes I have to look further into any report in hopes of finding a nugget to clue me in to the thinking of the National Hockey League in relation to expansion.
Before I start, I want to make it perfectly clear that there are some points to this report that don’t add up but when you are given nothing more than “The process is continuing” you can’t discount anything. It comes from a good source referencing a different good source. It comes from “Rebel_Westgate” on the UNLV Forum on Rivals.com. Again, grain of salt.
The post begins by saying that “UNLV and Las Vegas are entering a very exciting time. Its complex, It’s exciting, It’s happening.”
Apparently there has been a large contingency working behind the scenes for two years. The group gets larger as they build momentum.
I’m not part of the group so really how much momentum could they really have.
The mission was to make the City of Las Vegas a destination for world sporting events, to strengthen the community grass roots and build the community’s efforts in developing a professional sports model in the city, and strengthen the UNLV brand locally and regionally.
He was told that nothing would ever happen without the support of UNLV, local businessmen, and politicians. The report went on to say that the Montreal Expos were 50% done, just waiting for the partners to build a stadium. After that fell through the partners reunited with another company to entice a sports franchise. It seemed like it was a matter of when, not if. Then the players involved held up the deal which led to individuals wanting to run the project themselves.
The City of Las Vegas decided to build a coalition with efforts to bringing everyone together and basically sell each other’s efforts off on their own. If one deal was a success, the other, which is your own, would soon follow and according this report, that’s what is happening.
So how does this relate to hockey? The report goes on to say that basically the NHL is a done deal. The league has to clean up a few items, vote, and then announce it. The post emphatically states that Las Vegas WILL be home to a National Hockey League team.
The hold up includes the potential of the Carolina Hurricanes moving. Makes complete sense to me considering the league has given us nothing. With a specific team involved that would indeed complicate things. Things that can’t be talked about. The report says they would move to Vegas and Quebec would get the expansion franchise.
The Las Vegas group was urging the NHL to accelerate as many of the small investors were getting antsy and wanted to see a return on their money. This is where the report gets crazy for me. First, what small investors? The Maloofs? I don’t see that. I wasn’t aware there were any other investors. Then the report says they are getting antsy because they thought they would play in 2017 not 2018. I haven’t seen anything to indicate that 2018 has ever been discussed yet. The NHL didn’t take these request seriously.
Apparently there is more to come but if this is true then it’s very exciting, but there are a few items that make me question its credibility.
I had a dream for two seconds last night that basically told me that the league was told to hurry the process along. Yes, I apparently dream about the league coming to Vegas. Sad, I know. I’m not so sure my dream doesn’t have the same credibility as this report.
When the league gives us nothing to go on we are left with a blog post and a dream.
Stephen (@me_so_hungy)
I don’t buy it for a minute. As you said 2018-19 has never been uttered anywhere legitimate. Also, Quebec at the smaller entry point of cost would be a better option for Carolina (not to mention geography) for relocation.
I still say April 5th they announce and it’ll be Vegas alone so they can close out this process and give Seattle’s people a reason to move (QUICKLY) for 2018 or 2019.
At this point, Foley has mentioned “in a couple of months we can begin to put one foot in front of the other” twice. I think that means more than anything involved with UNLV. Can a college with no national (let alone regional) clout have a say in any city (especially one that ISN’T a college town)?