The new Vegas Golden Knights insider, Gary Lawless, joins us in studio for an hour. Then we recap the last two interviews with Lawless and Nehme Abouzeid. Hosted by Ken Boehlke and Jason Pothier.
- How Gary got the gig.
- How being paid by the team affects his storytelling of the Golden Knights.
- Matthews vs. Laine and who the Jets should protect in the Expansion Draft.
- Recapping what we learned about marketing from Podcast 62
- The hit on Crosby.
And much more…
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PhiSig 150
Man Jason sometimes I think you should apply for a job as writer on the team’s site. You really come off as the team’s apologist on this podcast (still love you though just not as much this week). I thought Ken was supposed to be the brown noser? Was there any question the arena would be sold out after we were awarded the team? Vegas wants hockey was brilliant. Tickets being sold out for the entire season back in June I thought was a foregone conclusion at that point. In July, in my opinion, phase two should have already went into effect (not 11 goddamn months later). Create the citywide buzz which after almost a year we still don’t have. No one is saying Foley has endless resources but a couple of radio and tv spots, a few well placed billboards, some visible signs around the arena I don’t think would have bankrupted him. Maybe throw a Fan Fest (charging admission of course). I just think in this city you have to try a little harder. So far we’ve gotten minimal effort and that’s bullshit no matter how much you want to try to defend it.
Nahme is brilliant and I’m sure a marketing genius. He got tickets sold as is his specialty but can he create that buzz that’s missing? Can he build a large fan community beyond the hockey diehards and the fans with the means to purchase season tickets? We’ll see.
I am that weird Sin Bin fan I guess that doesn’t have season tickets. Would love to but can’t really fit them into the family budget at this point. My goal is to attend at least two games this year but I will be watching games on TV primarily. I was figuring that on some nights I can leave my living room and go watch the games at the bar with other fans at this point I’m hoping I’m not the only fan there. No one at the school I work is really talking about them. None of mine or my wife’s friends around town seem to care. I’m not sure why this isn’t a bigger concern to the Knights. I find it strange that I’m begging to be advertised to and I’m basically being told either I’m being impatient or I might not be worth the return on investment.
A warning for the Knights should be the Clippers. Yeah they turned a profit year in and year out by being a Mickey Mouse operation but they never captured the hearts of LA. Even now that they have multiple stars winning 50 plus games every year and the Lakers have fallen to shambles during this time LA is still the Lakers town and the Lakers still are worth more as a franchise and beat the Clippers consistently in the TV ratings. You can’t run a sports franchise strictly as a business. Sometimes you have to do things that may look horrible in your ledgers but will pay huge dividends in the long run. First couple of years the Knights might bleed money but if it builds you a great die hard fan base isn’t that worth it at the end of the day? Way too much accounting talk coming from the club and not nearly enough Knights talk from locals. I think the two might just be related.
Ken Boehlke
Your last quote is the most important to me. I do trust what they are doing, I just hope their focus works out as well as they think it will.
PhiSig 150
I’m expecting once we have players to market they should go into overdrive, right? July through October will be big months with a lot planned? When do we finally get to stop being so damn patient??
James
I’m looking forward to listening … From what I recall Gary Lawless calls it as it is! I hope the new gig doesn’t sanitize his views
Ken Boehlke
After you listen to the part he’s on, give me your assessment of what you think his coverage will be moving forward? I think I expressed my concerns pretty clearly.
James
@Ken Boehlke
Will do. At first blush I would be a lot more excited if Lawless joined the Las Vegas Review-Journal. I found this paragraph in the Peterborough Examiner to be interesting. Not sure if Lawless will be critical of McPhee …
“Lawless is leaving a job with TSN. He developed a relationship with Golden Knights GM George McPhee over the years which led to a discussion in December and an eventual job offer. It took several months to hash out the details.”
“My first column after the first night of the season isn’t going to be to fire everybody. It’s going to be written from a Golden Knights perspective, that’s for sure. Is it journalism? No, but it’s story telling and it’s serving customers. I think there is room for the critical analysis for story telling.”
http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/2017/05/05/peterborough-native-gary-lawless-off-to-las-vegas-to-become-golden-knights-insider
James
@Ken Boehlke
‘After you listen to the part he’s on, give me your assessment of what you think his coverage will be moving forward? I think I expressed my concerns pretty clearly.’
Feeling more pessimistic than ever now! Perhaps I’m in the minority here, but I don’t give a bleep if Reid Duke is able to cook spaghetti … I’m grown up and I don’t want to read bloody profiles (fluff pieces). Gary Lawless has forgotten more about hockey than I will ever know. What a waste of talent – I was looking forward to reading opinion pieces. I think most people want to read a objective point of view
pfh64
Nobody brought it up, after Ken said he hates the “C” & “A” on Flames jerseys, but they are the way they are for a reason. The “C” is a replica of the primary logo. The “A” is a nod to the teams’ roots in Atlanta.
Ken Boehlke
I actually love the C/A on the Flames jerseys. Jason was the one against those. And now that you explain the A portion, I love them even more.