The Las Vegas Review Journal was sold to Sheldon Adelson and has been hemorrhaging excellent journalists since. Ken and Dana dive into the state of the RJ and how Las Vegans, Americans, and people around the world should view the newspaper now. Hosted by Ken Boehlke.
Ken’s street hockey escapades.
Dana gets hardcore gymtimidation.
The RJ has lost credibility due to its new owner and the editorial policies that have come with him.
How has the RJ’s reporting swayed perception of a stadium deal that should never see the light of day.
MGM’s new parking policy and the effect it’ll have on locals.
Who are we cheering for in the Stanley Cup Playoffs?
I thought we’d have the team in no time. It just shows you how naive I was. – The Creator
Naive is the word that jumped off the page to most. Most read into it that he expected his team much quicker than it’s happened. However, a select few in the media here in Las Vegas took it a much different way. On multiple talk radio programs I heard speculation that the word naive was actually a way to start lightening the blow of bearing the bad news.
It’s more than likely those views are uninformed and should hold absolutely no weight, but it does pose an interesting question. (See the title of this article)
There’s a lot of moving parts to this that I wasn’t initially aware of.
Parts such as rules of the expansion draft, salary cap, revenue sharing, player contract stipulations, and the list goes on and on and on.
Naive almost seems unjust to The Creator. I know he’s just trying to say the right thing, as well he should, but a lot of the blame here has to fall on the league.
Las Vegas fans (specifically Dana Lane) are growing restless wondering when the announcement may come. The Vegas based organization hasn’t offered anything beyond, “hang in there.” But it’s not their fault. They simply don’t know because Gary Bettman and the NHL won’t tell them anything.
Naive indicates the information was there to be gathered, which by all accounts, it wasn’t. The Creator didn’t think it would take this long because of a preconceived notion in his head. Hit the ticket drive goal. Submit an application. Cut a check. Voila.
That was never the case, and we’re slowly being informed of the reasons why. Naive? Kind of. Misinformed? Definitely… but not anymore.
From the beginning, The Creator and his team have said that their intentions on bringing a team to Vegas are through the expansion route. Rather than purchase a team and relocate them to the valley, they want that “new car smell.”
While an expansion team would absolutely suit this city well, there’s absolutely no reason not to be the home to relocated team if it’s the only path available.
When the expansion process began there were groups from Las Vegas, Kansas City, Sacramento, Seattle, and Quebec City all vying for a team. But when all was said and done, only Vegas and Quebec came through.
The initial thought was that the NHL would like to add two teams bringing the league from 30 to 32 franchises.
But with the possible issues with the Quebec (market size, strength of the Canadian dollar, effect on the Canadiens, etc.), Vegas is put in a peculiar place as the only true strong (and that’s not to say we aren’t without concerns either) option. The NHL simply cannot add a single franchise. So relocation may be the only option.
“When it comes to the NHL, it’s simple: Las Vegas needs that new car smell.
Leave all the troubled franchises and nutjobs tasering city officials exactly where they are,” says Ed Graney of the LVRJ.
I have an issue with one word. “Las Vegas NEEDS that new car smell,” should really be, “Las Vegas WOULD PREFER, that new car smell.”
If a team were to relocate to Vegas, who’s to say The Creator could not change the logo, brand the team with new colors, blow up the front office, take a hacksaw to the roster, and anything else he wants to do? If treated like an expansion team, within a few years, everyone would completely forget where they came from in the first place.
It’s absolutely true that the best case scenario would be for Las Vegas to be awarded one of two brand new franchises and start from scratch, but there’s no reason to think that a relocated team would be received any differently here than a new one.
There’s going to be challenges one way or the other. They are different in each case. But the goal stated by The Creator was “to bring NHL hockey to Las Vegas,” not “to be awarded an expansion franchise.”
New car or used car smell, they both wear out with time. In the end you wind up with the same thing, a vehicle. Give us our vehicle, and let The Creator drive.
While perusing through the only real source of news we have on the team (VWH Twitter) I came across an awesome little nugget that the RJ picked up, but for whatever reason it didn’t gain much traction.
“The Foley-led Hockey Vision Las Vegas has agreed to pay $1 per ticket sold in its first year to Opportunity Village, a Las Vegas not-for-profit that helps people with intellectual disabilities,” writes Alan Snell.
That’s right, not only is The Creator spending millions and millions of dollars to bless us with our own professional sports team, but he’s also pledged to give nearly $1 million a year to one of the best charities in the world.
“Opportunity Village would receive $717,500 the first year if all 17,500 seats are sold per game for the entire 41-game home schedule.”
As if I didn’t love this team enough already. $700k PER YEAR they are planning on donating, and that doesn’t even count the 16 home playoff games we will certainly be experiencing each year. (Yes, the team is going to win the Stanley Cup every year and take 7 games in each round to do it…and they’ll have home-ice advantage in every series.)
Charitable in every sense of the word. Love it.
VGK vs SEA (10/10/23) VGK -165 SEA +140 O/U 6 (O -125)
VGK at SJS (10/12/23) VGK -235 SJS +192 O/U 6.5 (U -120)
VGK vs ANA (10/14/23) VGK -350 ANA +275 O/U 6.5 (U -115)
