Congratulations Las Vegas and prospective NHL owner Bill Foley. You have exceeded the magic 10,000 ticket deposit threshold according to ESPN.com, which is a major step towards getting an NHL franchise. Woohoo!
So now what?
Well, keep getting deposits of course … this is Vegas, and what would be more Vegas than continuing to try to take people’s money in games of minimal chance of winning? Just kidding, well not really.
From ESPN:
The group will continue to take down payments on season tickets from individuals even as they move into discussions with these larger entities, many of whom have already reached out to Foley and his group, he said. It’s possible that along with the sale of suites, which are at about 750 seats, the ownership group that includes Foley and the Maloof family, former owners of the Palms casino and resort in Las Vegas and the NBA’s Sacramento Kings, could top the 13,000 mark for season ticket deposits.
So, they’ll keep doing just that. According to the piece, Foley’s investors have already talked about a lease with a new $350 million arena on the strip that seats 17,300.
But there is still that pesky issue of conference imbalance that one team will not fix. The Eastern Conference has 16 teams and the Western Conference has 14 teams. So … hello Seattle as well? Regardless, Foley seems to believe it’s going to happen. There seems to be a lot of leaks around the Las Vegas situation – probably from multiple entities with a business stake, possibly the NHL as well?
And the league has also been pretty straightforward in answering questions about Las Vegas. If it wasn’t going to happen, we would have known by now.
