Vegas Golden Knights: Football Coming To Town, Bad News For Hockey
With the Raiders set to join Vegas in 2019, the Vegas Golden Knights must be productive early on.
The Vegas Golden Knights were the cool kids on the block. Golden Knights owner Bill Foley pledged that hockey will come to the city of Las Vegas. Not only did he make sure of it, but he did it in short order.
The team will join the NHL in 2017 and the hype leading up to the expansion draft is real. Sports fans all over the state of Nevada are excited that they’re finally getting a major sports franchise. Even the ones who don’t watch hockey seem very excited that the Golden Knights inaugural season is almost here.
It all seemed too real. The Golden Knights were riding high and it seemed like nothing could stop them. That is until the sport of Football decided to join Las Vegas.
You read that right. Raiders Football is officially coming to Las Vegas at the start of the 2019 NFL season. As soon as the news broke today, my initial thoughts were “Uh oh. This is not good for Hockey in Vegas.”
Let me explain why this is bad for the Golden Knights. Football is the mecca of all four major sports. The NFL is a billion times more popular than any other sport will ever be in this country. Even though Hockey is growing rapidly in the United States, it will never hold the candle the NFL holds.
With the NFL coming to a city like Las Vegas, the tourism sky rockets even higher. The Golden Knights and Raiders also play during the same time of the year. With an imported team like the Raiders, they already have the head start as opposed to the Golden Knights who have to start from scratch.
With the Raiders caliber of players and coaching staff, I wouldn’t be surprised if they were crowned Super Bowl Champions in 2019. When it comes to the Golden Knights, they’ll be lucky to sniff the playoffs by then. So the question is asked, how do the Golden Knights survive this move? Well, Bill Foley did the right thing and congratulated the Raiders franchise on their move to Las Vegas.
The next step is keep doing what you’re doing and keep promoting Hockey in Vegas. Young kids, adults and even older people don’t know what Hockey is. So it’s important for the Golden Knights to keep up with Hockey clinics and teaching the game to younger fans.
The Golden Knights also need to start pumping out more news to their fans. That’s important. Don’t leave your club buried in the newspaper by a football team who’s not going to be here for two more seasons. Announce something, just keep the fanbase honest, whether it’s a college player signing, coach hiring, AHL affiliate, etc.
Last but certainly not least, try to make the NHL playoffs in one out of the first two seasons. What this will do is earn the faith of the fans. Putting together a winning season in its first few years of existence would be huge for the expansion franchise. It would put butts in the seats and the fans would be extremely happy to come watch a competitive product.
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If the Vegas Golden Knights follow these steps, they should be in okay shape. However, when 2019 rolls around, the Golden Knights will take a backseat to the Raiders no matter what. Bill Foley has to accept that, whether he likes it or not.