Sin City is famous for gambling, pool parties, nightclubs, and, soon, professional sports.
Next time you visit Las Vegas, you might not be going for the gambling and partying. Instead, you may be going to watch your favorite professional sports team.
The NHL recently voted to use Las Vegas as their location for expansion, meaning a professional hockey team will be coming to the Nevada desert as soon as 2017. The decision should have been easy; the city recently built a nearly $375 million stadium, the T-Mobile Arena, near the Strip and a short drive from the airport. In fact, the stadium was partially built with the intention of drawing an NHL team to Las Vegas.
However, Las Vegas has been viewed by many sports commissioners as corrupt due to its history with gambling. The fear is understandable – sports betting has influenced players, referees, and teams in the past. The presence of betting ruins the integrity of the sport, and viewers would want to move away from a rigged system.
It was only a matter of time until professional sports realized that legalized gambling does not correlate with sports corruption. If there is a correlation, the benefit exceeds the risk, as Las Vegas is an incredibly fast growing economy.
According to the decision, an official vote on June 22 will be needed to approve the destination. However, it will be difficult to justify voting against Las Vegas as the home of a new NHL team.
While an NHL team is a great first step, Las Vegas has their eyes on a bigger prize: the Oakland Raiders. The Raiders have been slowly negotiating a deal to move to Las Vegas for a while, and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has stated that he would support the move (if owners approve).
Las Vegas has already made a plan with the Oakland Raiders owner Mark Davis to build a $1.4 billion stadium to house the NFL team.
High-profile professional sports will draw more business to the already booming Nevada city, and they will provide another tourist draw. An NHL team, and possibly an NFL team, being added to Las Vegas is win-win. Las Vegas will profit from the extra foot traffic and business and sporting associations will be able to break into a market of over 2 million people.
The soonest an NHL team could be added to Las Vegas is the 2017-2018 season.
by Thomas Short
