Mark Stone celebrates with the Stanley Cup after the Vegas Golden Knights won the NHL Stanley Cup Final against the Florida Panthers at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, June 13, 2023.
Jeff Speer | Icon Sportswire | Getty Images
The Stanley Cup belongs to Sin City.
The Vegas Golden Knights, in only their sixth season within the NHL, won the league’s championship Tuesday night, completing a 4-1 series victory over the Cinderella Florida Panthers.
Vegas’ meteoric rise to the highest of hockey has surprised the sports world, but it surely’s exactly what owner Bill Foley intended when he plunked down the $500 million expansion fee in 2016.
It is a remarkable accomplishment for an expansion team in any sport, but especially for an ice hockey team in a desert city that had, until recently, also been a desert for skilled team sports.
Now, the who’s who of Las Vegas have turn into Golden Knights fans.
“I used to be at Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final and T-Mobile Arena was absolutely electric,” MGM Resorce CEO Bill Hornbuckle told CNBC on Wednesday.
On Golden Knights game days, MGM properties surrounding the team’s home, T-Mobile Arena, are crowded with customers. That is what former MGM CEO Jim Murren envisioned in 2017, when he described his efforts to show Sin City into Sports City.
It’s greater than just hockey, too. Vegas’ success within the NHL also underlines the town’s rapid development into a significant player in sports.
Murren championed the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces, which MGM owned on the time and later sold to Las Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis in 2021.
Clearly, Davis has bought into the concept as Las Vegas as a sports destination. He moved his storied football franchise, long a staple of California, to the town in 2020. The team’s Allegiant Stadium will welcome the Super Bowl to Vegas for the primary time next yr.
Golden glamor
The Golden Knights have been contenders since their first season. They quickly garnered a fierce fanbase while making it all of the strategy to the Stanley Cup finals in 2018, losing to the Washington Capitals. Between then and its championship this yr, the Golden Knights made the conference finals twice and missed the playoffs just once.
The team often sells out its home games, drawing locals and tourists alike. The town dons black and gold during hockey season. MGM Resorts drapes a Golden Knights jersey on its replica Statue of Liberty outside Recent York Recent York.
The community spirit surrounding the NHL team is felt throughout the town’s sports scene.
Horbuckle said, ” That is an exciting time for our city as we cement our status as certainly one of the highest sports and entertainment destinations on the planet. “
Las Vegas native Sandra Douglass Morgan is now president of the Raiders. She told CNBC in a recent interview that her hometown is poised to capture the imagination of sports fans in every single place, with its entertainment, dining, shopping and, after all, gambling options.
“We’ll ensure that that we proceed to provid Las Vegas and the 40 million visitors from internationally these life-changing experiences,” she said.
Vegas’ casinos are also capitalizing on Formula 1’s inaugural race in the town, set for November. Wynn, for instance, is offering a five-star weekend package with a price tag of a million dollars.
While Las Vegas lost out this yr on a Major League Soccer expansion team, a Major League Baseball team looks prefer it’s on the best way.
The Oakland A’s have signed multiple agreements to relocate the team to a Vegas location. The Nevada Senate this week approved a bill to boost $380 million in public funds toward knowledgeable baseball stadium. The bill now goes to the state Assembly.
Rumors and hopes have endured for years concerning the potential for an expansion team from the National Basketball Association, though nothing solid has emerged.
For now, though, Las Vegas is firmly enamored with the Golden Knights, a pride that compels locals to brave the dreaded Strip tourists and traffic to support their team.
And now the Knights are the kings of hockey.
