Without even playing a single game, the Las Vegas franchise has sold out of season ticket packages, and fans looking to land season seats to watch the expansion club will now go on a waiting list.
The Las Vegas franchise may be without a name, but the excitement surrounding the team has already reached such heights that fans looking to land season seats for the inaugural season are going to have to be put on a waiting list.
The Las Vegas team announced that the total season ticket deposits for the 2017-18 campaign, which will be the franchise’s first, have reached 16,000 as of Monday. In season ticket deposits alone, that gives the franchise a serious attendance base for their inaugural season.
“This is a truly historic event for the Las Vegas community, the NHL and all of our fans,” franchise owner Bill Foley said in a release. “I would like to thank everyone who has supported and continues to support our efforts to make the Las Vegas NHL franchise a success.”
Selling out the season tickets is the culmination of a drive that has been underway for more than one year. The ticket campaign was launched in February 2015 with the then-potential ownership grouping hoping to “demonstrate the long-term viability of an NHL franchise in Las Vegas,” and 9,000 season ticket packages had been sold within a month of the drive opening. The sales have slowed since, but that doesn’t make the 16,000 sales any less impressive.
There may be those who compare Las Vegas’ ticket drive and to that of the Winnipeg Jets’ ticket drive, one that saw the returning club sell out the MTS Centre’s allotted season tickets in mere minutes, but Las Vegas managing to sell out their season tickets for a brand new building in a non-traditional market more than a year before the club is even set to take the ice is equally as astounding.
The Las Vegas franchise has done well to keep the excitement surrounding the franchise going following the announcement that they were awarded the expansion club. In the months since the announcement, the team has named George McPhee as the first GM, brought on Kelly McCrimmon as assistant GM, and added staff throughout the summer.
Naming the team will be the next major mark for the club, but Foley and Co. have even managed to keep that situation interesting. Foley has dropped clues and hints in interviews throughout the summer and even toyed with those trying to dig for the name by going out of his way to trademark names that were never really in the running to be the franchise’s moniker.
The club is expected to announce its name, logo and possibly showcase its jerseys ahead in October.
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