Vegas locals and casinos have shown their support of the Vegas Golden Knights
Past events include NHL and WNBA All-Star games , the NFL ’ s Pro Bowl , boxing , MMA , and WWE events .
It ’ s a far cry from 23 years ago when most professional sports avoided Las Vegas , concerned its athletes would be corrupted by legalized sports betting , gambling , and other vices that gave the town the nickname Sin City .
Oscar Goodman ’ s Gamble
When flamboyant lawyer Oscar Goodman , whose client list included mobster Tony “ The Ant ” Spilotro , was elected mayor of Las Vegas in 1999 , he had a goal to bring a professional sports team to the desert . The town had shown they would support basketball , making Jerry Tarkanian ’ s University of Nevada Las Vegas Running Rebels a fixture for years .
Goodman met with then-NBA Commissioner David Stern in New York City and pitched his idea . It did not go well . Stern reportedly told Goodman , “ over his dead body would he ever allow an NBA franchise to come to Las Vegas as long as there was betting on sports events .”
Undeterred , Goodman continued lobbying Stern and got an assist from the owners of the Sacramento Kings .
George Maloof and his family owned the NBA team from 1998 to 2013 . Though they were based in Sacramento , Maloof always had an interest in Las Vegas . His family owned the Fiesta Casino in North Las Vegas and sold it to build the Palms Casino Resort .
It was George ’ s son , George Jr ., who proposed that the NBA All-Star Game be held in Las Vegas . He , along with Goodman , worked with Stern and eventually got the commissioner to agree to hold the February event for the first time in a non-NBA city .
The 2007 All-Star Game was held at the Thomas & Mack Center , and the game was viewed as a success . The average resale ticket price set a record at $ 2,546 . The NBA held several events for area youths and the community , and it was generally well-received .
Unfortunately , undesirables descended on the city and caused enough mayhem to give the event a black eye . There were 403 arrests , mostly for prostitution and assault and battery . One of four reported shootings happened outside a strip joint and left a bouncer paralyzed .
The violence made national headlines and seemed to erase any hope Goodman had of getting an NBA team to the city .
“ It was a disastrous weekend ,” Goodman told the Las Vegas Review Journal . “ The game was great , but what took place was that everybody was hot to trot .”
“ We had one bad night where we didn ’ t have enough police force in the right areas ,” Maloof told the newspaper . “ It happened . It was messy . But we moved on from that . The NBA moved on . The city moved on .”
Some of those who worked in casinos and local businesses reported people walking out of restaurants without paying and not tipping casino service workers . As far as they were concerned , they didn ’ t care if the NBA ever came back .
Hockey Brings Hope
It took just two years after the All-Star Game for rumors to surface that a professional sports team wanted to relocate to Las Vegas . It wasn ’ t the NBA , however , but the NHL .
The rumor was that Hollywood producer Jerry Bruckheimer wanted to move the bankrupt Arizona Coyotes to Las Vegas . The NHL , however , was set on keeping the team in Phoenix , so the plan never was given any serious consideration .
What did catch the NHL ’ s eye was the plan Bill Foley and the Maloof family had to establish a team in Las Vegas .
Hockey had always done well in Southern Nevada . The city hosted the first outdoor game in NHL history in 1991 with 14,000 fans attending to watch the L . A . Kings host the Colorado Avalanche outside of Caesars Palace .
The minor-league teams of the Las Vegas Thunder ( 1993-1999 ) and the Las Vegas Wranglers ( 2003-2014 ) also enjoyed support from the town ’ s citizens .
In Foley ’ s mind it was a no-brainer to have a team in Las Vegas . All he had to do was sell the idea to NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and the other owners .
Foley had the advantage of having an arena already scheduled to be built . MGM and Anschutz Entertainment Group ( AEG ) paid $ 375 million for T- Mobile Arena .
Now Foley had to convince the NHL a hockey team could be supported . He never had a doubt .
“ People that know me know I don ’ t fail ,” Foley said at an appearance at
AUGUST 2023 www . ggbmagazine . com 23