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Yzermania19

The Las Vegas Penguins?

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From Fox Sports -

PITTSBURGH (AP) - Penguins owner Ron Burkle traveled to Las Vegas on Wednesday to meet with the mayor and discuss the possibility of relocating the team there.

Burkle, who lives in Los Angeles, led a delegation in talks with Las Vegas Mayor Oscar B. Goodman, according to Penguins spokesman Tom McMillan.

Meanwhile, Burkle and co-owner Mario Lemieux all prepared to meet with state, county and local officials on Thursday in Philadelphia to try to resolve differences over plans for a new arena in Pittsburgh.

Elena Owens, a spokeswoman for Goodman, confirmed the meeting with Penguins officials and said, "they had a very pleasant conversation." She declined to elaborate.

More - Pens owners travel to Las Vegas to talk move

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I think Vegas would be a huge mistake. I was there in Jan and asked them to turn on the Wings vs. Avs game. They all looked at me like i was growing a third arm and had three heads. One guy even said, "you know that your in the desert right?"

I just don't see hockey working in Vegas. I love Vegas and would love to be able to go to some games when i'm there but i feel like it would just fail. Pitt has to step up and make sure that they are able to keep this team. Come on, this is a potential dynasty in the making. Why wouldn't they and make sure they stay in Pitt.

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I don't see Vegas as a bad thing.

First of all, we know that Gambling drives sports, it's one of the biggest reasons that the NFL and College Football have gained so much popularity because they're good betting sports. To have the NHL actually IN Vegas would definitely open up eyes to the sport in the gambling rings.

Second, the casinos would buy up all the tickets and use them as freebies for their guests. it's a small investment for such large businesses, and they're always looking for any small way to entice people to stay at their casino.

the bad thing would be, even though the tickets are sold, people might not go to the games. They wouldn't have a true "home crowd", just folks who are in town and decide to catch a game while they're there. And the biggest issue would be keeping the players in line. Every road trip that teams take to Vegas has the potential for big time bad news. gambling, hookers, drugs. They'd have to keep a tight leash on the players.

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I don't see Vegas as a bad thing.

First of all, we know that Gambling drives sports, it's one of the biggest reasons that the NFL and College Football have gained so much popularity because they're good betting sports. To have the NHL actually IN Vegas would definitely open up eyes to the sport in the gambling rings.

Second, the casinos would buy up all the tickets and use them as freebies for their guests. it's a small investment for such large businesses, and they're always looking for any small way to entice people to stay at their casino.

the bad thing would be, even though the tickets are sold, people might not go to the games. They wouldn't have a true "home crowd", just folks who are in town and decide to catch a game while they're there. And the biggest issue would be keeping the players in line. Every road trip that teams take to Vegas has the potential for big time bad news. gambling, hookers, drugs. They'd have to keep a tight leash on the players.

I agree I haven't really seen the big problem with Las Vegas, there could be some great exposure and definitely better than placing it in an area where it might not be appreciated as much. Las Vegas also has visitors from across the country and much of the world so selling tickets would never be a problem.

You're right though about attendance, there's a risk the team might turn into a "show biz" team with no real hardcore crowd. I guess this depends on if you can limit the amount of tickets sold to corporations and encourage regular people to go.

About the "bad news" as you call them it doesn't really matter where you go, all those three you can get a hold of everywhere, esp hookers and drugs. Besides I players are usually held on quite a tight leash I doubt much would happen - big scandals might still happen but not with any regularity anymore.

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I'm sorry, but does Vegas have an arena that is large enough to support an NHL Franchise? (in the neighborhood of 18,000 and Up)

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I'm sorry, but does Vegas have an arena that is large enough to support an NHL Franchise? (in the neighborhood of 18,000 and Up)

I know Vegas does have an arena and currently an ECHL team ( Vegas Wranglers I think...) I couldn't tell ya the seating capacity though....

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I don't think an Arena would be an issue in Vegas, that's a town that knows how to get a big project built fast. If it couldn't happen, then I doubt they would even be talking about it.

But Kansas City is offering a pretty sweet deal, it might be hard to pass up on that one.

Edited by Legionnaire11

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I know Vegas does have an arena and currently an ECHL team ( Vegas Wranglers I think...) I couldn't tell ya the seating capacity though....

I know they have an ECHL team and the reported Capacity of the Thomas and Mack Center is somewhere around 10,000

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Man If Pittsburgh moves out west I hope this means the Wings go to the east. We would be in the Northeast with Leafs< Hasbeens, and Sens and Buffalo, that would be a dream. Since i live in so called "Leafs Territory" this would be awsome for me to see the WIngs beat up on the Leafs 8 times a year. BTW Boston would take pittsburgh's place in the atlantic, Pittsburgh goes into the Northwest and Minny moves into the central. I could live with not playing Chigago very much becuase we would play the other 4 Original 6 teams a total of 24 times in a year.

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I just hope that two eastern teams will move to the west, so THE DETROIT RED WINGS can move to the east.

If Pens will move to west, it's Columbus which will move to east before Wings.

Edited by Henkka

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I really don't think they're serious about Vegas. The Pens are just doing their due diligence. We all know they'll end up in KC, but they need to at least keep up appearances so it looks like their move is a product of a bad situation in Pittsburgh rather than looking like they've been moving to KC all along.

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KC is the worst place to go, they can't even support a Baseball team. They should go to Winnipeg, they just built a huge brand new arena there.

By that logic, the Blackhawks and Bruins shouldn't have a team.

KC doesn't support their baseball team because, like the Blackhawks and Bruins, the ownership of the Royals doesn't seem to care about winning.

On the flipside, you could say that they should go to KC, look how well they support the Chiefs.

I think given the recent gambling scandal in the NHL, Vegas is going to be a no go.

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I live in Vegas, and although the ECHL team doesn't even sell out their 7,000 seat arena until the playoffs start, one must also remember that ECHL hockey really, really sucks. Nobody can connect on a pass to save their lives. When the Thunder were here(the now kaput IHL, I beleive), they had a much better turnout as it was more entertaining hockey to watch. For my own selfish reasons I'd love them to put a team here, but this town would have mainly fans that support this team until their old team came to town. There's no way I'd root against the Wings, ever. As many MI transplants as there are here, this would turn into JLA even-further-west as happens in Phoenix.

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Guest GodofHockeyStevieY19

I for one do not want the Pens to move from Pittsburg. They have a really good hockey history there. And personally I would feel terrible for their fans. But If they have to move Las Vegas would be sweet. Ive wanted Vegas to get some sort of pro team for a long time. So that would be sweet. But If I had to pick I would rather see them stay in Pittsburg.

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I think they should move to my backyard. I'll flood the rink for them and let them use it for free, i'll even build the bleachers and they can have all the gate, and parking and concessions revenue. Mario, call me! This deal is even better than the Kansas-City offer.

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KC is the worst place to go, they can't even support a Baseball team. They should go to Winnipeg, they just built a huge brand new arena there.

HERE... WE... GO... AGAIN... :zzz:

This thing with Winnipeg: I'm just can't figure out why people are so obsessed with having a team move there. I think it would be ok, I admit, but there are way too many flaws to put a team back in Winnipeg. First of all, the new arena isn't big enough to support an NHL team. The MTS Centre, if I can remember correctly, had a maximum capactiy of about 11,000. Considering the average NHL arena has a capacity of about 18,000 or more, this is way too small. Granted the arena seating could be expanded, but I don't think anyone wants a situation like the Phoenix Coyotes had when they played at the America West arena where as many of the seats had obstructed views because of the seating expansion.

Second of all, the city couldn't support the team before, so what makes you think they can now? They have fan support, but no corperate support. I hate to say it, but corporate support is what really brings in the money in todays NHL. So you can see that these two roadblocks is what keeps Winnipeg from having a team again.

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I think alot of the Vegas talk is centered around the NHL getting there before the NBA does. The current Penguins team is very marketable, and (in my opinion) the NHL will want to continue to put those players in the spotlight. In comparison, a Penguins team with flashy, young stars in Las Vegas is alot more attractive than the same team in a less important market (see Kansas City). Granted, the arena and perks that KC are giving would make any NHL owner jump for joy-- but if the team were actually moving, it would make a whole lot of sense to do it in a strong American city (and we're not talking hockey, considering the only real hockey-friendly market is Winnipeg).

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