Has MLS considered Las Vegas, NV for an expansion? I know they're not in the running for the upcoming 2005 expansion, but down the road. There's no other sport franchise in the city, or the state for that matter. The closest they've come was a XFL team.
Las Vegas would probably have the best visiting support in their stadium. Unfortunately... It's a market growing very rapidly, but basically with the service worker class, and a class of people that splits 24 hours of duty daily. Not the ideal market. Pretty darn hot during the season, too. Whether the dry heat is offset by "swimming pool humidity" is open to interpretation. Casinos don't like competition to their entertainment, otherwise the NBA would probably be there by now. Yes, the NBA doesn't like the gambling on their games, but the casinos generally don't make that much off basketball, thus they could have agreed to shut down NBA gambling (the Maloofs' casino already does that). Probably need a new stadium. I know some tournament matches have been played at Sam Boyd, but apparently was a bowling alley, and probably has too many seats.
Sorry to drag this thread back up, wanted to drop my 2 cents in: Evening games may not be that bad. Given, they'll have to be starting at 8pm or so, but the majority of the oppressive heat should be dissapated by then. There is still the chance for overheating, but I would hope, nowhere near as bad as with the Posse playing in full padding. Sam Boyd Stadium holds appx 40k people, which would make it too large. Not to mention that the stadium is not a complete wraparound, so supporters would not be able to stand behind the northern goal. IMHO, it's currently the only viable stadium for an MLS team, unless the city builds that downtown stadium (which would *still* be too large). On the flipside, why not build the stadium and have the team play in Henderson? It's a large booming city of suburbanites and growing soccer players/moms/dads, could be a good thing. Maybe through a weird agreement the team could still be referred to as being in Las Vegas. Las Vegas could make for some great derby matches, especially if other regional expansion teams are started. Killer atmosphere from the supporters. Not all of the valley residents works a 24hr shift, there are plenty of 9-5'ers to fill the seats. Will they keep coming to games if the team has a poor showing it's first year or two? That's a big question. I personally don't see the MLS complaining too much about betting. Then again, I've also never seen any sports books here with a betting line on soccer matches. The AAA baseball Las Vegas 51's are the only other major sports team to have survived for longer than 3 years. The other was the IHL Las Vegas Thunder, which lasted 6 years until a fallout with their venue & financial issues due to being an independant club felled them. Some, like the Posse, didn't even make it through their first season. I think Vegas even had an indoor soccer team, won the championship their first year, folded during the off season. It all comes down to survival though. Battling the heat, a finicky populace, and a not-exactly popular world sport, a Las Vegas MLS team would be dicey, at least for the first couple years. Well, here's to hoping. (psst, Las Vegas does have a team in the Men's Premier Soccer Leauge: the Las Vegas Strikers. http://www.lvstrikers.com/)
yo, yo, yo, yo, hold up now, aight? Las Vegas would be a nice place for the MLS EVENTUALLY, but I can think of at LEAST 10 places that need a soccer team before Las Vegas gets one (Houston, Philly, Tulsa, Okla. City, San Antonio, Seattle, San Diego, Rochester, Minnesota, Atlanta, St. Louis, you get the point?) I don't think Las Vegas would have a problem with getting Sam Boyd stadium to sell out if the team were marketed just right. Hell, didn't the Colorado Rapids have a sell-out crowd in their 71,000+ seat-stadium the other week? They didn't just sellout because they just opened a new stadium, like Comcast claimed happened in Philadelphia with Man United in town (which, by the way, is total b.s.) Aight, hit me back, I'm coo now...
Of course, of course down the road. I'd rather see MLS get situated in a few bigger markets first before tackling Las Vegas. Besides, we'd still need an investor willing to pony the cash.
There were one or two CCC's recently in Vegas. Horrible failures. Vegas should be behind Des Moines and Charleston on the expansion line.
CCC's? I have found that a team needs to be heavily, HEAVILY hyped in this town from the start to get any sort of interest. Either way I'll keep pulling for a team.
For selfish reason I would love to have an MLS team here in Las Vegas. But for the good of MLS, U.S. soccer and humanity: No Way In Hell !
There is a precedent here.....For one season, Las Vegas had a team in the NASL....in 1977. They were called the Quicksilver...They finished last in their division and had an average attendence of 7,092.
Well it is a growing city. The XFL team did really well there, they sold out all of their games didn't they? I wouldn't put a team there though. They'd be lucky to draw San Jose numbers. It would be cool if they could play an MLS Cup there or an All-Star game. Like someone above said, if they hype things up enough, which is easier to do for a single event rather than a season. Plus, we'd see a grip of traveling support for an MLS Cup final in Las Vegas. But if their field isn't wide enough, than scrap my idea.
I would *really* like to see Las Vegas get a few MLS exhibition events or what not. Get the seeds planted, if the crowds liked it enough, maybe it could grow the proper support for a team!
There is a precedent here.....For one season, Las Vegas had a team in the NASL....in 1977. They were called the Quicksilver...They finished last in their division and had an average attendence of 7,092. Bring back Team Hawaii.
Las Vegas...where struggling franchises/leagues go to die. FWIW, this March the Rapids played a pre-season exhibition at Boyd vs. Mexican team Santos. The attendence: 6,122 http://www.coloradorapids.com/site/goal.asp?cid=328