Harrah's to build sports arena behind Ballys

[MyTurn2Raise]

I just wish they'd get going on that monorail extension to McCarran

[censored] the cabbies

[StevieG]

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I don't think that measuring the attendance of the LV 51's is really worth looking at as far as the potential success of any big-league sport in LV including MLB.

The LV 51's stadium just isn't that hot.

[/ QUOTE ]

Bob,

I'll buy that the attendance for baseball in an exposed venue in LV summer may not be indicative of support for a sports team.

I also understand the point you make about attendance
figures in general. But the other numbers are for indoor events, and its probably reasonable to assume if there is inflation, then everyone is doing it and a comparison within a league is somewhat valid.

Those Arena league numbers are telling. The attendance is worst in the league. With similar metropolitan populations, Columbus and Utah both manage to draw above average despite also having competition from the NHL and NBA respectively for the first half of the arena season.

Granted, the New York Arena numbers also stand out as being poor, but keep in mind that team plays on Long Island, and the attendance numbers are still 60% better than LV

Arguably, LV numbers for minor leagues should not count. LV has lots of entertainment options, and enough marquee events (NASCAR, prize fights) that maybe something like Arena football can't draw.

But that is a problem in itself. An NHL or NBA season is long, and most games are not marquee match-ups. A loyal fan base needs to show up anyway for a team to be viable.

Counting on visiting tourists is not enough either (not to mention a disheartening strategy for the home fans). Some teams will travel well in the pros, but not enough over 40 or so home games to make up for a relatively smaller number of home fans. Sure, games against the Maple eafs, Flyers, Bruins, Rangers will draw legions of away fans looking for a road trip experience (plus the large numbers of transplants living in LV) but the unbalanced schedule will mean more games against teams like the Ducks and Coyotes.

Las Vegas should get there. Right now, there's too much other stuff to do.

[MicroBob]

Good points.

The attendance inflation thing within a league itself can vary.
Some teams aren't as bad about it as others so looking at the figures can be tricky because you have to know which teams are essentially lying and which teams are more truthful.

Really not sure what to make of the Arena Football figures though. That's a weird sport that seems to have some popularity in certain markets but isn't as universally appealing.
Some of the cities that do well might simply be marketing it better. I really don't know.
I do know that many sports fans simply don't care at all about Arena Football because it just looks so goofy. This includes guys who otherwise consider themselves football fans but have zero interest in Arena Football.
I'm in that group. I will probably end up watching somewhere between 5-10 football games per week between college and NFL and also place small bets on some of the games for fun. I definitely am a football fan. But arena football just looks dumb to me and watching ESPN try to play up some exciting rivalry between the Dallas Desperados vs. the Philadelphia Soul looked extra stupid.

So that kind of takes this sport into its own niche I guess.
It's football....that most football people don't like for whatever reason.

I completely agree with your assessment that you need a loyal fan-base to show up for a major-league team.
I have no idea if LV can provide that but for a team in one of the true major-league sports (which the Arena Football League is not) then perhaps that base can develop.
I would think that the NBA would actually have the best shot of the 4 major sports of succeeding in LV but that's more a personal 'hunch' than anything.

Anyway, my most significant personal experience with the NBA comes in the Memphis market which is kind of an interesting one.
The fans and city there simply do not care. They barely cared when the team was actually pretty good and made the playoffs. The fan-base is incredibly small and I simply don't get the apathy there especially when one considers that it is the ONLY major-league sports team they have and they built a really nice, new arena for this team.

But the fans there are simply terrible.

They have been having similar problems with the New Orleans Hornets I think. Even before the hurricane the chat on sports-talk there was, "can New Orleans even support an NBA team? Why don't fans seem to even care about the Hornets?"


I think Las Vegas would do better than that at least. Although I don't know if that should be enough to warrant getting a team.