I wonder what % of their fans will be visiting. I suspect they’ll get a big tourist bump. I know I will be making an annual trip out there to catch a stros game once their stadium on the strip is done.
I don't know - how many people visiting will want to go to a baseball game? I can see football being an event and getting fans to come out. Baseball just doesn't have as much pomp or ceremony.
Yeah, the economics of baseball are vastly different than 8 football games per year. I have no idea how they think this is going to work. Montreal, Portland and Nashville all seem like better markets for a team (and they may expand there yet). It's ironic that the NBA was the first professional league to legitimize Las Vegas with the All Star Game, but will be the last to permanently set up shop there.
The only way I see it working is via travel. Casino resorts and visiting teams need to network and offer vacation packages that include tickets. They should offer so many tickets to each visiting team (like a college football bowl game) and sell vacation packages.
I just don't know how sustainable that is. How many fans of each visiting fanbase need to buy tickets to a 3-4 game series multiple times per year for this to be successful? It's novel and might work for the first few seasons, but I see diminishing returns on trying to get visiting fans to come multiple times every year.
I agree that is not a realistic model for long term success but it's the only one I see. I know I will plan a trip to Vegas to catch the Astros each year. I plan on going to Vegas annually anyway, so mow I just don’t when Astros are in town. I have a Casino locally that's gives out $30 "free play" whenever you buy an event ticket- like to a concert on premises. The casino's can have a similar promotion either on the front end including tickets in the package w/ room etc. Or on backend by offering some perk if you buy a ticket. Maybe a trip to Vegas to see your favorite team becomes an inclusive event, like a cruise. It may just be a fad that loses interest and/or effectiveness over time, but these are the types of things Las Vegas should do to help make bringing in the team a success.
I don't know man- I feel like the Casino's will rent out the suites/have decent season ticket package and I could see this being something where there are 5k visiting fans at every series. You have to remember the NL teams only go there every other year and only one time- so that might be one that people make on the regular. The non AL west teams only go 1 time per year. That might be something people do as a regular trip all the time. I am sure I will be out there to see the Stros regularly (probably depends on price and weekend availability.
These are all good points and I'm interested to see how it turns out. It seems indicative of how sports have changed that all four major leagues are looking to have a presence in the 25th-largest metro area that was once considered to be a black sheep. Even more, aside from the Golden Knights, none of the other teams (Raiders - who are weird in that their fans don't really care if they play in Las Vegas, Oakland or Los Angeles - the A's, and an eventual NBA team) seem to care that Vegas' permanent population doesn't seem big enough to support four teams. But, if they get creative like you're suggesting, it might work.
The big difference from Vegas and a place like Tampa is the casinos Some have already bought large amounts of season tickets to give to fans of other teams to come out to Vegas and stay at their casinos. They may never have that die hard fan base to create excitement, but from a financial standpoint they will have a solid base forever
Last I saw casinos had already guaranteed them over 12,000 in season tickets And I think the number of people who will go to watch their team play on their own will be higher than you would think No, baseball isn’t close to the NFL in popularity, and they won’t get a lot of random non real fans like the NFL does But there are plenty of people looking for a reason to go to Vegas lol. I know I’ll go to a series out there every year once they are on the strip
You can thank the f'd up decision to sponsor gambling in their sports. You can't even watch a commercial break without fanduel or some other stupid ass commercial for gambling coming on. Imagine hospitals sponsoring beer and whiskey companies for extra cash?
It's so stupid that Austin is the largest metro area without a professional sports team in the big 3 sports. The MLS team is third in revenue only behind the LA teams. Austin is also so close to San Antonio.
I have heard Austin doesn't have a pro sports team because all the gays hate sports and apparently 52% of their population is gay.
Apparently Phil Maton is signing with the Rays. Glad he didn't go to the Yankees. Seems like any relief pitchers they're linked to ended up signing elsewhere lol.
