Bill Foley has been the name and the face mainly connected to the effort to bring an NHL team to Las Vegas. Even though that will still be the case should his effort prove successful, poker player Daniel Negreanu assisted during the team’s ticket drive and plans to buy a share of the team if and when the NHL gives the green light.
Negreanu, arguably one of the best poker players in history, is a firm believer that an NHL team can be successful in Las Vegas and even has a prediction as to when the new Vegas club will be a playoff competitor.
Negreanu commented on the potential team, as seen in the Toronto Sun:
“The idea of owning a piece of an NHL team is the coolest thing ever.
I’ll be at every game and maybe have a hockey talk show of my own. Right now, the focus is on getting the team. I just don’t see it not happening. We have a solid owner, an arena and we sold 13,000 season tickets.
Vegas has 2.2 million people. It’s a sports town. We’ve been starving for a professional franchise of any kind for many years.”
Negreanu is pretty optimistic about the effort to bring a team to Vegas, but what does he have to say to the detractors and the claim that a hockey culture isn’t present in Vegas?
“People say there’s no hockey culture in Vegas. They said the same about San Jose — and now San Jose is Sharks Town.
Nobody puts on a party or a show better than Vegas. Even people who don’t really love hockey will go for the atmosphere and then we’ll explain what is happening . They’ll come to understand it.”
How long does he think it’d take to assemble a playoff roster? Not too long.
“It won’t take us as long to build a winner as people think. I’d bet on the playoffs in four or five years.”
That’s a pretty safe bet considering the immense parity seen in the NHL the last few years. Of course, Negreanu is a professional gambler so it’s no surprise his bets appear to be right on the money.
