NHL – Vegas Golden Knights will not have a second season honeymoon

On the ice, the Knights have tried to improve the present while consolidating the future. Many players are back from the expansion team who finished with 109 points and won both the Pacific Division and the West Conference, before sinking in the final of the Cup Stanley face the Washington Capitals in five games. But they have added important veterans to Max Pacioretty, former captain of the Montreal Canadiens, and center of free agents Paul Stastny, currently injured. Meanwhile, they have granted long-term extensions to players such as goaltender Marc-André Fleury and defender Nate Schmidt, who are also fans' favorites.

In the arena, there are showgirls and more lights and louder sounds, as well as a giant knight helmet coming down from the beams.

In the community, the Gold Knights are faced with the following question: how to take advantage of the huge popularity of their first season?

The answer: by creating new hockey fans, not just new fans of the Golden Knights, but also making sure that those that they already have are happy.

"Obviously, when you see what is happening on the team side, you can see what we are doing to succeed for that purpose.But, in the business world, it's clear that this is not the case. is not a honeymoon for the organization, "Bubolz said. . "I really believe that big organizations find ways to build each year, they generate their income, they develop their core areas."

Here is an overview of the main areas of growth for Vegas during the second year.

A new approach for visiting fans

If Bubolz regrets the first season of the team, this is how the Golden Knights address fans from outside Las Vegas.

"We looked at our market knowing that Las Vegas was a destination market in many ways, but we were probably too committed to visiting the fans from the sales point of view of the group," he said.

The Knights offered blocks of tickets to fans in other cities, which meant that parts of their arena were filled with opposing supporters, similar to the student section of a college football team.

"We have badly judged." There are a few thousand fans visiting, and they are spread all over the world, there is a sensation – there are 5,000 fans and that's it. they are all grouped together, it's a different feeling, so for us it's a matter of We may still sell these seats, but we do not sell them together, "he said. said, saying the team would sell only blocks of tickets to fans and local organizations.

Part of that education came in the playoffs. "When we came to the playoffs, on a strategic basis, we wanted to create a local advantage and mitigate the number of opponents, I would say that in the first three rounds, the game was almost nonexistent, this match against Washington (…) Well, they have not won the Stanley Cup for 43 years, so a lot of fans bought tickets on the secondary market, "he said.

The Knights know that as a team playing in a tourist attraction hub of the city – and that has captivated NHL fans for its home-game experience – they will still have enemy fans in the stands. And that does not bother them.

"I think visiting fans were good for the environment, which made our fans more pbadionate, stronger than themselves," Bubolz said.

Cultivate local hockey

Vegas owner Bill Foley has dedicated tens of millions of dollars to the roots of his franchise, ranging from the fan experience to video games to community outreach. "We are trying to be part of Las Vegas in every possible way and we are very engaged with fans," he told ESPN this summer.

By building their practice center at Summerlin, the Knights added two more layers of ice to the three pre-existing plates around Vegas. Which meant more opportunities for residents to learn to skate and eventually learn to play.

Mr. Bubolz said that 3,000 young fans had participated in Knights-sponsored "learn to skate" programs. More than 1,250 skaters have joined the Lil 'Knights program, which prepares them for travel teams. There are 243 young players in the inner leagues and 85 adult teams on the market.

It was expected that the NHL would arrive in Vegas with such a boom in participation and with some new ice sheets available. In non – traditional markets, there has always been a state of mind "if you build it, they will come" for the growth of the game.

What was unexpected, however: "We are now at a point where there are not enough referees, so we had to start a program," said Bubolz.

"I do not mean that anybody can be a baseball umpire.It's obvious that a skill involves refereeing a match.But the only skill you need to referee a part. Hockey is that you have to be able to skate. It eliminates a lot of people who know the game but can not skate, "he said.

He was sitting and watching potential referees aged 55 and 12 learn the ropes at the Vegas training rink. The number of new players required the number of new referees. And these numbers should continue to rise as the Knights of Gold turn to previously untapped markets.

Hispanic awareness

In February, the Knights announced that in partnership with their sponsors, the NHL and the AJLNH, they donated complete ground hockey equipment to middle schools in Clark County. For each school, this included 60 sticks, several nets, border controls to create a rink in a gymnasium and, of course, pinnies to wear so that everyone knows who is on their team. This also included training for school staff to better understand the rules of the game.

As Bubolz sees it, just put a baton in the hands of a young athlete early enough so that he can discover his love of the game no matter where he lives. He gives the example of Auston Matthews, an Arizona product that now leads the NHL in goals for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Matthews could be a touchstone for the Knights for another reason: his mother is from Mexico. Mr Bubolz said the college program could be a key element to reach the Hispanic community around Vegas because "half of the school district is Hispanic".

Knights see it as a key emerging demographic group. "They grow and save in this market," said Bubolz. "I see more and more Hispanic people following the team, I see them in games, we see it in our metrics digitally and socially, so how can we reach authentic way? "

One way: to ensure that Knights' coverage exceeds language barriers. Their matches are shown in Spanish on ESPN Deportes 1460 AM in Las Vegas, one of the few teams in the NHL to have this option. (The Los Angeles Kings have recently announced their membership in this group.)

David Proper, executive vice president of media and international strategy for the NHL, said the league was exploring the possibility of a larger broadcast operation in Spanish. "But our clubs have long since taken the lead in this area – Florida, Dallas, Arizona, the three California clubs, and now Vegas have both made significant efforts – including, in some cases, the signing of separate media contracts. Spanish – working within their respective communities to better serve their fans, "he said.

AT & T Sportsnet, which wears the Golden Knights, offers this radio commentary as an SAP option to fans who want to hear it while watching the game. "It's an old-fashioned way to turn down the TV and turn on the radio," Bubolz said.

Finally, it's "Knight Time".

All this infrastructure work of hockey culture is serving a base of Golden Knights supporters who has helped fuel the unprecedented success of the team during the first year.