Vegas Hockey, Vegas Strong (eBook)

Richard Gubbe, Robert Lawson (Autoren)

eBook Download: EPUB

2024 | 1. Auflage
106 Seiten
Bookbaby (Verlag)
979-8-3509-4136-4 (ISBN)

Infos

This book is dedicated to all those original 'Hockey Pucks' and risk takers who always believed the sport of hockey had a place in Las Vegas. The Gamblers were the pioneers. The outoor game at Caesars was the catalist. The Lowden family then built the ice hockey arena that housed the first Vegas professional hockey team, the Las Vegas Aces, as well as the first youth ice hockey program through USA Hockey. The teams that followed, the Flash, Thunder and Wranglers among them, left an indelible mark in rinks across Vegas. Authors Robert Lawson, and Richard Gubbe played significant lead roles in nearly every facet of the above mentioned. This book is told through their eyes, highlighting the achievements as well as the 'behind the scenes' stories that have never heard before. We are grateful for the participation of those who contributed to the book, to those fans who supported their teams, and to each team right up and to and including the entire organization of the Vegas Golden Knights NHL Team.

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"e;VEGAS HOCKEY, VEGAS STRONG"e;This complete narrative of "e;VEGAS HOCKEY, VEGAS STRONG"e; is informative and emotive with stories never told, providing readers with a thorough understanding of the history of hockey in Las Vegas. The evolution of hockey led to the NHL granting Las Vegas its first Big Four sports franchise. The sport grew from a few avid players forming a team in the mob-built International Ice Palace, to the first time pro players suited up in Vegas at Caesars Palace, to the triumph of the World Champion Golden Knights. The idea of hosting a professional hockey game in the middle of the desert was indeed an unconventional concept. Unforeseen challenges arose, such as the ice melting the day of the event and a plague of grasshoppers affecting the competition. This landmark event in 1991 laid the groundwork for future endeavors. Humorous and never-told-before exploits of the Flash include the brawl and subsequent expulsion of four-time Stanley Cup champion and member of the 1980 Miracle on Ice gold Medal team, Ken Morrow, in a game with the Vancouver VooDoo. Then there was the contingent of Russian players arrested for shoplifting women's underwear on the Strip and the team practicing outdoors in 100-plus degrees. The Wranglers had Prison Night in prison garb and Pajama Nights when games started at midnight. The Aces were a rag-tag team of thugs, and the team drew full houses for free beer nights. The Flash, Aces and Wranglers were full of laughs and mishaps. The public was never privy to the bungles by management, but these stories are now brought to light. Much of what transpired in the growth of hockey came from the efforts of authors Robert (Bob) Lawson and Richard Gubbe. Lawson had brought the Aces into existence and was the architect of the Flash, as well as the creation of youth hockey with his father. Gubbe was the lead coordinator of the game at Caesars and assisted with PR efforts for the Aces, Flash and youth hockey. Together, the authors of this book were instrumental in forming the triumphant statement, "e;VEGAS HOCKEY, VEGAS STRONG."e;

Textauszug

Chapter 2

Rich Rose and His Impossible Dream

In 1991, Las Vegas would never have been included in the conversation for getting a pro sports team from any of the Big Four leagues of NHL Hockey, NBA Basketball, NFL Football, or Major League Baseball. Vegas had three strikes against it: weather, gambling, and a population base too small to ever support a franchise. Amateur sports teams struggled to survive for decades.

The only professional league foray from the Big Four in Las Vegas was the 11 games the Utah Jazz played in the newly constructed Thomas & Mack Center. On April 5, 1984, Los Angeles Lakers star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar became the NBA’s all-time scoring leader against the Jazz in Las Vegas, with Utah losing 129-115. The Utah Jazz stay lasted until their new arena was built. Vegas was booked out of desperation, and only exhibition basketball games were played thereafter.

The population base in the late 1980s was roughly 350,000 people. Then came a population explosion, with Vegas becoming the most desired objective for relocation of families and businesses in the United States.

As the landscape of the Las Vegas Strip began to expand, casinos for “Locals” in neighborhoods sprung up like blooming flowers after a desert rain. With the population boom came pioneers of small professional sports teams that failed miserably. They were fun to watch, but only AAA baseball made an impact.

Why Not Vegas?

Las Vegas was the Boxing Capital of the World, but the shadiness that surrounded the sport was evident. Betting on boxing was big business but wagering on Big 4 sports other than football was in its infantile stage. Sports gambling cast a pall on the city, and any affiliation outside Nevada was met with solid resistance.

Pro sports leagues loathed the thought of any affiliation with wagering. The 1919 Black Sox scandal slapped a huge blemish on the game of baseball.

Rich Rose

College basketball betting scandals cast ugly aspersions on the amateur game. Sports games needed to be viewed as clean, and Vegas was viewed as a dirty business despite the fact every good bar in any big city had its own bookie. Change was slow to come back in 1991.

Enter Caesars Palace

Caesars Palace was the numero uno destination for small and large fights. Small fights were held in the Pavilion in the rear of the property, which seated 2,600 fans when filled.

For the mega fights, stands were brought in the back of the property to construct a boxing arena that could host 18,000 fans, most of them casino customers, for the biggest bouts, most heavyweight encounters. The back of Caesars also hosted the Formula I Gran Prix and professional tennis with the likes of Jimmy Connors, Bjorn Borg and Andre Agassi. Other amateur and pro events included weightlifting, billiards, gymnastics and Olympic skating exhibitions. Those events were not posted on casino sports betting boards, making boxing the only sport in Vegas that had odds posted for wagering on events in Nevada.

La, La, La, La Lola

When Rich Rose took the job in the entertainment Division at Caesars World International in Los Angeles, he had his sights set on an outdoor hockey game to go with the array of sports already in existence. An avid New York Rangers fan, Rose envisioned an NHL game on the Caesars Palace property with his favorite team. He didn’t advertise or boast of his intentions; he would have been locked up.

“No question about when I got the job with Henry Gluck and Terri Lanni, that was one of three things I wanted to do,” Rose recalls. “I had the pleasure to be part of the birth of professional hockey in Las Vegas, and it took almost three years to get the game. The NHL didn’t want anything to do with Vegas, and I had nowhere to begin.”

Leave it to Rose to take on the monumental task of luring a reckless, speculative venture to the classiest hotel/casino in the land.

John Ziegler was president of the NHL at the time, and he despised Vegas because of the stigma of gambling, and he didn’t want aspersions cast upon any NHL contest. Undeterred, Rose took his shot by calling the league office to make his first inquiry. He didn’t specifically call for Ziegler and didn’t know where to begin.

Rose’s first call to the league office was taken by the receptionist, who is only remembered as Lola, who transferred the call to the sponsorships department, headed up by Larry Flatow.

“Rich called the League Office one day,” Flatow recalled. “I forgot exactly when it was. We had a receptionist named Lola, who was used to screening all sorts of calls and figuring out, you know, who should get this one and who should get that one. And I was the vice president for sponsorships of the league. And so, she thought immediately that the call was a sponsor- related kind of a thing.”

Getting through to the president was impossible and, as it turns out, would have been fatal.

“I didn’t even know who Rich was,” Flatow said. “I answered the phone, and he introduced himself and told me what his plan was. So that’s how I got involved. I was the random recipient of Lola’s to receive that call instead of someone else. Of all the other people that call could have gone to, frankly, I don’t know who would have taken it seriously or who would have been interested in helping Rich and encouraging him. I think many of the other people probably would have just said, ‘no thanks.’’”

Flatow told Rose that each NHL team had the autonomy to create its own exhibition schedule. The NHL wanted nothing to do with the exhibition season. Rose thought the Los Angeles Kings would be the biggest draw because of their proximity to Vegas and the fact they had the biggest draw the sport had ever seen – Wayne Gretzky.

“So, I’m glad the call went to me ‘cause I think that helped facilitate it happening,” Flatow said.

Flatow’s first thoughts when Rose pitched it were the technical challenges.

“It’s not the cost of freezing a rink on a parking lot in Vegas, but when it’s 90 degrees out, that would make it a challenge.

“He was certain he could do it,” Flatow said of Rose. “He was very self-assured. He obviously knew everything behind the scenes that was involved in arranging the rink setup. He probably had more understanding of the technical side of it, but I had no idea. I mean, it just seemed improbable. Big challenges and big costs.”

Rose asked Flatow if he should talk to Ziegler before talking to the Kings.

“Flatow took my call,” Rose said. “He said, ‘Here’s my suggestion if you wanna get it done. If you want to do this, I would get ahold of Bruce McNall.”

“I told him that that was exactly the wrong thing to do,” Flatow said of calling Ziegler. “And I steered him into doing the right thing, which ultimately made this happen. I told him the way to get this done (go directly to the Kings). If he had reached Ziegler, this would have died right there. Back then, if you talked professional sports and casinos in the same sentence, you’d have no shot.”

Flatow worked for the NHL for eight years, and yet he had no hockey background, only a pro sports marketing background.

“I had a professional sports background. Business- wise, I never played hockey. But I’d been doing this a long time,” Flatow said. “I worked for the NBA, I worked for the Major Indoor Soccer League. I’ve done a number of different marketing ventures and similar events.”

Flatow saw the promise of an outdoor event.

“This came together almost by itself,” Flatow said. “The other thing I said to Rich was make this a preseason game. I think his idea was to try to play a regular season game there, and I said, ‘You know, that’ll never happen.’ But teams have complete preseason control. Teams can control where they play their preseason games and how many of them to do. Many, many teams play preseason games other than in their NHL arena because they wanna expose the game to people in other parts of their territory. Rich picked up the puck from there and did everything. I can’t take any credit for having done this once he took the ideas that I gave him. Rich did everything else.”

Rose knew he needed the Kings for proximity and their drawing power, thanks to the game’s best player.

“The league struggled to create a fan base and a major sport in the United States, especially the West, despite how popular it was in Canada,” Flatow recalled. “And you remember that in the summer of 1988, some guy named Wayne Gretzky got traded to the Los Angeles Kings, and suddenly everything is different, right? You knew in the United States, Wayne was gonna be the leader of the band. Bruce McNall was celebrated as the man who made that happen. I don’t know if genius is the right word, but he’s the guy who pulled it off. He was the guy who got Wayne Gretzky away from the team that had won four Stanley Cups. Bruce was not angelic, you know, but Bruce was the shining new thinker in the league.”

McNall Gets The Call

“Bruce was always in a sort of an exalted position where John Ziegler was concerned,” Flatow recalled. “John was always deferential...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 5.1.2024
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Sport
• ISBN-13: 979-8-3509-4136-4 / 9798350941364