Category Archives: NHL

Daniel Negreanu supports ticket drive to bring NHL team to Las Vegas

Professional poker player and avid hockey fan Daniel Negreanu is championing a push to bring an National Hockey League (NHL) team to Las Vegas.

Negreanu has identified himself as one of the founding members of Founding 75, a group of business people in Las Vegas that are pushing to generate interest among people to commit on making down payment on season tickets. The group is determined to collect 10,000 deposits after the ticket drive, the threshold the NHL suggested in sanctioning the trial ticket run last December 2014.

According to ESPN, if the campaign is successful and the city somehow gets awarded an expansion franchise, the deposits, which range from $150 to $900 for specific seats and season-ticket packages, will be non-refundable. If the league ends up giving the city the equivalent of a body check, then the deposits would be returned back to the people who shelled out the money.

The group is pushing to convince the NHL that a Las Vegas team would be able to thrive in the city, despite its status as America’s premier gambling town. For one, the team will have no issues finding a new arena to play in given that one is already being built by AEG and MGM Resorts International. That arena can accommodate as much as 17,500 fans and is scheduled to be completed by the spring of 2016, giving it a few months to prepare for the 2016-2017 season.

The group, which Negreanu is a part of, is trying to pool up the collective interest of individuals and small-business owners instead of going after major casino operators. The belief is that the NHL would strongly consider giving Las Vegas an NHL team if it sees that there’s overwhelming interest from local residents and businesses. The drive to bring an NHL team in Las Vegas is real and Founding 75 is aggressively pushing to make it happen. The group is already spreading its reach to social media and has even set up temporary office space in the city, which will house office staff who will follow up with potential ticket buyers.

The stakes are high and the league is likely keeping a close eye on what happens during the ticket drive. If it works out, then the league would likely have discussions on the possibility of putting a team in Las Vegas, specifically the financial windfall all existing owners stand to receive from the imposed $450 million expansion fees. But if the drive struggles to gain any traction from local residents and business owners, then any chance of Las Vegas having its own NHL team could be put to pasture.

New Year’s Sports Betting Schedule

So you’ve just finished Christmas and you’re now preparing for the calendar to flip to 2015. Depending on where you are in the world, New Year’s Eve is a celebration unlike any other. You prepare the fireworks, you write down your resolutions, and then you spend the rest of night reveling in merriment until you wake up the next day with the world’s worst hangover. It’s not the perfect way to start a new year, but at least you can enjoy the day watching sports from your bed whilst you try your best to recuperate from the alcoholic pasting you received the night before. So we’re doing you a favor and presenting a list of sports games/events that are scheduled to play between December 31, 2014 to January 2, 2015, or as some people in other parts of the world would call it, the three-day New Year celebration.

Unlike Christmas, the NBA will be in full swing in the days before and after January 1st, leaving only two games on the 1st itself. December 31 will feature a total of seven games, including the San Antonio Spurs hosting the New Orleans Pelicans, the Indiana Pacers taking on the Miami Heat, and the Cleveland Cavaliers playing the Milwaukee Bucks.

Flip to the new year and there will only be two NBA games on the schedule, neither of which appear to be appetizing in any sense. But hey, if you want to watch the Denver Nuggets take on the Chicago Bulls and the Sacramento Kings play the Minnesota Timberwolves, well, then that’s your call.

But should the two games not be worth your time, you can hold on to your money and then splurge it all on January 2 when there are a total of 11 games on the docket. We browsed through it and found some interesting ones, including the Washington Wizards taking on the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Toronto Raptors playing the Golden State Warriors, and the Houston Rockets traveling to New Orleans to take on the Pelicans.

Over in the NHL, the same three-day New Year’s schedule applies just like the NBA. The 31st will feature a full schedule of 11 games, including barn burners like the Toronto Maple Leafs taking on the Boston Bruins, the San Jose Sharks locking sticks with the Anaheim Ducks, and the New Jersey Devils playing the Detroit Red Wings. On January 1st, only two games will be played, one of which is a nice dalliance between the Los Angeles Kings and the Vancouver Kings.

As for the other one, well, that’s going to be the 2015 Winter Classic between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Washington Capitals. The game will be played at Nationals Field in DC and if you’ve been paying attention to this game since its inception in 2008, you know that this is arguably the best sports game to watch in high definition TV. Yup. It’s even better than the Super Bowl.

As soon as the Classic is done, the NHL resumes to normal programming on January 2 with eight total games, including the Tampa Bay Lightning taking on the Pittsburgh Penguins and the St. Louis Blues traveling to Anaheim to face the Quacks.